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Stowe's Antislavery Argument

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Written in direct response to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Stowe depicted slavery as a crime against home, family and Christian values, with slavery destroying familial relationships and morality among slaves. Additionally, it is depicted as the major threat to the homes of all American people, whether they dwell in the South or the North. Yet, in the modern era, Stowe’s antislavery argument has been viewed as an attack on “masculine” values, of individualism, competition and the economic marketplace, as well as more “feministic” values of community, love and domesticity. Additionally, rather than Tom being the model of Christian values, with his steadfast faith in God, the modern audience generally views Tom as a symbolic model of African-American
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This book became known as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. It highlighted the everyday horrors and injustices of slavery. The author Harriet Beecher Stowe took it upon herself to write this call for justice when reading a letter from her sister in Boston. Her sister had wrote of the terrible things she’d seen happen to African Americans during the time of the Fugitive Slave Act. She described “slave catchers prowling the streets, pouncing on African Americans without warning, breaking into their houses, destroying their shops and carrying them off.”

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According to the commentary on Uncle Tom’s Cabin, thousands copies have been sold in a matter of weeks. They say that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is the “STORY OF THE AGE” and is “dominated with truth”. People across both North and Southern borders have read about the tragic stories laid out in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. On the hand, in the unsigned review of Uncle Tom’s Cabin it calls Uncle Tom’s Cabin unqualifiedly false. So as the abolitionists are calling Uncle Tom’s Cabin honest and truthful, slavery supporters are calling Uncle Tom’s Cabin falsely

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646 Words | 3 Pages

In the year of 1776, when the founding fathers confirmed their commitment to the inalienable rights of life and liberty, they opted to ignore the question of how slavery would piece into those newfangled ideals. Eventually, however, it became impossible to ignore the blatant violations of humanity in a country that was founded upon the principles of freedom. Tensions between the oppressive South and the opposing North rose to a point that the nation had become one that was divided against itself and threatened to break apart. The response to this national crisis was a revolutionary new type of literature with the objective of overthrowing slavery. The authors of these anti-slavery texts used logical, ethical and emotional rhetoric to confront their audiences with the cruelty and destructiveness of

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Many men have been granted the gift of speech, but few have employed it to the degree of Frederick Douglass, and this is exemplified in his famous speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” In section ten of this speech, Frederick Douglass expresses his potent, persuasive pathos, contributing to his overall deliberative genre of invention. This deliberative genre plays an essential role within the macroscopic movements of this piece as it establishes the narrative and groundwork for the arguments being made overall. Underpinning these larger argumentative movements are his grand stylistic choices in prose as they help display the importance and immediacy of the issues at hand. In section ten of “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”

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1022 Words | 5 Pages

Frederick Douglass's speech "What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July" delivered in 1852 remains a powerful indictment of American history and culture. In his passionate address, Douglass criticizes various aspects of American practices and religions that perpetuate slavery and deny the basic rights and humanity of enslaved individuals. This essay explores the specific bases of Douglass's critique, examining the parts of American practices and religions he objects to and the reasons behind his objections. Moreover, it analyzes the enduring relevance of the speech's themes and messages for contemporary America, illustrating how the echoes of Douglass's words continue to resonate today. Frederick Douglass, an influential African American abolitionist, effectively highlights the stark contrast between the principles of freedom and equality enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the reality of slavery in the United States.

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In the history of the United States, America wasn’t always “the land of the free.” A tragic, beastly action was seen as a good thing to do, treating people as unwanted animals. For 245 years, America dehumanized a group of people, put them to work from dusk to dawn, and tortured them, just because of the color of their skin. This is thoroughly demonstrated in Gary Paulsen’s historical fiction novel, NightJohn, where the act of slavery and all the details to it are clearly pictured, from working in fields to getting flesh ripped off by ferocious dogs. In these descriptions, we witness the brutal punishments, the ways around harsh restrictions, and the support people had for each other during tragedy.

