Frederick Douglass: From Slavery To Freedom

He tells them that slavery is in contradiction of what the founding fathers valued and believed in, as well as what they fought for. Frederick says the founding fathers believed in freedom and equality. The same things they fought to get away from, are the same things white Americans were doing to African Americans in that present time. He says in his speech, “Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit earnestly sought redress,” (404). This quote is an example of how the founding fathers were feeling under England’s government, and how Frederick Douglass was relating it to how blacks were getting treated and how they felt throughout the United States in that present time. He wanted white Americans to recognize how they were portraying their nation. Another way he gets his audience to recognize what they were doing was wrong was by using their emotions to trigger shame and disappointment within themselves. Mr. Douglass shames them by comparing them to their founding fathers, who they look up to and celebrated. He says in the speech, “You live and must die, and you must do your own work…You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence,” (407), to shame his audience on not carrying on the principles and morals that the founding fathers worked so hard to gain. Another example of him guilting his audience is when he

To begin with, Frederick Douglass, a former slave wrote and spoke about the establishment of slavery and southern culture based on his youthful experiences as a slave. Douglass is a powerful speaker for the abolitionist movement and became a leader of the anti-slavery movement. One of the main reasons for his writing of the Narrative was to prove to critics that such a well-spoken and expressive man could not have once been a slave. Douglas eventually gains the resources and convictions to escape to the North and wage a political fight against the institution of slavery. I believed that his most inspirational saying was when Douglass said, “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

Despite North America’s large slave population, there were few powerful slave revolts before 1831. Slaves were complacent and passive so most southern slave owners probably felt like they had enough control over their slaves. This way of thinking was completely changed by Nat Turner’s rebellion. This violent slave revolt showed people what slaves were really capable of. White southerners saw how slaves were smart enough to organize and plan a resistance and because they were getting tired of being oppressed. Even though Nat Turner’s rebellion was considered unsuccessful being that it was shut down in a matter of days, it was successful in that it had a long lasting effect on slavery. This level of success can be attributed to the fact that

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” This famous quote is from a speech given by one of America’s most influential abolitionist speakers, Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery, this great American leader led a life many of us would find impossible to bear. After gaining his freedom from slavery, Douglass shared his stories through impressive speeches and vivid autobiographies, which helped America move forward as a country liberated from racial inequality. Although Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave allows readers to understand what life was like for slaves in antebellum America, the most important and relevant lesson to take away from this narrative today is the importance of perseverance. Douglass’s courage to resist and learn paired with his determination to keep his faith and ultimately find himself, is something to which people from every culture and time period can relate.

In the 18th century of colonial America, slavery was an enormous impact on the Southern economy and continued to grow exponentially. It helped with a widespread growth of the southern, agricultural economy. In doing so, slaves were recognized as property and treated as such: through prejudice and misappropriation. Because of this practice of disrespect, tensions heightened and slave began to voice their aggravation that freedom was a must. The most violent and bold movements included slave rebellions. Slave rebellions, such as ones executed by Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, and Denmark Vesey, were effective in the nature of showing plantation owners and the United States, in general, that the abolition for slavery was a necessity through the myriad of occurrences. Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, and Denmark Vesey were all very different in their own way, but synonymous in the impact they produced in 18th and 19th century history.

Frederick Douglass once said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning” (Think Exist). Frederick Douglass, a man born into slavery overcame numerous obstacles to eventually become a chief abolitionist as well as a diplomat. Frederick Douglass got his hands on a book entitled “The Columbian Orator” and introduced himself to the word abolitionist. This sparked his interest and set off a fiery passion for freedom. Douglass realized that slaveholders used ignorance as a tool to enslave their subjects; slaveholders did not want slaves to have the capacities of reading and writing.

Frederick Douglass is perhaps the most well-known abolitionist from American history. He is responsible for creating a lot of support for the abolitionist movement in the years before the Civil War. He, along with many others, was able to gain support for and attention to the abolitionist movement. People like him are the reason that slavery ended in the United States.

Many slaveholding societies lived in fear of those whom they kept in bondage. Populations of slaves generally outnumbered the masters. Anger from the slaves provoked by a life of being held hostage in chains would often spill over into violent uprisings and revolts. These fears became much worse after the rebellion of one certain slave and his comrades. One of the largest slave rebellions to ever take place in the U.S. was the rebellion of Nat Turner. This rebellion is said to be one of the most important ones of its time, but why? This rebellion played an important role in the development of slave societies before the Civil War.

Frederick Douglass was a former slave who worked and powered to be free coming across many hurdles. Despite his rough beginnings, Douglass became a well written author who later wrote three autobiographies and a multitude of speeches that later aided in the abolition of slavery. He went on to become one of the most profound black American leaders of the 18th century, he helped shape and lead the way for the anti-slavery movement.

Slavery resistance dates back to the earliest days of slavery. Although there were many forms, varying in degree, including: working slowly, faking illness, burning down buildings, the most powerful form was slave rebellions. Slave rebellions, put simply, are the armed uprising of slaves. Dating back as far as the 1700s, there have been many slave rebellions, however only a few of these have been considered successful. One of the most significant slave rebellions happened in 1831, and was called “Nat Turner’s Rebellion.”

When African Americans gained their freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation, it was rare to find any source of documentation from former slaves as to how they were treated. Most of the interviews or journals used to find a little more of the lifestyle in slavery, were mostly provided by white people. After all, slaves were not allowed to learn to read or write, in the exception of a few in which rules were broken. The most meaningful part that African Americans saw as a product from the institution of slavery was the fact that there were good masters that treated them kindly.

(Ch. 7, para. 6-7). Douglass learned from what he read that what was happening, white people owning other people just because they black, was so utterly wrong. From this knowledge, he gained a

Slowly, leaders began to emerge who took the on the task of publically speaking out against slavery. Fredrick Douglas and W.E.B. Du Bois, both came forward as educators, writer and orators who denounced slavery. Soon, white abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison, joined forces with Anti-Slavery movement and began holding lectures and publishing writings that condemn slavery. Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman are also examples of leader that paved the way of the anti-slavery movement by educating and assisting groups of slaves to

There are many famous examples of slave revolts, such as The Haitian Revolt, The Bussa Revolt, and the Nat Turner Revolt. From 1791 to 1804, the Haitian Revolt occurred. This revolution, regarded as “the largest and successful revolt in history” (History.com), it took place in the French colony of Saint Domingue, that escalated with the elimination of slavery in Haiti. The revolt would prove that Haiti could come from the under rule of white Europeans. This resulted in the birth of Haiti and the birth of the independent government.

Since the initiation of the United States, slavery made an enormous contribution to the position this country was at and still is. However, the American Revolution was an inspiration to African Americans. African Americans hoped the words the Declaration of Independence would apply equally to them, but unfortunately, they wrong. When Americans went to the battle field, the United States was fighting for white rights and not African American rights. This constant put down, injustice, and discrimination led to one of the bloodiest revolt in American history. Nevertheless, this revolt was a demonstration that slavery should end, and if nothing was to be done, slaves themselves would fight for their freedom. In the morning of August 21, 1831, a group of slaves crept into the plantation house in which they killed their master, master’s wife, and child. The gruesome slave revolt in American history was unleased; which is known as the Nat Tuner revolt. Thus, Nat Turner revolt impacted not only slaves but slave-owners in the sense of strengthen slave codes and the abolishment movement flourishing.