Frederick Douglass Essay

This is on Frederick Douglass, I wrote it really late and rather quickly so don't expect the best. (although Mrs. Sadleir liked it)

In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, and What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Frederick Douglass shows us great insight into the life of a slave during the 1800s. Frederick Douglass shows that our freedom, our control over our own destiny, our civilised thoughts, and our ability to think and act freely are the defining characteristics that make us human.

In What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Douglass shows that in slavery and oppression there can be no liberty or freedom. Talking about the founding fathers he says: “'With them,' justice, liberty, and humanity were “final,” not slavery and oppression” (26 4^th of July). He says this quote meaning that justice, liberty, and humanity were direct opposites of slavery and oppression. The same way in which the founding fathers were enslaved by the British by unfair taxation and other forms of mistreatment, and they broke free of the bonds that tied them to the British, the same can be done by the slaves who are literally enslaved by Americans and must break free, and based on the American Constitution, should.

Why then, did slaves not see this obvious lack of inalienable rights that they deserved? The slaves were never allowed to think and act freely, all of their free time was spent sleeping and resting after a hard and long day's work. They thought this way of life was acceptable, that they truly were just cattle who would do the work of their masters without any oppression. Slaves were treated like animals, and that was the only reason they became as such. In their captivity the motivating ideas behind slaves were: survive. The slaves' minds were driven to keep the slaves alive, and had no room for any other thoughts. Beaten and starved, the slaves only thoughts could be about their next meal, or the whipping they might receive if they fell out of line. Their lives were controlled by hunger and fear.

The pathway to freedom was the slaves' control over their own destinies. In their enslaved state they had little to no control over their destinies, in the case of Frederick Douglass he was blessed by the mistress who first taught him how to teach, without her he most likely would have never broken free. After the mistress begun to teach him to learn to read, he caught a glimpse of hope, shining through his dark and cloudy life, and he began to control his own destiny. He began to teach himself to read and write and actively sought out ways to better his understanding. As soon as Douglass could control his own destiny, he would eventually be able to control his thoughts, actions and freedom. Soon after he began to have control over his own destiny, it was taken away from him: “...but a few months of this discipline tamed me. Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit...the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!” (90). Douglass' control over his own destiny was taken away from him, and soon he became nothing more than a man, simply one part of the farm being trapped in a life of slavery with no time for his civilised thoughts that he still was still capable of.

The thing that the mistress brought out of Frederick Douglass, was his ability to have civilised thoughts. Before that he was consumed by work, hunger and unhappiness that he would never be able to think civilly. He might have thoughts and wants of freedom, control over his own destiny, and an ability to think and act freely, but he would never be able to accomplish them without his civilised thoughts. He could escape from the plantation or farm, but he would become confused and not understand how to care and fend for himself in the world. When Frederick Douglass seeks to escape from Mr. Covey, his only escape is back to his old master. “I, however, watched my chance, while Covey was looking in the opposite direction, and started for St. Michael's” (94) Frederick Douglass does not have the knowledge to survive on his own, so he cannot simply leave his farm and seek his own life, he does not have the knowledge to defy the people that would bring him back to slavery if he did leave.

Frederick Douglass' freedom depended on his ability to think and act freely, and have civilised thoughts. These eventually brought him to his place in humanity, a place where many slaves could not understand or come to without realisation of the definition of humanity.