Own Experiences of Frederick Douglass as a Slave - Literature review Example

To what extent does Douglass' Narrative refute (or support) the following pro-slavery argument Frederick Douglass was an American slave who wrote thenarrative of his life describing his own experiences being a slave. He portrays many incidents and presents many factors which end up with the conclusion that black race have been continuously enslaved and are not given a chance to get rid of it. The traditions and trends stopped them from any progress and Douglass connected his own troubles to that of other slaves as a demand to diminish the slavery and establish freedom for everyone. The evil of slavery polluted every master to distort the reality to his personal contentment and Douglass clarifies how slavery damages the compassion of both slave and master. The official system was also not a choice for slaves to rely on for aid as they had no official rights. Douglass stated his story when he was a slave. He declares many horrible acts committed by the slaveholders in Talbot County (his birthplace). Douglass declares that in Talbot County slaying or punishing a slave is not considered as unusual or offensive. He further explains the story of a slaveholder who kills two of his slaves and despite of his declaration of the two murders neither anyone put him in jail, nor taken any action against him. Douglass gave some more examples of such horrible deaths of slaves for their minor mistakes. He stated the story of his own cousin who was beaten harshly by a lady with an oak stick just because he fell asleep while watching the lady's child. Such harsh and horrible behavior and dreadful murder of a slave needed to be noticed and forwarded for some solution but this horrifying murder did not seem enough to take action against the lady. One more declaration was that an old slave of Colonel Lloyd was shot just because he encroached mistakenly onto private land. The killer visited Colonel Lloyd to clarify what occurred and the entire issue settled down. Douglass declares quiet repulsively and regretfully that 1"it was worth a half-cent to kill a 'nigger,' and a half-cent to bury one." Chapter 4, pg. 69 Douglass disagrees with the statement that the slaveholders take care of their slaves from their birth till their death and he also refused that slaves have any kind of freedom. As he declares, 2"The whisper that my master was my father, may or may not be true; and, true or false, it is of but little consequence to my purpose whilst the fact remains, in all its glaring odiousness, that slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers; and this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable; for by this cunning arrangement, the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slave the double relation of master and father." Chapter 1, pg. 49 Douglass stated the whole period of his slavery in pain and did not like the rules that were just in favor of the slaveholders. He wanted to escape from this disgraceful and terrible County where the slaves were not even considered as human beings. He hated the behaviors of slaveholders with their slaves. The statement of Douglass further points toward the cruelty and fear of the white men (slaveholders). 3"A single word from the white men was enough-against all our wishes, prayers, and entreaties-to sunder forever the dearest friends, dearest kindred, and strongest ties known to human beings." Chapter 8, pg. 90 To support his argument he gave many examples of murders committed by the masters and their cruelty even as a result of the minor mistakes. Colonel Lloyd had a lot of slaves that he does not recognize them all and they do not all recognize him. It is stated that one day as Colonel Lloyd was on a trip; he meets up a slave and inquires him about his master. As the slave answers that he belongs to Colonel Lloyd, he inquires the slave if his master takes care of him. The slave, unaware of the fact that he's having a communication to his master, replies that he does not. After a few weeks, the ill-fated slave is carried off from relatives and acquaintances and traded to a Georgia trader. His mistake was that he answered truthfully to what he was asked. Because of this fear, whenever someone asks about the treatment of his master slaves reply positively. Slaveholders even send their spies to find out if any of the slaves is conveying negative remarks about him. Douglass also declared that in his whole slavery career he has never spoken against his masters. From the Douglass study it is clearly observed that slaves did not have the right to convey their thoughts, views even the truth. They used to convey whatever they were instructed to say. They did not have any helper, law or person to protect them from their masters. Their masters were just assumed to be their fathers but in reality they never even behaved like a decent and loving human being. Was Andrew Jackson a paternalist President or was he a President fighting paternalism Every country has its own history about its birth and reforms. The history of United States dates back from the 18th century. This century marked the era of reforms in the United States. Different presidents came into power and introduced reforms some in the favor of the people and some not. Paternalism came into play when the government of Andrew Jackson took over. Paternalism comes into play when one individual is considered to be at a loss. Seeing this loss a state or an individual gets involved in the process of saving that individual from suffering a loss. United States has gone through the stage of paternalism long back in the government of Andrew Jackson. This article would further discuss the issue of paternalism with regard to the government of Andrew Jackson and the reforms introduced respectively. When the government of Andrew Jackson came into power he tried to curb out the solution to many problems. He took on the issues of the banking, cultural and foreign department. He reviewed these matters closely and adopted a paternalist approach towards these issues. He through these approaches wanted the civilians of United States to have equal rights like all of the people living in the United States. The first issue picked up by Jackson was the issue of the Second bank of United States. The bank which was operated in the United States had a major investment by the foreign individuals. Seeing this Jackson adopted a paternalist approach and interfered in the matter of the bank by vetoing the re-chartering of the bank. This approach adopted by Jackson was meant to rectify all the problems which the individuals living in United States were facing. The major investment which was done by the foreign individuals was being used by them for their self interests. Jackson interfered in this matter to give equal rights to all the individuals of the United States. Thus he interfered in the business of the Second Charter Bank to provide benefits to the community living in the United States itself. Similarly one state which had its own rules and strategies was Cherokee. Cherokee had a population which comprised most of the Indians in its territory. These Indians lived by their own religious and social factors. However the interference of whites was considered necessary here as the Indians were considered to be conservative and lacking in technology. The white Americans wanted to civilize the whole Cherokee nation. The government of Jackson came into play when they realized that the Indians living in Cherokee followed the same ancient rules and strategies. The government expressed their desire to see the people of Cherokee to advance and act in the same way the whole of the United States did. Paternalism here came into role when the government of Jackson acted as the guardians of these Indians. They were trying to interfere in the business of these Indians to ensure that these Indians were not left behind in the means of technology and power. The government of Jackson composed an Indian policy which was based on Paternalism. The government took into mind the issues of the Indians being less developed as compared to that of the whites living in the United States. It asked the Indians to sell their land and move towards the west. However the Indians were against this decision and opposed it widely. Soon after President Jackson promised the Indians that he would let them prosper in the west if they sold their lands and moved there. However, here the concept of Paternalism was used unjustly by Jackson to grab the lands possessed by the Indians. The basic idea behind the cover was to get the lands of Cherokee owned by the whites. Debate in 1930 began regarding the issue. There were many legislators who were against the theories of Jackson because they believed that it was an attempt by them to drive out the Indians and the Indians deserved equal rights and that there should be no discrimination. Despite the opposition the bill for the movement of the Indians was passed and there was no statement in the bill which said that the Indians could not be moved by force. Meanwhile Cherokee had also formed its own government to protect itself and a case was lodged in the Supreme Court but still everything went according to the way of Jackson. In the name of paternalism for the protection of the Indians things were done in a different manner and they were moved out of their lands with the deprivation of their basic rights. Other steps were also been taken at the same time. Tariffs were introduced in 1916 for the protection of iron and textiles and raw materials such as wool. But these tariffs were not welcomed by the people in the south because as their main raw material was cotton they did not need these and moreover for them this meant higher rates of the goods. Also this was the main area where slavery was very much prevalent. Fear within the slave owners as well as these tariffs led to the formation of the South Carolina ordinance of nullification. President Andrew Jackson completely framed all his laws not in a way of fighting paternalism but rather he himself used paternalism to achieve his goals. His paternalist views were obvious from his thoughts regarding the removal of Indians the imposing of tariffs as well as the rechartering of the second bank of United States. Bibliography: Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Penguin American library. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1982. Read More