Frederic Douglass

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

over these states." When the Constitution was written the first ten amendments were a bill of rights. The amendement the was most powerful was the ninth. "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." This amendment means that any rights that were not mentioned in the constitution are still held by the people. This includes any god given rights that all human beings are given. All of these rights to freedom and liberty that are clearly spelled out hold a lot of weight in the American Dream. This leads to the first reason why Frederick Douglass's life represented the failure of the American dream.
Being born a free man is no doubt a god given right. And in a country that goes to great troubles to make sure each specific right is spelled out, it would seem obvious that the freedom to belong to yourself was one of those rights. This is why it is so outlandish and hipocrtitical that slavery ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

just as the writers of the constution were deceptive in their defintion of "man". Once Douglass escaped from slavery he was surprised to find that the north also a very racist place. Not only did the majority of northern whites still feel that blacks were inferiour, New York was full of people looking to turn in fugitive slaves. Frederick also found that his abolitionist friends were not free from this prejudice. At gatherings they often asked Frederick to tell the same stories about when he was a slave, instead of letting him express opinions and philosphies on slavery. Some even went so far as to tell Frederick to talk more like a slave so the audience could the full effect. So, though ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: