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Abolitionist Argumentative Essay

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Abolitionist Method Argument Essay

"So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war,” said the former president, Abraham Lincoln, as a greeting to Harriet Beecher Stowe, an abolitionist. An abolitionist is defined as a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. America in the 1800s relied on slaves for their economy, and the slaves felt oppressed by the actions taken on them from the white slave owners. Free black and white people living in the northern, anti-slavery states, decided to speak up about their feelings and wanted to abolish slavery; becoming abolitionists. The most effective method of abolition was the usage of speech and press …show more content…

For instance, Sojourner Truth was born a slave in New York. She had been bought and sold numerous times, and ruled into harsh punishments. From Women’s History, the narrator states, “As an itinerant preacher, Truth met abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass. Garrison’s anti-slavery organization encouraged Truth to give speeches about the evils of slavery. She never learned to read or write. In 1850, she dictated what would become her autobiography—The Narrative of Sojourner Truth—to Olive Gilbert, who assisted in its publication. Truth survived on sales of the book, which also brought her national recognition” (“Sojourner”). Despite not knowing how to read or write, she became an abolitionist by using her voice to convey her thoughts. Being treated in an inhuman manner with legally no freedom as a slave, she was still able to communicate her thoughts for abolitionism. Also, David Walker was born a free black man. However, he had been exposed to the brutal actions of slavery as a child, inspiring him to write Appeal, a pamphlet. He had spread excerpts from his pamphlet in numerous ways. From the David Walker Memorial Project, the narrator states, “Packaged and sent through the regular mail... Sewn into the linings of clothes... Smuggled ashore from ships when they docked in port... Walker’s Appeal was circulated in the South in many bold and creative ways. In early 1830, in the bustling port town of Wilmington, North Carolina, a slave named Jacob Cowan took delivery of two hundred copies of the Appeal. There was also a letter from Walker instructing him to distribute the pamphlets across the state” (“Walker’s Appeal”). Walker was a clothes dealer, who applied his sewing skills as a means to share his thoughts; his freedom of speech. He was free, still he decided to speak against slavery, meaning even free people could speak against slavery. Walker had a

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Walker has a militant approach, when provoking others to act. “How would they like for us to make slaves of, or hold them in cruel slavery, and murder them as they do us.” (David Walker 811). This excerpt displays David Walkers Hostile connotation, when attempting to persuade, his fellow citizens to fight for the cause of abolition. Imbedded in this statement is a touch of his militarized mentality.

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When Douglass would run errands he would do it fast and have extra time to have a reading lesson before returning back home. He use to take bread for those who knew how to read but would starve. In exchange for a lesson they would give bread. When he was sent to Edward Covey to be “broken,” Douglass took another step toward eventual freedom. When he was told to get up after trying again and again.

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The Northern Abolitionist movement in the United States was to end slavery. Gabriel and his brother brought together enslaved and freed African American, poor whites, and Native Americans to rebel against wealthy whites (Lewis 2017). Due to the weather and slaves backing out the rebellion did not take place.

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He began to hear about the anti-slavery movement and learned to read and write. Unfortunately, he was sent to work on a farm that was run by a notoriously brutal slave owner. The mistreatment he suffered was immense.

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Both King and Douglass were advocating for the same thing: their constitutional sanction of freedom. Both men, in their respective letters touch upon parallel thoughts and beliefs that revolve around the much bigger topic of racial inequality and discrimination. Both men were discriminated against and they talk about their experiences and plight in their very distinctive yet special styles. Born in the year 1817, in an era of open and unashamed slave trade, Frederick Douglass’s story begins as a serf to Mrs. Hugh in the city of Maryland.

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Being one of the last stops until freedom in Canada, Douglass also was a “conductor” of the underground railroad and worked closely with Gerrit Smith and John Brown on anti-slavery movements. He continued his writing by publishing a second book named My Bondage and My Freedom and ran his own newspaper, the North Star. His new autobiography goes through his experience in slavery but also adds points of his lectures around the world. On July 4th, 1852, Douglass was invited to speak and he spoke the truth about what this day was like to slaves.

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Frederick Douglass, author of the narrative by the same name, was a slave that was not physically free, but he was mentally. While other slaves did not realize that what was going on was wrong, Douglass did. He used his mentally freedom to become free physically free as well. Douglass’ hardships started the day he was born. He was born into slavery, like other African-Americans, and was constantly treated like dirt.

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Douglass begins his letter with his intent, an elaborate and formal appeal to Douglass’ real audience: readers of the North Star to bring forth the atrocities caused not only by Auld but by slavery as a whole. Throughout the letter, Douglass refers to his treatment by Auld; further driving his point that slavery is terrible and that slaves deserve the same basic rights as those who own slaves. Douglass is quick to speak about his own experience as an escaped slave and his success outside of Auld’s ownership to help solidify that point further. Douglass occasionally does this specifically to belittle and call forward Auld’s actions, even referring to himself as more intelligent (Douglass 102). Throughout the letter, Douglass’ common theme is one of anti-slavery and often directly attacks Auld’s actions.

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The strange juxtaposition of these two realities help readers internalize what it might of been like for slaves. Comparing Walker’s use of Woolf as opposed to all the other cited works helps explain the reasoning behind it. The works of Toomer, Okot p’Bitek and her own personal poem are all devices to convey her argument, yet they go untouched. Only commenting on the piece before or after, Walker, makes a conscious choice. She is saying something, all of her writing is very calculated.

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Frederick Douglass was a great writer, but he wasn’t always. He was an escaped slave who used that in his speeches as a topic to gain the attention of his audience. His audience was a seemingly sympathetic one and got to them through rhetorical questions. Douglass wanted to convey the message that there are many changes that need to be made.

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In the minds of many Southerners, without slavery, the South and America as a whole, wouldn’t continue to be a growing economic powerhouse, and would lose its culture as a nation where White Christian, males, ruled society. For many, there was no South, no America, without slavery. History has shown time and time again that power corrupts. To hold onto their power, slave owners made sure their slaves were kept uneducated.

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