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These particular facts contribute to his overall push for continued, assertive action against the government. He finds it essential that the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester be able to visualize such revelations on the reality of American society. Realizing this provides them the means to take more radical steps towards greater civil equality and rights for African Americans, despite the laws prohibiting equivalent efforts. This shift brings the author closer to his end result of using passionate language to convey his

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1016 Words | 5 Pages

There is still such a false concept floating around about slavery, even in the twenty-first century. I enjoy reading articles and documents, like the ones provided for this essay, to properly give me an idea of what slavery was like when our ancestors were around. Slavery, even today in schools, is not taught how it should be. Many people, especially in the South, try to ignore slavery as if it never existed, when it is definitely a part of our history. I think there is a falseness, on both ends of slavery, that many people do not talk about; these documents showed me just that.

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America is a country with historical scars that will never truly heal as racial tensions continue to gradually increase. However, these tensions often lead back to the establishment of the United States and its origins, which was slavery. The anger of many African Americans is the result of years of oppression and submission. To understand the oppression and submission that African labor have experienced, Thomas Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia,” from 1781, discussed how slavery challenges the morality of humanity and its ethics. In addition, the “Rules of Highland Plantation,” by Bennet H. Barrow from 1838, not only supports the perspective of Jefferson, but also provides a glimpse of how slaves were subjugated by their masters

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1042 Words | 5 Pages

During the time of slavery, the Chesapeake Region went through various changes in how slaves were treated in addition to their roles in society being shifted. Throughout the novel Many Thousands Gone, three different time periods illustrate the ever-changing attitudes regarding the separation of races and their roles. Each period provides an outlook on the rate of change. Slavery in the Chesapeake Region changed significantly within Religion, Domestic Life, Rights, and Crops.

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1110 Words | 5 Pages

One of the strategies Douglass uses to convince his audience slavery should be abolished is by “calling out American hypocrisy in his Fourth of July oration” (Mercieca 1). He shames them with no remorse. He speaks on the opposite treatments that enable whites to live in a state of freedom and liberty, while the blacks are living in a state of bondage. As the audience listens, he reminds them, there are men, women and children still held hostages to the chains of

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636 Words | 3 Pages

he uses bold words and biting criticism to call attention to the gross injustices and hypocrisy of slavery in the United States. In the opening remarks of his speech, Douglas provides heart-wrenching descriptions to pull his audience into the lives of their fellow

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1590 Words | 7 Pages

Slavery is the blight on America's history that is most often glossed over without a genuine consideration of its practiced evils and consequences. Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass provides an opportunity for a critical examination of this issue of slavery. Through an assessment of this written work and a reflection on the principles that define America, it can be understood that slavery is entirely inconsistent with three foundational American values: the integrity of the family, Christian religion, and the broadly conceived notion of American freedom. The traditional American nuclear family includes two parents (one of each sex) and at least one child, all sharing a common residence and economic means

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1642 Words | 7 Pages

From this, derives a bond with the reader that pushes their understanding of the evil nature of slavery that society deemed appropriate therefore enhancing their understanding of history. While only glossed over in most classroom settings of the twenty-first century, students often neglect the sad but true reality that the backbone of slavery, was the dehumanization of an entire race of people. To create a group of individuals known for their extreme oppression derived from slavery, required plantation owner’s of the South to constantly embedded certain values into the lives of their slaves. To talk back means to be whipped.

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738 Words | 3 Pages

The Fugitive Slave Act, friction within friction, authorized local governments to seize and return escaped slaves to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their escape or obstructed their search, with fines up to $1000 and six months in jail. Due to these stricter laws, Harriet Beecher Stowe became enraged at the fact that she was being forced to heed to a law and practice she deemed immoral and unjust. Stowe reciprocated with her novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Her novel elicited feelings for human empathy, it showed northerners how slaves were really treated. Also, it solidified for Northerners, who may have been on the fence about slavery, that they were strictly against this inhumane treatment of fellow humans.

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