Is Frederick Douglas An Excellent Citizen Or A Good Man?

Since Aristotle’s time, the discussion of whether an excellent citizen has the same virtues of a good man has been up for debate. In Politics, Aristotle makes a firm position on the side that the ideal citizen cannot be a good man. The historical figure I am going to examine is Frederick Douglas. Was he an excellent citizen or a good man?

In book three, chapter four, Aristotle compares and contrasts the virtues of a good man and an excellent citizen. Although we would like to think that many people meet all criteria, loyal citizens do not posses the same virtues as the good man. Aristotle states “citizens are dissimilar, preservation of the community is their task, and the regime is this community...If, then, there are indeed several forms

67). The truth behind his words are seen throughout history. In the1940s, citizens loyal to Nazi Germany would not hesitate to report a member of the Jewish community to the authorities. This led to many unnecessary deaths due to the threats posed by the government. While this makes the citizen an excellent one, it does not make him a good person. The Nazis would applaud the citizen for good effort, but the United States would deem this as a flawed conscience. Since the civic duties vary between regimes, it makes it impossible for a citizen to be both an excellent citizen and a good man.

Frederick Douglas was born into slavery in 1818, after moving between owners he had finally escaped his slavery in 1838 with the help from a free black woman who lived in Baltimore, MD. Douglas had gotten on a train to New York using the uniform and legal papers that he obtained from a black seaman. Frederick Douglas

This is not only a very deep, thoughtful question, but it is also a speech that Frederick Douglas wrote five years after The Right to Criticize American Institutions. In his later speech Douglas goes on to not only change his previous views, but also makes statements that would potentially make Aristotle to change his view on Frederick Douglas. Douglas goes about opening up his speech by talking about the accomplishment that the founding fathers had made 75 years prior. After giving the forefathers the well-deserved recognition and talking about the country at the time, Douglas moves to start talking about the topic of American Slavery. Douglas states, “Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery…” (p.5). We can pull a lot of information out of this quote. First, we can see that Douglas has changed his attitudes from his earlier speech. Douglas now shows patriotism and love for the constitution. Second, we see how Douglas is going to use the constitution to explain why not only slavery is wrong, but the arguments for slavery. Douglas proves that a slave is actually a man by using the laws of the slave