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Frederick Douglass1

Frederick Douglass1 The United States of America is a country that was founded on the basic principles of freedom and liberty. This often leaves it with a reputation as a land full of hope, where anything is possible as long as one is willing to work hard for it. Unfortunately, this idea is not always true. I was born a slave and did not have the privilege of freedom, and liberty. I represent the failures and successes of the American dream because of the color of my skin and the hardships that come with it. Being born a free man is no doubt a god given right. And in a country that goes through great trouble 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 hypocritical that slavery existed in America. I was born a slave and shipped around the country just as a piece of property. From the time I was a young boy I had an idea of what being free was and that is what I should have been, even though all I was seeing was the cruel ownership of the black people. “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest; He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome by fatigue. Would he cease to swing…” A young man of 6 or 7, I should not have been exposed to this brutality such as white children did not. In the Declaration of Independence one of the most famous portions goes as follows: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed to certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This pursuit of happiness is a very important part of the American dream, for it is the result of all the rights that were laid out. By being given these rights a person is free to pursue happiness in their life, whatever happiness may be to them. It is very ironic that when I finally got my first taste of freedom I had to be deceptive in sneaking away from my owner, just as the writers of the Constitution were deceptive in their definition of “man”. Once I escaped from slavery I was surprised to find that the north was also a very racist place. Not only did the majority of northern whites still feel that blacks were inferior, New York was full of people looking to turn in fugitive slaves. “Watch out, another fugitive slave told Frederick. Trust no one. For just a little money the people in New York will betray you.” I also found that my abolitionist friends were not free from this prejudice. At gatherings they often asked me to tell the same stories about when I was a slave, instead of letting me express my opinions on slavery. Some even went so far as to tell me to talk more like a slave so the audience could get the full effect. So, though I had finally escaped to a free state, I was still unable to fully pursue the happiness that is such an essential part of the American dream. The final and more specific part of the American Dream is the right to have equal opportunity to move up in the world. This can be looked at as ones ability and opportunity to make an upward move dealing with their life. This idea comes back to the idea that, if someone is willing to work hard enough, they can achieve anything in America. One can work hard achieve something good in many different aspects of life. It does not always have to be looked upon as only personal goal. This shows the one part of the American Dream I was able to achieve. Once I had been in the abolitionist movement for a while, I became very active in writing for the anti-slavery newspaper, The “Liberator”. Though I was writing, and traveling around to do speeches with abolitionists, I was beginning to have different views than the people I was with. Instead of just going along with the flow, I had an idea to start my own anti-slavery journal, with my own philosophy and views as its base. “On December 3, 1847, in Rochester, New York, the first edition of the newspaper The North Star rolled off the press. Frederick was it’s writer, editor, and publisher.” Though I found much opposition and discouraging words I still stuck with my goal. I knew that starting this paper would be hard work. But in the spirit of the American dream I simply worked hard to achieve what I wanted. I was obviously successful because the paper had three thousand subscribers. This fit the idea in the American dream that states, if one is willing to work hard enough they can achieve anything in America, and I worked very hard on that paper. So, I did experience a success of the American dream in this aspect. But one must feel it was a bit strange, since I was doing this to try to get justice for my people. My life did not represent the success of the American dream. I was born a slave and witnessed all of the harsh brutalities that come with slavery. I experienced no freedom as a slave, and was just a piece of property. My strong yearning for freedom led my to flee my master, only to find that I was now looked upon by most as a free inferior black man. This strongly lessened my ability to pursue happiness. I did find a slight success in the American dream through my paper, but it was tainted because I was trying to get justice for my exploited people. In my life the failures of the American dream far outweigh the successes, and one will find the reason for this imbalance is simply the color of my skin. Bibliography: Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. Garden City, New York: Dolphin Books, 1963. Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Slave and Citizen: The Life of Frederick Douglass. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1980. Kerby, Mona. Frederick Douglass. New York: Franklin Watts, 1994.

Word Count: 1024