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Similarities Between The Lowest Animal And What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July

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Human nature includes characteristics such as thinking, feeling and acting that are shared by all people. While human nature can lead us to be kind and loving, it can also cause us to be competitive, selfish and aggressive. “The Lowest Animal” by Mark Twain and “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” by Frederick Douglas both display the destructive side of human nature. In Mark Twain’s essay, animals are compared to humans in a number of experiments. He describes humans as cruel, greedy and foolish. Even though humans do have a moral sense, they still don’t always make good decisions. In the Frederick Douglas’s essay, he outlines how African Americans were taken advantage of and treated poorly. However, Douglas outlines reasons for …show more content…

Even though Americans were able to gain their independence from Great Britain, African Americans were still held as slaves due to the greed and cruel human nature of Americans. Douglas condemned America for being untrue to its founding principle of freedom. He also criticized churches and ministers, as they had powers to help eliminate slavery, but stayed silent. “ Slavery the great sin and shame of America!” (Douglas 2). Slaves just wanted to be treated as citizens and celebrate the Fourth of July like the rest of America without judgement of their skin color. “Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty?” (Douglas 3). Those who supported slavery were similar to the English hunters in Twain's text who needlessly killed buffalo. Both acted in a selfish and cruel manner. They were also like those in Twain’s text who have plenty of money, but were willing to hurt others to obtain more. “What am I to argue that is wrong to make men brutes, to rot them of their liberty, to rob them without wages, beat them with sticks, to whip them and to starve them into obedience to their masters?” (Douglas 5). Frederick Douglas felt there were forces in motion which would eventually bring the downfall of slavery. Unlike Twain, he had a positive outlook and spirit that human nature would change, allowing every man, woman, and child to have an equal chance at freedom and liberty regardless of skin color. He believed freedom and liberty should be part of everyone’s human nature regardless of skin

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