Comparative of Narrative of the life of Frederic Douglass and The Awakening In this life we sometimes have to follow guidelines or a set of expectations of what society expects of us; but all that we really long for is to have freedom of our self. Transcendentalist, the individual, the true-self was sacred, and conforming to the norms of the institutions of society was worse than death itself. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederic Douglass, Frederic himself revolts against the peculiar institution of slavery because he made a decision in his mind that there was something more than just be a slave in life. The awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin, it should a lady that revolts against patriarchy. Douglass upholds Civil Rights, while Chopin upholds Women’s Rights; yet both essentially uphold the Right of the individual.
This would mean an entirely different lifestyle for African Americans. There was still racism going on, but no African American was considered a slave. By ending slavery this forced the south to find a new way of supporting themselves and working their cash crops. In 1863 President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation meaning that all people that were held as slaves within the United States shall be forever set free. But this did not end slavery in the nation.
How important was the issue of slavery in causing the American Civil war? Due to slavery America was divided into two halves, the North and the South, both had very different and in some cases radical views. Firstly the more industrialised North generally was through and through against slavery as many felt it was immoral but also realised that if you paid your workforce you would increase your means of production and efficiency which helped them become more industrialised. However the south was reluctant to give up their slaves and felt that they were doing the slaves a favour in keeping them, housing them and feeding them. They were like children and would not survive by themselves.
Did Slavery Cause the Civil War? The claim of historians that the civil war in America was an outcome of slavery is true, as it was the issue of abolition of slavery that was considered not acceptable by Southern states of the country, as their major plantation and trade was there because of African slaves. According to the people of the South, North was trying to eliminate slavery with unjustified reasons. The Southerners regarded the Northerners as their enemies because, they thought that the government of North was interested in subjugating Southern States by ending slavery and by given equal rights to the slaves. There were eleven States of America that were slave states, as they held slaves in a large ratio; they named themselves as “Confederates of America” while the other side was named as “The Union” (Valley of the shadow).
This meant that Douglass was on his own to educate himself. However, with these words Douglass finally saw his “pathway from slavery to freedom” (29). Learning suddenly became a way towards freedom because it would give him a sense of right and wrong. He learns the evils of slavery and understands that he doesn’t have to live this way. Douglass now knew the steps he must take in order to become a man of society, not a man of slavery.
For much of the colonial period, southerners did not feel that slavery was threatened. For one, the constitution protected slavery however as time progressed and the slavery discussion began to grow throughout the country, southerners felt their concept of liberty threatened. The majority of Cooper’s sources are primary sources as opposed to secondary sources, which gives the book validity. Cooper’s main types of secondary sources include articles and letters. Cooper makes use of letters as one of his primary sources.
America was not the only country of course that practiced slavery; there were many countries that had practiced slavery before. Pinckney states that “If slavery be wrong, it is justified by the example of all the world” (D’Souza, pg. 466). The problem that comes to mind with this is that in those other countries there was no word for freedom, while America was founded as a so called free country. It’s important to understand that slavery wasn’t because of racism but because the pursuit of profit.
Most likely these successes or disappointments were determined by an external factors which were beyond their control. America was the dream land for the new comers and the land of slavery and bad memories that haunted the African Americans, however in some occasions the dream land was a nightmare for the immigrants, and the land of slavery was the land where African Americans were ready to pay their lives to protect their freedom. Immigrants who came to America in last decades of the 18th century and early 19th century didn't differ much from their predecessors. Escaping racial, religious, and political persecution, or seeking relief from a lack of economic opportunity or famine were the main reasons that pushed many immigrants out of their homelands. They imagined the United States as a land of freedom, where all persons enjoys equality before the law, could worship as they pleased , enjoyed economic opportunity.
Many died to hands of whites for their participation in these rebellions. Whites of the Southern states tried hard to keep slavery the way it was but with the steady growing number of free educated blacks in the Northern states grew the desire for slaves to obtain the same. In the North, blacks were able to obtain an education, work as well as own their own stores. Eventually, Abraham Lincoln got into office and many Southern Whites believed he sided on the abolishment of slavery so they made their states separate from that of the Northern portion of the United States. Lincoln supported the Union, which were the Northern States which held free blacks, and gave the Confederate States an ultimatum to join back with the Union or war will begin.
Americans, North and South, both supported slavery. The majority of Southerners, even non-slaveholders, identified with and defended the institution of slavery. While Northerners supported slavery from an economic standpoint, most of them detested the morality of the matter. Southerners, slaveholders and non-slaveholders, supported the use of slaves. They did so because they knew work needed to be done, and that work wasn’t the kind whites wanted to