Similarities Between Lincoln And Frederick Douglass

Change necessarily is not something one can snap into place overnight, to promote development it takes dedication and catalyzing action to achieve a certain goal. The struggle for equality, preserving peace and unity are some major themes in which Lincoln and Douglass fought for in their time. Campaigns promoted by Douglass and Lincoln, the institutions, actions and ideas in which the two have inspired are a small, but a crucial piece of a major struggle to especially further the health of the American nation. If one were to take a look around them, are there still signs of inequality? Threatening disunity and sectionalism? Were people like Lincoln and Douglass fighting all in vain for goals that may never fully be reached? Though it may seem

Frederick Douglass was a radical abolitionist born into slavery in 1818, starting with almost nothing, he worked his way up in life, trading his bread for the opportunity to learn to read and write. With time Douglass escaped slavery and from then on found his purpose of freeing his fellow men as well as other minorities in American society, “He became one of the most famous intellectuals of his time, advising presidents and lecturing to thousands on a range of causes, including women’s rights and Irish home rule” (Frederick Douglass Journalist, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Government Official(c. 1818–1895), 2017). Douglass through his dedication to learning to read and right developed a strong passion for fighting to promote human rights and equality. Through his lectures and published works, Douglass spread acceptance and taught that the American nation must treat all of its members with respect, “‘Right is of no Sex – Truth is of no Color – God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren’" (Frederick Douglass Journalist, Civil Rights Activist,

Though in the beginning of this man’s life, Lincoln did not acknowledge equality or fully support the abolitionist movement like Douglass had done, he would learn eventually that morally, slavery could not continue and the most threatening problem at the time was the ever rising sectionalism and ceding of the south. Lincoln’s main goal was to preserve the union at all costs, after the Civil war he wanted to help rebuild the south, mend national hegemony, and reform political/ social institutions, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as god gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind the nation’s wounds,” (Lincoln 303). The way in which Lincoln replaces the word, war with “work” supports that the endeavor of achieving a certain goal is not an easy one. In a way, civil war was almost necessary, a step back in order to go forward to maintain the union. Following more recent events, California had wanted to become its own country and political debates of the recent election have sparked a once again growing sectionalism within the American nation, “Nonetheless, no single case, law or amendment could instantly erase the long tradition of prejudice and equality” (The Zigzag Road to Rights