Introduction
Frederick Douglass was a formerly enslaved person who became an activist, novelist, and public speaker. He rose to prominence in the abolitionist movement, which worked to end slavery, both before and during the Civil War. He advocated for equality and human rights after the war and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 until he died in 1895. Frederick Douglass’ 1845 autobiography recalls his time as a Maryland slave. Despite having no formal education, he wrote five autobiographies and delivered dozens of notable speeches. Douglass’ legacy as an author and leader lives on as an advocate for women’s rights, particularly the ability of women to vote. His work influenced the civil rights movement of the 1960s and beyond. This paper will discuss how Douglas resisted slavery, the ways he rebelled against slavery, and what Douglass and Brinkley say about resistance.
How Douglass resisted the institution of slavery
Douglass vehemently argued against slavery in his three narratives and numerous articles, speeches, and letters. He attempted to show that it was cruel, unnatural, ungodly, immoral, and unjust. Fredrick presented his arguments in speeches while a member of Garrison’s American Anti-Slavery Society and then in his first autobiography, the Narrative. As the American Civil War approached, he expanded on his points in numerous speeches, editorials, and his second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom (Douglass). In his own words, he worked to expose the evil of slavery through scorching irony. Douglass argued that black people were fully rational beings, and when proponents of slavery claimed otherwise, he mocked them for their hypocrisies and contradictions. He contended that rather than the idea that black people were creatures, enslavement had brutalized them.
Through brutalizing and enslaving black people, slavery violated their inherent rights by taking men and converting them into monsters against God’s will and nature (Douglass). Second, Douglass maintained that because black people were people, they had a right to the inherent liberties guaranteed by natural law and acknowledged by the Constitution and Declaration of Independence of the United States. Third, slavery broke God’s law because it violated natural law. Douglass cited verses from the Bible and abolitionist-favored interpretations of them. Fourth, Douglass claimed that slavery was incompatible not only with America’s founding papers but also with its national Narrative and highest aspirations. Fifth, he maintained that slavery was incompatible with development—moral, political, economic, social, and ultimately historical—drawing on the concepts of manifest destiny and the idea of natural law realized in historical progress (Douglass). When it came to the issue of slavery, America was on the wrong side of history.
What Douglass and Brinkley said about resistance
Douglass regained his manhood and dignity after fighting Covey, and he said it renewed his independence and manhood. “It restored my self-confidence and inspired me to be free” (Douglass). Douglass fought injustice to regain his soul and compassion, and from the depths of slavery to the heights of liberty—it was a wonderful rebirth. “My long-suppressed spirit arose; my cowardice left; my brazen defiance arrived (Douglass).” “The day has passed forever when I could be a slave in actuality no matter how long I might stay a slave in form (Douglass).”
Conclusion
To conclude, Douglass tried to demonstrate that slavery was cruel, abnormal, unholy, immoral, and unfair. Douglass claimed that because black people were humans, they had a right to the inherent liberties granted by natural law and recognized by the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Slavery violated the natural rights of black people by subjecting them to brutality and enslavement and by taking ordinary men and turning them into monsters against God’s will and nature. Drawing on conceptions of manifest destiny and the idea of natural law fulfilled in historical progress, he contended that slavery was incompatible with development—Social, political, moral, economic, and eventually historical.
Work Cited
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas. An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger, 2021.