And his personal life was also very contradictory. He spoke and acted for the liberty of man, but at the time he thought that liberty was in fact for a small minority of the people, blacks were not included, in fact, and he owned slaves. But his Declaration of Independence, and his other ideas and writings about the rights of states and individuals freedom helped to shape the world as we know it today. Thomas Jefferson’s contradictions are part of our society and are still affecting us today. Additionally, it’s important to study about Jefferson, because this can help us to resolve our problems in society and learn from the past.
That is why he wanted the slaves to be freed and removed from the United States all together. He feared of a revolt by them for all the cruel things that were done to them. Thomas Jefferson didn’t hold the views he felt for one group for the other. The African Americans who were brought to America to be slaves that they forced to live how they wanted them to could not coexist with them but the Native Americans who had their own society and their own way of life they could be civil with. I thought that they wanted to preserve the republican society by molding republican machines.
In the autobiography, “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass,” Douglass narrates his personal experience of being a slave and what steps he took to relinquish him from slavery and become a free man. Douglass uses vivid imagery in order to really depict what was really happening under the slaveholder’s hands. Without these images, his life story would have been in vain and everything he endured to achieve his dream of freedom along with it. Douglass’ style of writing, in his autobiography, is relative to the time when he wrote it. Not only did he want to voice the inhumane treatments brought upon other slaves, but he also wanted to let them know not to lose confidence, dignity or self-worth.
The area was surrounded by a white population who was of the lowest class-economically, educationally as well as socially. These people had virtually given up on life. (page 34) Because his mother, Harriet Bailey was a slave, the laws and customs required Frederick to take the same status. He did not know his father since the idea of fatherhood had been done away with in slavery. It is believed that his father was white and was either one of the masters or overseers of the plantation.
When Frederick Douglass addressed the audience with his speech, it was very emotional and straight from his heart. As we all know, he was a freed slave and mainly considered his “slavery” as not being able to read and write, until his white master’s wife taught him to do so. With Douglass becoming a freed man and moved up North to pursue the life he dreamed to live, all he wanted was for the rest of the African American slave population to be free as well. Douglass believed that everybody had the right to succeed in society; he never understood how our country was founded on freedom but not everybody was free. Throughout Frederick’s speech, he repeatedly would ask the crowd uncomfortable questions and somewhat “guilt-trap” the people, example being “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.
We are taught to blame slavery on the Southern states but we learned that the Northern states were just as responsible due to their lack of action, fear of the results due to abolishment, and most importantly their double standard on the stance of slavery. Professor Nash gives us and insightful view from the eyes of free blacks and their contribution in the fight for freedom and equality of African Americans. This book has given me an insight of our history of slavery that I was unaware of, people involved and events that took place. The struggle for equality that we have in our country now is evident that it stem from our past. Using these events we can understand ourselves and continue to build a stable and free America which our forefathers based their fight for liberty and freedom from England and strengthen the words written within our Constitution that establish freedom and equality for “ALL
Lee concluded that slavery would help both white and black races grow equally. In the letter Lee also questions the motivations and morals of the founding fathers about what equality really meant to them. The letter seems to be ironic, reason being Robert E. Lee should be the biggest supporter of slavery for the South but seems to be torn on the issue (Fair Use
Slavery was common practice at the time of the writer’s captivity; however, Equiano was a spirited voice against such savagery. Later in life, he was given an official post to resettle poor blacks in Sierra Leone, Africa; but, he made accusations of misdeeds against some officials and thereby lost his post in trying to do his work honestly. Also, Equiano found fault in the inequality under Christian religion. Further, he recalled the golden rule of Christian conduct, “do unto all men as you would men should do unto you” (Equiano 769) which seemed sorely lacking in the slave trade. These matters of contention went against his enduring African values and prevented him from being fully assimilated by Western society.
And then who are Africans? Who can measure the amount of Anglo-Saxon blood coursing in the veins of American slaves” (Jacobs 47)? It was often hard to distinguish between the two races because of the amount of interracial interactions between slaves and their masters. Linda struggles with encompassing an emotional freedom from racial inequality and injustice. Her determination and willingness to abolish slavery essentially drove her to publicize her private story in hopes of creating awareness regarding the issue of
He valued freedom very much and made the point if there is no struggle than there is no progress. Douglass’s element of freedom was by educating the people in displaying the horrors of slavery and the harsh treatments. He made it his mission to exhibit how white slaveholders extend slavery by keeping their slaves oblivious. During the time when Douglass was writing, a lot of people really believed that slavery was something that was normal. They had the belief that blacks were integrally powerless of contributing in civil society and therefore would need to be kept as workers for whites.