reason.That is an extreme of slavery can cause. Most slave-owners were not so brutal, but they were not distant from the behavior. They had to become fairly evil to keep the slaves in line. Brutality had to take the place of consent in slaves and without limitations man was bound to exercise the power.Slavery not only affected the male slave owners but the women also. Mrs. Auld wasn’t raised with slaves, “She has been in a good degree preserved from the blighting and dehumanizing effects of slavery.” (Page 46) When she first married into the family she began to teach Fredrick the ABC’s. Soon after, Mr. Auld found out and put a stop to it. To his belief it was unsafe to teach slaves to read. Before long Mrs. Auld changed, “The fatal Poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work.” (Page 46)Religion teaches us to be kind to one another, perhaps to make us more humane. But Douglas found religion to have the opposite effect on slaveholders. They, “found religious sanction and support,” (page 65) for the cruelty they showed their slaves. I could not believe that religion could or would support slavery. Didn’t they know God sees no color? This could only come from men who preached liberty and practiced slavery. The fear of losing slaves must have been so great a burden on their minds they would look for anything to justify their behavior.Slavery debased religion all across the south. This s what Douglas refers to as the “slaveholders religion” (page 118). Douglas perceives a big difference between Christianity and the slaveholders’ religion, “to receive Christianity as good, pure and holy, is of necessity to reject the slaveholders religion as bad, corrupt and wicked.” (Page 118) Douglas refers to the church members as “cradle plunderers,” the ministers are “men-stealers” an...
