"What is Frederick Douglass's overall claim in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass? In this method, the author would address the counterclaims within each of the body paragraphs. [46] One of the most corrupting, debilitating effects of slavery, in Douglasss analysis, was its fostering of a cultural disdain for laboring as an activity beneath the dignity of truly free, truly human beings. safeguard properties lawsuit 2017; syl johnson chad ochocinco father The charge of a pro-slavery Constitution was a slander upon [the] memory of the Framers, he contended; interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a glorious liberty document. Consider the constitution according to its plain reading, Douglass continued, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. James M. Washington (New York: HarperCollins, 1986), pp. The conclusion should sum up the author's entire argument from the essay. Let us consider first the difficulties. This latter, of course, was the position of Lincoln and of the moderate center of the Free Soil and Republican parties during the 1850s. [60] Douglass, This Decision Has Humbled the Nation, in Douglass Papers, Vol. [27], Through long and deep reflection, Douglass finally came to regard Lincoln as the one manto whom we are more indebted for a United Nation and for American liberty than to any otherthe greatest statesman that ever presided over the destinies of this Republic.[28], Lincolns assassination was the crowning crime of slavery, as Douglass declared in his 1876 memorial, and it was also a damaging blow to hopes for a just and prudent policy for the nations postwar reconstruction. Douglasss postwar arguments were consistent with this position. Douglass refutes Fitzhughs pro-slavery argument of the average slave living an ideal life, by disproving early ideas of the free labor system and paternalism through real life encounters of the physical oppression slaves faced on the day to day basis in the forms of inhumane treatment and violence, as well as the true harsh, The brutality that slaves endured form their masters and from the institution of slavery caused slaves to be denied their god given rights. Above all, the Constitution must be interpreted in light of its commitment to secure the blessings of liberty for all. Identify the parts of an argumentative essay. Criticizethe evidence and analysis of the counterclaimas being unimportant, irrelevant, or a misinterpretation. Dvidas? 556, 569. The purpose of an argument, whether it's in a paper or a speech, is to convince or persuade. This is called the counterclaim. A good conclusion for an argumentative essay should address at least one of the following: What implications does the argument have for various stakeholders? In a widely publicized speech commemorating the Constitutions bicentennial, Marshall asserted that in its infamously pro-slavery ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Supreme Court merely reaffirmed the prevailing opinion of the Framers regarding the rights of Negroes in America. He claimed that Chief Justice Roger Taney, writing for the Court in that case, had accurately described the Founders views when he alleged that in the Founders day, black Americans, had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white raceand so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. As a result of entering slave-hood at an early age, he did not know his birthdate (like most slaves). It is an effort to cast out Satan by Beelzebub. [60] He feared that such a development among black Americans likewise would be the effect of continuing failures to do justice by American institutions, as it could result also from the disaffection propagated by black advocates of emigration, despairing of Americas prospects for reform. When you're preparing an argument, make sure to note where you got your evidence. It must be acknowledged that most of the Founders, with notable exceptions, were not racial integrationists; yet despite their particular doubts, racial integration is a legitimate inference from their principles, as Douglass forcefully argued. IV, pp. In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," Douglass has the ability to show the psychological battle between the white slave holders and their black slaves, which is shown by Douglass' own intellectual struggles against his white slave holders. This grand achievement taught Douglass something, as he says, From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. Not only will people need to know where you got your evidence, they might even want to see it. The time for such argument is passed. Accept the criticism of the counterclaim. Fortunately, his master never treated him unkindly, until he was sent to be with a master that was the extreme opposite. While Frederick Douglass made some key arguments, he also made common ground to make his appeal for the abolition of slavery. As he renewed his labors for justice and progress for the freedpeople, Douglass had to confront a nettlesome question, lingering in the minds even of many anti-slavery whites, that had long obstructed the abolitionist cause. [5] As Abraham Lincoln and many others have observed, the claim that the Founders regarded blacks or nonwhites as beings lacking equal natural rights is altogether false. Sophia Auld, described as "a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings," nevertheless became "even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself" after her husband convinced her that slaves should not be taught to read. In paragraph 5, what does douglass acknowledge as a counterclaim to his position? 516517. Americas mission and destiny are to supply the [most] perfect national illustration of the unity and dignity of the human family that the world has ever seen. This is the essential bequest of our fundamental principles of government, world-embracing in their scope and character.