Fredrick Douglass Argumentative Essay

Americas Sixteenth President Abraham Lincoln once said, “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” That would be viewed as a fair statement to almost anyone. If you deny freedom, you do not deserve it. Maybe people view that as a fair statement only because of the modern times. So, a frequent question that might be asked about history might be, is it fair to judge events or people based on modern times? Abe Lincoln was not always loved by his people in America (especially the south) during the pre-civil war, or as some might know the times of slavery. So, to answer that question one might say it is fair to judge events or people in the past based on modern values. Some things have never been looked as “okay” per se. Things

Fredrick Douglass, a slave who escaped into the north and started a life for himself, wrote a narrative called “The Life of Fredrick Douglass” (1818-1895) about his life as a slave. In his narrative Fredrick Douglass says, “There was very little said about it all, and nothing done. It was a common saying, even among little white boys, that it was worth a half- cent to kill a “n****r,” and a half-cent to bury one.” (Douglass 4) Whites thought slaves were worthless. Southerners treat slaves as property when they are human beings. Slaves and slave owners during the time of the pre-civil war had laws. Whether they actually followed them, no one can be certain. "The Universal laws of Slavery" made in 1849 by George Fitzhugh is an article which advocates for slavery. In Fitzhugh's article racism is a key detail by discriminating against the people of color saying that they couldn’t provide for their family even if they wanted to. "She unites in her person, the offices of wife, mother, mistress, housekeeper, and sister of charity. And she fulfills all these offices admirably well. The rich men, in free society, may if they please, lounge about town, visit clubs, attend the theatre, and have no other trouble than that of collecting rents, interest and dividends

having no moral standards, restraints, or principles; unaware of or indifferent to questions of right or wrong. Slave owners had a lack of morals during the Pre-Civil War, slaves had horrible conditions, and were treated like animals. No one in modern times would ever treat a human being in the way that Slave owners did in the south. John Holmes, a Maine politician who supported the Missouri Compromise, wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson regarding slavery. In the Letter of John Holmes, Holmes states, "The cession of that kind of property, for so it is misnamed, is a bagatelle which would not cost me a second thought, if, in that way, a general emancipation and expatriation could be effected; and gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might be." (Holmes 1) Treating a Human being in an unmoral manner, like an animal is viewed as very wrong in any view. There is no reason to treat a living, breathing human like an animal or a piece of property. Many people do not know the fact that Slaves and Slave Owners had laws that they were required, and if they didn't follow them there would be consequences. In the Alabama Laws governing Slaves 1833, there are many laws against slaves not to be able to do certain things. Rule number 31 is quite immoral, "Anyone who attempts to teach a free person of color, or slave, to spell, read or write (if convicted) be fined between