Crevecoeur .vs. Douglass: Slavery .vs. Freedom in America

What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be an American slave? These two questions are ideal thematic rhetorical statements that both Crevecoeur and Douglass write about in various ways. Crevecoeur was not born in the United States, but once he arrived here, he was a free man who made a life for him and his family. On the other hand, Frederick Douglass was born in the United States, but was confined to be a lowly life form other than a human; seen only as an animal used for work, he experienced life from a different perspective. Life in America for a slave was not a dream come true. After families are separated from one another, sold to abusive plantation owners, and made to work on their land, a sense of no hope sets in.
Who I am? I am an American, but I am also Black. To many in the 19th century, blacks were not considered men or women; instead, they were simply tools of trade used to make whites richer. Even as far back as the 15th century, the Spaniards made slaves an important piece of their societal puzzle. Slaves were not seen as equals, just regular workers that had common jobs. According to one of the contributing authors of Black Life and Culture in the United States, Colin A. Palmer;

The author of Negro Thought in America 1880-1915, recollects about the Negro convention in which Douglass attended in his own defense. It seems that Frederick Douglass was accused of not having a position towards the Compromise of 1877 and he is quoted calling himself, “…an uneasy Republican,” (Meier 29). He feels that no Negro should be apart of any political party without knowing what it can do for them. Many times, we as a people see what a popular Black politician claims as their political party and we automatically think that it (the party) is right for us also. Not always is that so. The party may look good, but are their values and qualities on the same level as yours or do they slack in certain ways? We as Blacks in America should understand the struggle that our ancestors went through to get us to this point of free speech and democracy.

played an important role in Spanish life and customs. In the absence of large-scale agricultural enterprises, such slaves were used principally as household workers, stevedores, nursemaids, and porters. Others found their way into the galleys and royal mines, perhaps the most physically demanding of the jobs that slaves had to perform. Faced with the problem of ensuring the security of the realm, the authorities introduced restrictive measures from time to time for the control of the slave population. On the other hand, the slaves possessed certain rights, as outlined by the legal code Las Siete Partidas” (89-90).

During this period, a slave learning to read and write resulted in harsh treatment. Slave owners and other Anglos felt that hindering Blacks from doing anything (reading, writing, and escaping) gave them the upper hand on life and freedom. Knowledge in a slave was the one thing that whites had over blacks. Since slaves were actually qualified as lowly and not quite human, the legal system judged them as less credible than their masters. Just think if a slave was on trial, the testimony of a black witness would never equal to that of a white witness. The slave’s law began and ended with his or her oppressor. There was no beating considered unfair or too severe unless the master said so. No coerced sexual activity was rape unless the master said so and no killing was a murder unless the master said so. Even if the master decided in the slaves favor, he treated these incidents as crimes against his property rather than violations of human rights.

In the introduction to Douglass’ narrative, William Lloyd Garrison describes him as, “…an ornament to society and a blessing to his race…” (Lauter 1818), simply a man who made his way through life and a time that was against him. The narrative offers readers a first hand look at slavery from a male point of view and an inside explanation of slavery. As a fugitive slave, I feel Doglass is an authentic source for the truth about slavery. However, others (some Anglos) find it hard to believe that such an intelligent and articulate man could have been a slave. Many of the incidents included in the narrative are not just about Douglass. He also tells elaborate stories of how other slaves (even his own family members) were mistreated. One example would include his recollection of his grandmother being ‘put out to pasture’ because of her old age. She was considered to old to be sold, so her owner made her go into the woods to live out the rest of her days.

To me, this critic suggests that Crevecoeur, as his own man is humble to himself when he comments about his works. The simple fact of not wanting to be recognized for a masterpiece shows how much his life developed from France to America.

When people think of America, many words come to mind. One is freedom, because one sole king does not dictate our country. It is a democracy, which lets us have our own feelings about who runs the country and what happens to it. Another is happiness, considering w