How Does Slavery Violates Wrong

In attempt to give slaves equal rights to the common American man, activists argued that “thay (they; slaves) have in Common with all other men a Natural and Unaliable (inalienable) Right to that freedom which the Grat Parent of the Unavers hath Bestowed equalley on all menkind and which they have Never forfuted by any Compact or agreement.” The slaves feel violated because they look just like the average white American citizen and are not given guaranteed rights that white citizens have.

It is from this statement that one lesson can be drawn which is that Christianity somehow had a devastating influence on slavery.

The brutality that slaves endured form their masters and from the institution of slavery caused slaves to be denied their god given rights. In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," Douglass has the ability to show the psychological battle between the white slave holders and their black slaves, which is shown by Douglass' own intellectual struggles against his white slave holders. I will focus my attention on how education allowed Douglass to understand how slavery was wrong, and how the Americans saw the blacks as not equal, and only suitable for slave work. I will also contrast how Douglass' view was very similar to that of the women in antebellum America, and the role that Christianity played in his life as a slave and then

Greed is the undertone upon which Douglass states that slavery “corrupted souls” and “turned good people into bad people.” The institution of slavery was based on the ultimate control and power over a human to whom he is stripped of all of his identity and becomes sub-human. Consequently, the institution forces slave holders had to buy into this concept in order to justify any and all cruelty toward slaves. Douglas states “Slave holders resort to all kinds of cruelty” and later describes various ways of torture and punishment “all are in requisition to keep the slave in his condition as a slave in the United States” (Douglass 272). Slave holders showed no mercy when reprimanding slaves. The brutality and cruelty of these punishments were more of a statement of power and control and often times the punishment was worse than the offense.

Many people believe that Christians played a great role in abolishing slavery. However, Douglass’ ideas about religion and its connection to slavery shine a light on the dark side of Christianity. Douglass’ account of his own life is a very eloquent first hand retelling of the suffering and cruelty that many slaves were going through. His account gives a detail of the ills that were committed against the slaves. The atrocities committed by the various different masters varied in intensity depending on the masters’ individual personality (Glancy 42). This first hand narrative gives us a glimpse in to the connection between religion (Christianity) and slavery.

The right to decide one’s own fate within a fair social contract, unmolested by aristocracy or ruled by unjust laws.

Starting from a slave’s birth, this cruel process leads to a continuous cycle of abuse, neglect, and inhumane treatment. To some extent, slave holders succeed because they keep most slaves so concerned with survival that they have no time or energy to consider freedom. This is particularly true for plantation slaves where the conditions of slave life are the most difficult and challenging. However, slave holders fail to realize the damage they inadvertently inflict on themselves by upholding slavery and enforcing these austere laws and attitudes.

This publication supported the idea of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Law. The purpose of this publication was to prove that slavery

Slavery is an economic arrangement under which individuals are treated as property. Slavery, as dubbed by Frederick Douglass in Narrative of the Life, is immoral because it withholds a human’s basic desire for knowledge. People, regardless of race, have the right to Life, Liberty and Happiness and within that is the quest for knowledge and when this is stalled, a human is thrown into a state of psychological obscurity in which they become bestial. Through this state, a human is shaped into a senseless slave capable of no thoughts other than to serve his master. Although slavery was a dehumanizing process it caused some like Frederick Douglass to begin to assert their own humanity.

Slave by definition is a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. That about sums up what slavery really is in our mind and is pretty much the definition that we all picture when we think about slaves and slavery. But this is not what slavery truly was within the antebellum time period. Most of the slaves had a whole different outlook on the way they viewed, and acted and while living in their unfortunate circumstances. This is one of the few things that will be discussed further on within this paper. The main concept of this paper will be to discuss slavery in three sections; these sections will be discussing the types of people who were enslaved, and the nature of their bondage in the first section. The

Douglass confirms that slavery dehumanizes mankind. Douglass’s narrative confirms that slavery does take a dehumanizing toll on slaves and their masters.

Ford, Lacy K. Deliver Us from Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

“The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible.” - OSCAR WILDE, The Soul of Man Under Socialism

Among America’s supposed values of democracy, liberty, and equality lies a group of people content with the institution of slavery. Slavery itself is an evil which was unjustly perpetrated throughout the beginning stages of society, at least until it was willfully fought against by abolitionist such as Frederick Douglass. Through Douglass’s speech “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July” he pursues Plato’s ideal form of the Good by encouraging subversion of America’s oppressive system, one that condemns African Americans to slavery.

The controversies surrounding slavery have been established in many societies worldwide for centuries. In past generations, although slavery did exists and was tolerated, it was certainly very questionable,” ethically“. Today, the morality of such an act would not only be unimaginable, but would also be morally wrong. As things change over the course of history we seek to not only explain why things happen, but as well to understand why they do. For this reason, we will look further into how slavery has evolved throughout History in American society, as well as the impacts that it has had.