I explain Douglasss argument more elaborately in Frederick Douglass, pp. 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.". Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tigerlike fierceness" (page 28). The voting right was, for Douglass, the keystone of the arch of human liberty, as it was the primary, indispensable means of guarding every other right. Evidence is sourced facts, statistics, data, or quoted experts the author uses to provide factual support for their claims and reasoning. I, ed. In Douglasss day, the forces of disintegration were represented by slaveholders, white supremacists, segregationists, colonizationists, and the more extreme partisans of state or regional sovereignty, and also by black emigrationists and other proponents of black nationalism in its own more extreme forms. One is that slavery was an institution that corrupted whites and robbed (or attempted to rob) blacks of their humanity. The main purpose of a counterclaim is to address the opposite side of the argument and provide a rebuttal. (a) What main claim shapes Douglass's speech? 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. Power, Protest, and Change Test (blonde davis, Intro To Business Chapter Three (Part Two), The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses, Literature and Composition: Reading, Writing,Thinking, Carol Jago, Lawrence Scanlon, Renee H. Shea, Robin Dissin Aufses, Edge Reading, Writing and Language: Level C, David W. Moore, Deborah Short, Michael W. Smith. That appreciation was, however, specific to the maturity of his thought. The first televised presidential debate took place between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960. : Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), chapter 1. A claim is the main argument. [44] Douglass, We Are Not Yet Quite Free, August 3, 1869, in Douglass Papers, Vol. V, pp. Objecting to the efforts of some white benevolent societies, he urged his black compatriots indignantly to reject any condition of dependence: A new condition has brought new duties. While Frederick Douglass made some key arguments, he also made common ground to make his appeal for the abolition of slavery. It was above all in Americas original and unforgettable dedication to those principles that Douglass found reason to love and identify with his country, despite the injustices that he and his people had suffered. Douglass's central claim in his autobiography is that slavery is as harmful to whites as it is to slaves. His first hand accounts of the cruel nature of slavery and the thought processes of the various slave owners help to substantiate his assertion. Yet, while Douglass narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. 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. It is an effort to cast out Satan by Beelzebub. There are a number of key arguments in "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass". Slavery has been around since the 1700s, but the subject of slavery is controversial because it not only includes information written from former slaves, but information acquired from historians. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. The claim is the author's argument that they are attempting to prove in the essay. keep that person in prison for all of his or her natural life" (Spangenberg and Walsh 15). Want this question answered? Use the present tense of the verb. The federal government would find itself surrounded by a hostile spirit in the lately rebellious states, he warned, and the strength to counterbalance this spirit would be found in the negroes of the south.[40] Moreover, a policy of equal suffrage would have, over time, a more profound integrative effect in the healing of racial divisions. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. In that speech, often considered the greatest of all abolitionist speeches, he excoriated Americas injustices no less vigorously than he ever had, but he took great care to distinguish Americas practice from its first principles and the actions of its subsequent generations from those of its Founders. They were great men too. It contains a hook or way of gathering the audience's attention. The hook should be on-topic and supportive of the author's argument. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. II, pp. Douglas first swam alone in the pool to remove his residual doubts about his fear of water. Evidence provides factual proof for the reasons in an argument and can consist of facts, data, statistics, published study results, and quoted experts. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. I teach a seventh grade ELA class and weve just finished reading Walk Two Moonsby Sharon Creech. IV, p. 319. Slavery not only expropriated the fruits of its victims labor, but also assaulted the moral and mental faculties by which, once freed, they might otherwise have put their labor to profitable and elevating uses. He was appealing to the public to honor those victims claim for a slight measure of compensation in a fashion carefully tailored to their needs and to the deepest of the wrongs that they had suffered. The Essay Skills Worksheets include 97 worksheets (printables and 97 Google slides) to help teachersdifferentiate writing instructionwith bothremedial and advancedwriting skills. We must not beg men to do for us what we ought to do for ourselves. Counterclaims are also provable and supportable by reasons and evidence. He gives reasons for this claim and backs them up with evidence. III, p. 218 (emphasis added). It's how the detective is able to put the criminal in jail. God and nature speak to our manhood and manhood alone.[58]. The reasons can also be thought of as the "why" behind a claim. Writing before slaves were freed in the United States, Douglass' main objective in the Narrative is to dispel any notion that slavery is good for those enslaved. 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. [17] Douglass, Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, May 11, 1857, in Life and Writings, Vol. In order for evidence to be reliable, it must come from a credible source that is current, nonbiased, provides researched sources, and (preferably) peer-reviewed. Tell why all or part of the opposing point of view may be reasonable, plausible, or valid, but minimize the opposing position. Frederick Douglass went on to write books and give speeches in hope that one day all slaves would be free. 'Because I said so,' doesn't work, and 'Just because,' doesn't work - until you're a parent. All of the violence and the degradation was intended, Douglass makes clear, to rob African-Americans of their humanity. Claims are not just opinions. Later, he finds out that while the conditions are slightly better there is still a great deal of injustice. Taking a long view, Douglass judged that there was no greater danger to the elevation of black people and the integration of America than this spirit of alienation. These will speak for him. Not only will people need to know where you got your evidence, they might even want to see it. Douglasss arguments on this subject extended back to his early abolitionist years, when he saw very clearly that slaves natural rights to liberty were fundamentally identical with their natural rights to propertywith their natural properties in their own persons, in their own labor, and in the fruits of that laborand that the fundamental evil of slavery was to deprive them, at once, of both. Note that the only factual claim on the topic is the claim of fact. His life was transformed yet again in August 1841, when the nations foremost abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, heard him speak at meetings in New Bedford and Nantucket, Massachusetts, and promptly offered him a position as a lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. The following sentence frames helped out my students considerably: First Contrasting Transition +Name the Opposition +Strong Verb + Opposing Point of View +Evidence + Analysis + Second Contrasting Transition + Reference the Opposing Point of View + Turn, However, But, Admittedly, Although, Alternatively, Strong Verbs + Denial/Assertion or Assertion, Denial:reject, oppose, disagree, question, doubt thisview andAssertion:argue that, reason that, claim that, support, conclude that. -reinforces the idea of the great principles of political freedom and natural justice, 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. IV, p. 436. [51] Douglass, The Blessings of Liberty and Education, September 3, 1894, in Douglass Papers, Vol. Concluding his July Fourth oration in 1852, he reassured his audience, I do not despair of this country. The 1850s witnessed a series of what, to many, must have appeared to be catastrophic setbacks for the abolitionist cause, beginning with the execrated Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, including also the KansasNebraska Act of 1854, and culminating in the Dred Scott ruling in 1857. [18] Douglass, The Republican PartyOur Position, in Life and Writings, Vol. There he worked proudly as a day laborer and refined his oratorical powers, both as a lay preacher in New Bedfords African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and as a participant in the meetings of local black abolitionists. His new duties in that office compelled him, as he later wrote, to re-think the whole subject, and to study, with some care, not only the just and proper rules of legal interpretation, but the origin, design, nature, rights, powers, and duties of civil government.[13] This rethinking, he reported, brought about a radical change in my opinions.[14] At the center of that change was a radical reappraisal of the American Founding.
