to seem too learned. They advised him to stick to talking about his life as a slave and not about the goals of the antislavery movement. To some degree, the fear proved to be correct. People gradually began to doubt that Douglass was telling the truth about himself. Reporting on a lecture that he gave in 1844, the Liberator wrote that many people in the audience refused to believe his stores: "How a man, only six years out of bondage, and who had never gone to school could speak with such eloquence - with such precision of language and power of thought - they were utterly at a loss to devise." With his reputation at stake, Douglass decided to publish the story of his life. During the winter of 1844-45, he set down on paper all the facts - the actual names of the people and places connected with his years in slavery. When Douglass showed the finished manuscript to abolitionist leader Wendell Phillips, his friend suggested that he dispose of it before he was found out and shipped back to Maryland. Douglass was adamant about having his story printed. He did not care if Thomas Auld and every southern slave catcher learned who he was, the rest of world would hear his story too. In May 1845, 5,000 copies of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was published. William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips wrote introductions to the book. Almost immediately, Douglass's autobiography became a best seller. The success brought by Douglass's Narrative after its publication in 1845 was due in large part to its moral force. His book is a story of the triumph of dignity, courage, and self-reliance over the evils of the brutal, degrading slave system. It is a sermon on how slavery corrupts the human spirit and robs both master and slave of their freedom. The book enjoyed widespread popularity in the North, and European editions also sold very well. However, Douglass's fame as an author threatened his freedom. Federal laws gav...
