Junior Toussaint History before 1852 Professor Yousefian 5/10/15 Essay 4 In class we’ve talked about Frederick Douglas and the abolitionist movement. The class has gathered opinions from his autobiography and speech on the fourth of July. We use this to criticize the declaration of independence and the belief system of our founding fathers on the basis of their ideals of freedom and equality. In his autobiography and speech, Douglass gives his viewpoints of America during his life and reflects on the ideals of the nation at a time were freedom and equal rights were presented to be shared by all under the newly written constitution. Douglass was one of the most significant African American leaders. New York asked him to speak during their Fourth …show more content…
Its ideals were to ensure to successful future of our nation and the citizen who inhabit. That included African Americans looking for a beginning in this nation as well. However the great ideologies of political liberty and of ordinary justice, personified in that Declaration of Independence were in fact, not extended to blacks. Douglass calls America out on the hypocrisy of these words. He notes that the founders constructed a document to afford equal security and rights to all; the minute they drafted the constitution those rights were not actually extended to all human beings. Oppression, as long as it exists, reverses the Declaration of Independence as a statement of rights stretched to all. In the Declaration of Independence it writes, “We hold these Truths to be self evident that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence 1). This part of the Declaration was heavily influenced by John Locke's Second Treatise of Government, which states that all, “men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and property.” (Locke 1). Although Douglas believes this to be untrue due to slavery and the harsh relationship between whites and blacks in our society at that time. He Details that we cannot live by the Declaration if all are not equal under the same laws and benefits of the laws provided by the