[31] The Union victory, in Douglasss view, signified a momentous victory for a grand politics of integration. The implication was that the agitation that abolitionists had begun could never be finally pacified until slavery was finally abolished. Douglass endures unequalled as the invincible adversary of racial despair and disaffectionthe pre-eminent exemplar and apostle of hopefulness in the American promise of justice for all. All rights reserved. The most telling, the most killing, refutation of slavery, he wrote to Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1853, is the presentation of an industrious, enterprising, thrifty, and intelligent free black population. Ever confident in the power of virtue to dispel prejudice, Douglass affirmed in 1883 that the moral government of the universe is on our side. When providing evidence to support reasoning, always make sure that the evidence comes from a credible source and that it is directly relevant to the reasoning. Although, Douglass is able to be direct our thoughts to these experiences in such a light, you feel as if you are witnessing it happen right before you. As the author of three autobiographies, Douglass framed his life story as a series of reversals of fortune suggestive of the possibility of liberating revolutionary change. The climactic reversal in his youth came when he resolved to resist, and successfully resisted, a cruel slavemasters attempt to whip him. Douglass found solid reasons for believing what he repeatedly affirmed throughout the decade, as in his Dred Scott speech: I base my sense of the certain overthrow of slavery, in part, upon the nature of the American Government, the Constitution, the tendencies of the age, and the character of the American people. Reiterating at the end of his life a powerful theme of his earliest writings, Douglass insisted that educationmeans emancipation. Criticizethe reasoning of the counterclaimas being flawed, illogical, or biased. Latest answer posted August 21, 2018 at 9:25:03 PM. What country have I? he asked, a member of a race placed outside the protections of law, and answered, I have no patriotism. The function of a claim is to provide the author's argument. Doubts arose as to whether so skilled an orator could ever have been a slave, and Douglass responded by writing his first autobiography. A fair-minded observer could scarcely deny that for many Americans, race still does matter. Check your answer in a print or an online college-level dictionary, Identify and define two other words in which the prefix ob- means "against." The reasons of an argument are the reasoning or logical proof provided to prove the argument. Accept the criticism of the counterclaim. A claim tells what you think is true about a topic based on your knowledge and your research. V, pp. It was specifically on grounds of reparative justice that he urged support of one particular federal public-education proposal, a bill put forward by Senator Henry Blair of New Hampshire. Evidence tells your reader how your claim is proved. No people can prosper, Douglass reiterated late in life, unless they have a home, or the hope of a home; and to have a home, one must have a country.[61] America was AfricanAmericans proper home, he maintained, their only realistic alternative and also the locus of their highest ideals. 61, 6465. Douglass publicly announced his change of opinion in the spring of 1851, but his most powerful statement of his revised view appears, fittingly enough, in his speech at an Independence Day celebration in 1852. Under the whole Heavens, he remarked in 1894, there never was a people liberated from bondage under conditions less favorable to the successful beginning of a new and free mode of life, than were the Freedmen of the South. [51] With respect to corrective justice, he firmly endorsed the principle but took a subtle, carefully measured position with respect to its present application. Here, where universal suffrage is the ruleto rule us out is to make us an exception, to brand us with the stigma of inferiority, and to invite to our heads the missiles of those about us.[38], This was no merely abstract consideration. He also refutes a counterclaim presented by those with an opposing view. In these three stories, as well as in a sizable number of other articles, lectures, and letters, Douglass strongly advocated against slavery. How would you like to be able to win any argument? These were indeed terrible enough; but deeper down, and more terrible still, were the mental and moral wrongs that slavery inflicted. Even Christianity was corrupted by slavery, he points out. Taking the policy claim from earlier, if an author is arguing that the United States should ban capital punishment, their reasons would be the reasons why they believe this is the case. His first hand accounts of the cruel nature of slavery and the thought. What have you learned about the struggle for freedom from reading this speech? If you've ever watched a detective show, then you know evidence. Spirited and independent-minded by nature, Douglass could abide mentors only to a limited degree even as a young man. Second, it indicates Douglasss reluctance to support more radical measures such as the plan for confiscation proposed in 1867 by Pennsylvania Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, leader of the Radical Republicans in the House of Representatives. "Florida has estimated that the true cost of each execution is approximately $3.2 million, or approximately six times what it would cost to keep that person in prison for all of his or her natural life" (Spangenberg and Walsh 15). [49] Douglass, The Color Question, July 5, 1875, in Douglass Papers, Vol. What evidence does he use to support his claim?" Rejectthe counterclaim. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? Douglasss new office as editor broadened his education as an abolitionist, and over the next few years, his differences with his erstwhile mentors grew more pronounced. All measures devisedto allay and diminish the antislavery agitation, have only served to increase, intensify, and embolden that agitation.[22]. Douglasss escape from slavery and eventual freedom are inseparable from his movingly narrated attainment of literacy. 'My cell phone doesn't have Internet access.'. II, pp. Identify two biblical allusions Douglass makes, and then explain how each contributes to Douglass's overall argument -He wants to use any means to convince people to end slavery. . What kind of "essay and delightful" speech does Douglas wish he could present? But this is the opinion of the Founding and, more generally, of the nations basic moral architecture that critics have propounded widely in todays schools and universities. He then state I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. Including using the example of Joseph and his brothers, as well as the Israelites being slaves in Egypt. However a very courageous man, Frederick Douglass challenges those beliefs. To many, the U.S. war with Mexico in 1846 signified an imperialist effort to expand the number and power of slaveholding states at the national level, and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, Douglass would call it[12]effectively nationalized slavery, conscripting non-slaveholding states and citizens in the recapture of persons fleeing for freedom. 