Essay 2

All Humans Deserve Liberty

            What makes a white person think he can own another person? If the situation were reversed would they have fought for their freedom with everything they had? Would they have left their family and friends to gain their freedom? Like a white man, slaves are human and should be treated justly; they deserve to have liberty and equal rights. Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Tuckahoe Maryland in the year 1818. As he grew up, he learned how to read and write and eventually acquired his freedom. Douglass wrote an autobiography of his life to show how slavery affected all the lives that were associated with it. Along with other literary works he wrote, Douglass gave a speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” where he said “Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty?” (1253). Frederick Douglass tried to appeal to his audience and he used emotional arguments throughout his narrative to demonstrate that slaves are entitled to liberty.

Slaves were good people and hard workers, and many people believed they did not deserve to be deprived of liberty. Frederick Douglass was compassionate, always sharing and working hard. Whites often felt sympathy for Frederick Douglass since he was so kind and willing to help others. They disapproved of the idea that Douglass was a slave for life. Frederick Douglass was a slave, but in some regards he had more resources than some free whites. He always had food available when he needed it and some whites did not have that privilege. Frederick Douglass claims “I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome; for I was much better off in this regard than many of the poor white children in our neighborhood” (1199). Douglass used his resources to his advantage and would trade food for knowledge. While getting to know the poor white boys, they would talk about freedom and slavery. “I used to talk this matter of slavery over with them. I would sometimes say to them, I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men. ‘You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life! Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?’ These words used to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy, and console me with the hope that something would occur by which I might be free” (Douglass 1199). The poor white boys did not agree with the concept of slavery or the fact that Douglass would be a slave for life since they knew him on a more personal level and knew that he was a kind person. Another example of this was when Douglass explained “I went one day down on the wharf of Mr. Waters; and seen two Irishmen unloading a scow of stone, I went, unasked, and helped them. When we had finished, one of them came to me and asked me if I were a slave. I told him I was. He asked, ‘Are ye a slave for life?’ I told him that I was. The good Irishman seemed to be deeply affected by the statement. He said to the other that it was a pity so fine a little fellow as myself should be a slave for life. He said it was a shame to hold me” (1200). These two men that Douglass showed his kindness towards felt sympathy for him since he helped them out of the goodness of his heart and he told them he would be a slave for life. Douglass showed them that slaves are human too and the color of someone’s skin doesn’t make them less human or less civil. Douglass’ interactions with white people who weren’t slave owners demonstrated to him that not all white people believed in slavery, that they could sympathize with his plight in life and believed that he was worthy of freedom and liberty.

Slaves should be allowed liberty since they are just as capable to perform actions free whites can perform. If slaves were given the chances free whites were given they would be able to perform them, and who knows, they could possibly do it better. Slaves could help to benefit the society if they were allowed to. Slaves aren’t that much different other than the color of their skin. They are actually very similar to free whites, they are human and they have families as well. Slaves can be as smart as free whites if they are given the same resources and opportunities. At the time slaves weren’t allowed basic rights such as learning to read and write. Frederick Douglass claimed that Mr. Auld said, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, said he, if you teach that nigger (speaking of me) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy” (1196). Slave owners knew that slaves were very competent and if they were able to learn they would not be able to restrain them. Also, that with learning and being able to read, a slave would start to think for himself as deserving of freedom and that he had as much right as anyone to be free. White men purposely didn’t want slaves to learn and the laws were in place to make sure they didn’. Frederick Douglass stated “I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom” (1197). Frederick Douglass understood that if he kept learning and thinking for himself that the chance for freedom and becoming equal would be more obtainable. With the power of knowledge and being able to articulate the horrors of slavery with people who may not be familiar with it, he was able to contribute to his case for freedom. His arguments would persuade more people that slaves deserve to have liberty as much as anyone else.

            Reading to Frederick Douglass was an important tool that aided him in his ability to share why slaves should have their liberty. After Frederick Douglass learned to read, even with all the opposition in his life, he would read everything he could get his hands on. He learned that there were people that did not believe in slavery and they were trying to do something about it. Douglass comments “After a patient waiting, I got one of the city papers, containing an account of the number of petitions from the north, praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and of the slave trade between the states. From this time I understood the word abolition and abolitionist, and always drew near when that word was spoken, expecting to hear something of importance to myself and fellow-slaves” (1200). When Douglass learned what the meaning of abolition was, it reinforced his motivation to inform others about slavery and that freedom and liberty should be for all people. Many of the books, pamphlets and speeches that he read were the driving force behind the writing of his narrative to show what slavery was really like and to expose more people to the truth. Frederick Douglass also claimed “The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder. What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and the powerful vindication of human rights. The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers” (1199). With reading literature, Douglass found a domain where others believed like he did and that he was not alone in the belief of liberty for slaves. This knowledge brought him even more desire to make an impact on the abolishing of slavery so that liberty could be achieved.

Throughout Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, Douglass gives examples and tries to persuade his audience that slaves are equivalent to whites and that they are worthy of having liberty. Douglass pried at the reader’s emotions when he talked about how people were sympathetic towards him for having to live the life of a slave since he was a good person and they believed he deserved liberty. Douglass explained how reading expanded his world and encouraged him to fight for his freedom and liberty. Douglass would read works of literature that sparked his ambition to do something that would expose the abomination of slavery to the world. Douglass was a major advocate in the abolitionist movement and with his knowledge and writings, the role of slavery was brought to the surface. Douglass eventually gained his liberty and his writings were influential in gaining liberty for fellow slaves so that they too might be able to live the life they deserved.

Work Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012, pp. 1170-1239.