Romanticism Slavery

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses and analyzes Frederick Douglass' work, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." The paper specifically focuses on how Douglass deliberately and compellingly refuted the general worldview that the white race was doing Africans a favor by bringing them into contact with civilization and introducing them to the Christian God.

From the Paper:

"Frederick Douglass wrote of the Emancipation Proclamation, "Common Sense, the necessities of war, to say nothing of the dictation of justice and humanity have at last prevailed. We shout for joy that we live to record this righteous decree." It is quite likely that Lincoln was aware of the response this proclamation would elicit from black Americans: "Moreover, the liberated themselves became the liberators, for the proclamation also announced the acceptance of men into the Union arm and navy." By simultaneously freeing most of the southern slaves and permitting their admittance into the armed forces, Lincoln provided some indication of his underlying motives. One main reason for the Emancipation Proclamation was that it formally welcomed a very willing fighting force amid the Union ranks."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Berlin, Ira and Barbara J. Fields. Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War. New York: New York Press, 1992.
• Bial, Raymond. The Underground Railroad. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995.
• Blight, David W. Passages to Freedom. Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2004.
• Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Signet Classics, 1990.
• Linden, Glen M. and Thomas Pressly. Voices from the House Divided: the American Civil War as a Personal Experience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995.

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