202203 (emphasis added). [62] Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862, in Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings, ed. III, p. 274. A counterclaim is the argument opposing the author's claim. Whereas Douglass from the outset called urgently and insistently for the Civil Wars prosecution as an abolition war, Lincoln saw in such a course of action only a self-destructive rashnessa premature radicalizing of the war, most likely to result in the disaffection of vital allies and, ultimately, the catastrophic failure of the Union cause. [20] Douglass, Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, in Life and Writings, Vol. How does Douglass's opening reference to the Declaration of Independence reinforce his message? IV, p. 183. In paragraph 5, (a) What does Douglass acknowledge as a counterclaim to his His final break with Garrison came in 1851, when he announced that he had come to reject the core Garrisonian doctrine that the U.S. Constitution was a pro-slavery instrument. Using stories to illustrate each of his points, Douglass shows that black slaves only tell whites they are happy to avoid retribution, that they sing to mourn and lament their fate, and that owners who have gone to revival meetings and come back "converted" to Christianity feel even more emboldened to beat and mistreat their slaves, because it is Biblically sanctioned that slaves must obey their masters. Of the Blair bill, he insisted that the Negro needs it, the illiterate white needs it and the nation needs it.[56] Arguing in 1872 against racial segregation in public schools, Douglass described his purpose as patriotic as well as beneficent, on the premise that the public schools should function as a common platform of nationality.[57] Any measure that authorizes or deepens ones self-identification in predominantly racial terms is to be opposed, he maintained, insisting that race is a morally arbitrary quality. Douglass made these appeals to greatest effect in the most popular and frequently presented of his postwar speeches, his lecture on Self-Made Men. After briefly considering a few alternative explanations of worldly success, Douglass declares it evident that we may explain success mainly by one word and that word is work! His careful planning paid off in September 1838, when he fled Baltimore disguised as a seaman and made his way ultimately to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he settled, a newly married man, and took the surname Douglass from the hero in Sir Walter Scotts epic poem The Lady of the Lake. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. The words you choose make a difference in your writing. Additionally, the conclusion of an argumentative essay should look to the future. This technique helps to make the argument more effective by strengthening the claim being made. One of the key arguments in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass as well as in other narratives about slaves is inequality. Viewed in its larger significance, the Union victory meant a victory not only over an extreme, implicitly anarchic variant of the state-sovereignty doctrine, but also over the no less pernicious doctrines of sectionalism and racial supremacy. Douglasss sometimes stern emphasis on the virtues of self-reliance and self-elevation does not mean that he had grown insensitive to the magnitude of the difficulties yet to be overcome; nor does it mean that he had resorted to blaming the victim or placing exclusive responsibility on the freedpeople for their condition. At the same time, Douglass' exploration of Christianity, and its hypocrisy when used to justify slavery, and the idea that the promise of freedom cannot be realized when a group of people are enslaved, helps to bolster the claims that slavery is America's "original sin.". The authorsTEACHING ESSAYS BUNDLEincludes the threeprintable and digitalresources students need to mastertheCCSS W.1 argumentative and W.2 informational/explanatory essays. [5] For an indispensable rebuttal of this critique, see Thomas G. West, Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America (Lanham, Md. [39] Address of the Colored National Convention to the People of the United States, October 47, 1864, in Life and Writings, Vol. IV, p. 68 (emphasis in original). Douglass never mentions the fact that many of the fathers were slave owners. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was a former slave who became a nationally recognized abolitionist orator during the antebellum period. [4] Thurgood Marshall, Speech at the Annual Seminar of the San Francisco Patent and Trademark Law Association, May 6, 1987, at http://www.thurgoodmarshall.com/speeches/constitutional_speech.htm (November 8, 2010). Would you want to have stolid friends? [6] James Madison, Speech of June 6, 1787, in Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. For example, one popular reason in support of the claim about banning capital punishment is that capital punishment costs taxpayers more than life in prison. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. Douglass rejected the various white disintegrationists for obvious reasons, and he rejected the black variants too. But he makes it equally clear that slavery was not successful in achieving this aim. Douglass's really has two central claims in theNarrative. Open Document. The Declarations affirmation, as self-evident truths, of the principles that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is now commonly read as a declaration only of the rights of propertied white males. Here is where the author has a bit of discretion over how to organize their essay. 117118. 