We as the people of the United States of America have been granted certain liberties and inalienable rights, and because of this, these liberties cannot be taken away from us. If this is so, then why was the Declartion written during the time of slavery, when there were men that had no rights or liberties? The people of the states had ignorantly turned their eyes from the Declaration of Independence in the involvement and justification of slavery for their own benefit because they did not see these slaves as equal men from their internal and external attributes and have mishandled them. Both Benjamin Banneker and Frederick Douglas were free African-Americans. Banneker grew up as a free African-American in the North with plenty of education. …show more content…
As stated in the Declaration of Independence, “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.” Banneker uses this passage in his letter to Jefferson to show that this is not all in truth in Jefferson’s writing. If all men are created equal, then how is it that there is so much violence against his people to do the labor of the man too caught up in the labor of others to take matters into their own hands? It is given by nature that man should be created equal and live freely off the land instead of being used by another man in such a harsh manner. For Douglas, who is afflicted by what choices the American people have made in regards to slavery. He proclaims that those in favor of slavery are going against not only the Constitution, but the Bible itself. Where man was created from the start of the bible to nurture and care for the world and all things that have been …show more content…
The owners and congregation of the churches would argue that these African-American men and women do not have the ability to understand divinity, yet, both Banneker and Douglas are Christians and allude many sections of their writings to the Bible and Christianity. In his writing, Banneker compares the Bible to the Declaration of Independence, in which Jefferson had a heavy hand in: “….the Father of mankind and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges which he had conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies” (191). He breaks down the fact that the father or creator would be disgusted with how man is not treated as an equal and that claiming they are equal while still being a slave owner is unjust, thus, proving the fact that if they are going to claim man to be equal than the shackles of all slaves should be relinquished and the slaves should be free like the white man. Otherwise, there is no justice, and there cannot be justice for the Declaration of Independence is written in hypocrisy. There is no way to justify actions against the slaves and somehow slave owners try and justify their actions through their churches. Douglas states that the ceremonies these men are attending are nothing but empty sermons allowing men to feel good about themselves. While in this light they are
While the differences between the Letter from Birmingham Jail, written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Benjamin Banneker letter are noticeable, the similarities are striking. Through the use of strong allusions, logos, and pathos, these two remarkable letters provide intriguing arguments against slavery and oppression, promoting equality with two different perspectives, allowing the reader to understand the difficulties segregation and racism placed upon the African American society.
In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting three inspirational people and their experiences on reading and writing. Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, and Sandra Cisneros all had different opinions about it. All of them overcame struggles that were different but similar in some way. What really intrigued me was that they followed their hearts in what they wanted to do even though people told them they couldn't.
Douglass moves to attack the Christian beliefs of the American people, showing the great discrepancies between the ideals held in the Christian faith and the ideals held by slaveowners. Christians avoidance of abolishing slavery, yet worshipping a loving and peaceful God, may be the worse crime of them all. Douglass explains the hypocrisy of the American people by choosing to continue slavery while claiming the benevolent principles embedded in the Bible. At the moment he gives this speech, “they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, yet they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance” (Douglass 12). The American people acknowledge and thank God for their freedoms, yet purposefully
In the century where African-Americans had no rights and were highly discriminated, two men set out to make a new lifestyle for each other. Those two men where Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X. Frederick Douglass was a slave when he began to learn to read. Malcolm X was in prison when he began to learn how to read, he was in prison because he was an activist civil right. Both of this men have a great influence to the changes made for African-American rights. Both of this men have similarities and differences. Some of the similarities are why they wanted to learn, and their background. The differences are in the way that they learned to read and write and at what time they learned to read and write. Although both men have similarities they
When you look at today’s government, it is viewed that everyone will be treated equally and decisions will be made in the best interest of the people. But when thinking about the government of the past, one must ask if these same views were expressed by the people of that time? Did everyone fill that they were apart of a just system? According to Frederick Douglass and Henry David Thoreau the answer to that question is no. The government was unjust because so many followed the wrong doings of the law rather than doing what was right, subjected African Americans to harsher punishments
“The right to have a slave implies the right in some one to make a slave; that right must be equal and mutual, and this would resolve society into a state of perpetual war.” Senator William Steward, an anti-slavery supporter, issued this claim in his “There is a Higher Law than the Constitution” speech. Steward, like all abolitionist, viewed all of man as equals. This equality came from the “higher law” that is the Bible. Since all men were created by God then all men were equals in God’s eyes. Abolitionist believed that whites had no more right to make a slave out of a African American than the African American had to make a slave out of a white man.
...ing the general public to view their fellow men, as less than what they truly are, their equals. The institution of slavery has blinded the clergy and churches of America, causing them to sit idly by as an injustice is being brought upon God’s people, a god that all men share. Christianity has become a tool in which the separation of whom receives liberties and whom does not becomes its clearest. As Douglass says “ At the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty […] they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly useless to a world lying in wickedness.” Christianity has become a tool of oppression for the elite; used to deny unalienable rights to their fellow man, the same rights their own fathers had fought so valiantly for during the founding of America.
In this final research analysis, I will be doing a comparison between the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” and the “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” to show how both Douglass and Rowlandson use a great deal of person strength and faith in God to endure their life and ultimately gain their freedom.
I believe both clips would be a thorough way to help people understand the horrors of slavery. Clip 2 describes Douglass's two masters Captain Anthony and his overseer Mr. Plummer. Douglass states that Captain Anthony, "He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding. He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave." (Clip 2) His overseer Mr. Plummer "was a miserable drunkard, a profane swearer, and a savage monster" (Clip 2) he was known to have cut and slash women's head so horribly that even the Master, the cruel man that he was, would at times be so outraged at his cruelty that he would threaten to whip him. They were terrible to their slaves and what they would do to them, Aunt Hester being an example. During
By commencing every paragraph with “Sir,” or “Here, sir,” or “This sir” Banneker uses repetition. He does this to persuade Jefferson that he is indeed a person of importance and over and over again he is kind to him and demonstrates the proper manner that Jefferson ought to be written to in. As a result of appealing to Jefferson by using the simple recurrence of one word: sir; Banneker’s letter will most likely actually be read and thought about rather than read and ignored, or even ditched due to someone who doesn’t write with respect. After his sir introduction to every paragraph, Banneker immediately proceeds to get right to the point. This will be his tone during the course of this letter. Banneker seems to be very kind but he is drilling Jefferson and accusing him of the same things he indicted Great Britain of. Banneker scolds Jefferson saying: “You clearly saw into the injustice of a state of slavery” then, but now you do the same thing King George and England did to us. Banneker inserts yet another rhetorical device to push his argument against slavery----this time it is an analogy between England against the colonies and the new government against them. He continues to even go as extreme as to quote Jefferson from the Declaration in saying that “all men are created equal” and “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights” to drive even harder the fact that he believes Jefferson and the government is hypocritical and that slavery needs eradicated from
Despite Jefferson’s vocal opposition of slavery, he still owned hundreds of slaves and profited immensely off of the institution of slavery and Banneker articulated that inherent hypocrisy in his letter. Jefferson supported gradual emancipation, and while that was a step in the right direction, it did not make any kind of significant improvement in the lives of those who were continuing to suffer under slavery. He wanted to “improve” some of the more violent aspects of slavery by reducing physical punishments and improving quality of life, but even then human beings are still being treated as property. Although he was anti-slavery, he still believed that black people were inferior and Banneker used religion as part of his persuasion: “It is the indispensable duty of those who maintain for themselves the rights of human nature, and who profess the obligations of Christianity, to extend their powers and influence to the relief of every part of the human race, from whatever burden or oppression they may unjustly labor under” (Page
Banneker makes these religious appeals to attack Jefferson’s pro-slavery stance. Banneker conveys that while Jefferson is “fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind,” yet he “counteracts his mercies” by letting slavery continue. His religious appeal serves two purposes, the first of which chains Banneker and Jefferson under a common God. This goes on to show that Jefferson and Banneker have a collective understanding. However, while this ties the two men together, it also ridicules Jefferson. Banneker attacks Jefferson under the eyes of God so that he can sustain a respectful tone while also reprimanding
“Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read” address their abilities of being self taught to read and write. A deficiency of education makes it difficult to traverse life in any case your race. Being an African American while in a dark period of mistreatment and making progress toward an advanced education demonstrates extraordinary devotion. Malcolm X seized “special pains” in searching to inform himself on “black history” (Malcolm X 3). African Americans have been persecuted all through history, yet two men endeavor to demonstrate that regardless of your past, an education can be acquired by anybody. Douglass and Malcolm X share some similarities on how they learned how to read and write as well
Education is a privilege. The knowledge gained through education enables an individual’s potential to be optimally utilized owing to training of the human mind, and enlarge their view over the world. Both “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass himself and “Old Times on the Mississippi” by Mark Twain explore the idea of education. The two autobiographies are extremely different; one was written by a former slave, while the other was written by a white man. Hence, it is to be expected that both men had had different motivations to get an education, and different processes of acquiring education. Their results of education, however, were fairly similar.
America, a land with shimmering soil where golden dust flew and a days rain of money could last you through eternity. Come, You Will make it in America. That was the common theme of those who would remove to America. It is the common hymn, the classic American rags-to-riches myth, and writers such as Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass had successfully embraced it in their works.Franklin and Douglass are two writers who have quite symmetrical styles and imitative chronology of events in their life narratives.