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. For example, This evidence may be true; however, the objection does not change the fact that, 2. Douglass gives detailed anecdotes of his and others experience with the institution of slavery to reveal the hidden horrors. The first of those, described above, was the most flagrantly pro-slavery legislation in U.S. history. A character which might pass without censure as a slave cannot so pass as a freeman. Douglass wanted to show his opposition to slavery and knew he would meet many criticisms. Note that the only factual claim on the topic is the claim of fact. Your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberatelyand with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you. The hook should be on-topic and supportive of the author's argument. How does douglass refute this counterclaim? (b) Up to that point, what evidence has he presented to support his claim? I know of no country where the conditions for affecting great changes in the settled order of things, for the development of right ideas of liberty and humanity, are more favorable than here in these United States. but his relative moderation in this proposal is certainly in keeping with his classical-liberal respect for property rights, along with his longtime concern to sustain and strengthen a spirit of virtuous self-reliance among black Americans. In all this talk of race, the motive may be good, but the method is bad. He never had a pair of shoes, no matter how cold it got ,and had only a single thin shift to wear, summer and winter. Most of the slaves were hungry because they were ill-fed, and they were expected to toil sun-up to sundown. Despite that glimmer of dignity at his origin, the year of his birth and the identity of his own father remained unknown to him throughout his life. Protagoras (pictured right) engaging in a public debate. : Da Capo Press, 2001), p. 688. How did Frederick Douglass learn to read? He makes an eloquent case for slavery as an evil and indefensible institution, and he points out as well that it corrupts whites to have such immense power over other human beings. 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V, pp. At the same time Douglass is disgusted with education because it lets him know and fully understand the extent and horrors of slavery. Measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined. Protagoras was a Greek philosopher who is widely considered the father of argument and debate. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? Douglass proposed the chartering of a national land and loan company empowered to purchase available tracts of land and then to resell or lease those lands to members of the newly emancipated class. In his heart of hearts, Douglass would later reflect, Lincoln loathed and hated slavery.[25] The foundation of this deepened appreciation was of course Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation, promised in September 1862 and delivered the following January. The central or overall claim of an argumentative essay is also known as the thesis. The question that has with stood the test of time is, are these encounters that have been written out, exaggerated or the whole truth and nothing but the truth? In the early 1800s Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland, and grew up on Colonial Edward Lloyds plantation. I was nothing before, he wrote in his autobiography, reflecting on the episode. If I told my mom that bit about the Internet access and the Honor Roll, you can bet she would make me prove it by showing it to her. But his Do nothing with us! rhetoric, oversimplified for emphasis, has been misunderstood by critics who read it literally as a denial of public obligation and a justification of public indifference toward the freedpeople. The broadest and bitterest of the black mans misfortunes is the fact that he is everywhere regarded and treated as an exception to the principles and maxims which apply to other men.[35], In its concrete applications, Douglasss principle of fair play meant first that the white majority must refrain from various courses of action whereby it might be tempted to evade rather than to resolve properly the problem of race relations. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Masterplots II: African American Literature Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself Analysis, Critical Edition of Young Adult Fiction Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself Analysis, Critical Context (Masterplots II: African American Literature), Critical Context (Critical Edition of Young Adult Fiction), Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, Frederick Douglass. How do you think that refuting a misconception strengthened your presentation? 'My friends that have Internet access make the Honor Roll.'. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? I have had but one answer from the beginning. What [Lincoln] said on this day, Douglass wrote in his final autobiography, showed a deeper moral conviction against slavery than I had ever seen before in anything spoken or written by him.[26]. 364366. His first hand accounts of the cruel nature of slavery and the thought processes of the various slave owners help to substantiate his assertion. How does learning to read and write change Douglas, as he outlines in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave? In Americas dedication to principles of natural human rights set forth in the Declaration of Independence, Douglass found reason to love and identify with his country, despite the injustices that he and his people had suffered. According to Douglass, how do laws in the South prove that slaves are human beings? He condemned not only Americas Government, but also its Constitution for supporting and perpetuating this monstrous system of injustice and blood.[11]. If the author's claim is that organ selling should be legalized, an example of an effective counterclaim would be that organ selling should not be legalized because it can drive up the cost of organ transplants, meaning that only the rich could afford to receive a transplant. The power of education was also a key argument in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, but it was not an argument with a consistent meaning. Douglass made these particular remarks in a speech at the dedication of an industrial education institution in the state of Virginia, but they represent an extension of his broader advocacy, in this period, of a federally established system of public schools. In a more formal way, she might say, 'Your current situation does not require a new cell phone.' His forceful resistance proved no less powerfully liberating than his literacy. In the book called The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he attempts to shine light on the American Slave system in the 1800s. Another is that slavery is an institution fundamentally based on violence, telling the story of the vicious beatings an aunt of his would often receive: I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. "In addition to wasting lives, the death penalty also wastes money. [17] Douglass, Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, May 11, 1857, in Life and Writings, Vol.

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