A piece by David Blight in the New York Times, complaining of Sandefur’s “libertarian” appropriation of Douglass, takes this tack: [Douglass] forged a livelihood with his voice and pen, but fundamentally was not a self-made man as he painted himself in a famous speech, an image through which modern conservatives and libertarians have adopted him as a proponent of their brand of individualism. It stemmed largely from his primary devotion to individual liberty, and his insight that the bulk of men—the democratic majority—is generally inclined to suppress rather than defend the liberty of the individual. Douglass then goes to fetch the horse and eats a full meal at the neighboring farm. Auld, on the other hand, only uses his newfound piety to justify his cruelty to his slaves with added fervor. Ross Douthat discusses with Richard Reinsch his new book The Decadent Society. These descriptions of inequality plague the first half of the book and the reader realizes the “worth" of a slave when Douglass states, “We were all ranked together at the valuation. DuBois’s dismissive and unfair critique of Washington as too “accommodationist”—a view that became leftist dogma in the later Black Power era. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. 3. He is quite explicit about the inspirational effect of these lives of modest, hard-won achievement, whether of “professors or plowmen”: Every instance of such success is an example and a help to humanity. While Douglass was clearly an advocate of individualism (believing that rights inhered in the person), he was in no way denying or neglecting the extent of human interconnectedness. The controversies are in the details, I suppose. As a result, Douglass was sent on tour throughout England. (Douglass, 34) Douglass’s Narrative was known as being a brief, descriptive (like his statement in the above lines), and easy to read piece of literature. WORK!!!!.”. It is generally held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the same period. It’s important to note that “Self-Made Men” was a speech that Douglass usually delivered before black audiences. Douglass also joined their efforts to merge the Liberty Party with the Free-Soil Party, a breakaway group of Democrats led by Martin Van Buren who opposed the extension of slavery into the Western territories. And most lastingly, there are new editions of Douglass’s works, along with a slew of biographies and scholarly works either published or on the horizon. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. The highest order of genius is as dependent as is the lowest.”. So long as racism remains (whether explicit or unconscious, whether personal or structural, whether pervasive or residual), the ability to take courage through resistance opens a crucial pathway to a more self-determining future. Perhaps because of the profoundly dispiriting direction of the post-Reconstruction period, Douglass rather quickly pivots away from fresh hopes of government-enforced fairness. Two prominent works examining Douglass as a political theorist, appearing within the last decade, followed Douglass’s lead in emphasizing the liberty angle. However, his birth and childhood differed demonstrably from those of most Americans – he was a slave. It showed the hardships of slavery as seen by a real slave. All rights reserved. In later years, Douglass credited The Columbian Orator with clarifying and defining his views on human rights. That term implies an individual independence of the past and present which can never exist.” The passage continues: “I believe in individuality, but individuals are, to the mass, like waves to the ocean. One can “Meet Frederick Douglass” or attend “An Evening with Frederick Douglass.” There are unveilings of murals, sculptures, and wax figures. Only after acknowledging that human beings are sub-ordinate within the cosmos and co-ordinate with one another does Douglass begin his celebrated tribute to self-made men. His speech starts with a discussion of the human essence, acknowledging our finite and limited nature, notwithstanding many “wondrous attributes and powers.” Douglass’s version of self-making is about the determined and responsible use of one’s time and talents in the acquisition of good character. Can the Postmodern Natural Law Remedy Our Failing Humanism? His ignorance has turned into prophecy. In fact, Douglass told the crowd gathered to hear his Independence Day address, "Interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a glorious liberty document." This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. WORK!!! The self-made are simply those who rise despite adversity. He is much better fed and clothed, and enjoys privileges altogether unknown to the slave on the plantation. In later years, Douglass credited The Columbian Orator with clarifying and defining his views on human rights. Finding common ground with his … There is a vestige of decency, a sense of shame, that does much to curb and check those outbreaks of atrocious cruelty enacted on the plantation" (38). As a free man Douglass shared his beliefs about But without many people, especially women (his grandmother, two wives, a daughter and countless abolitionist women who supported his career) as well as male mentors, both white and black, he would not have survived and become Douglass. At the beginning of the book, Douglass is a slave in both body and mind. © 2021 Article Myriad. Douglass spent two years touring throughout Great Britain—speaking about the horrors of enslavement. Far from being a thinly disguised presentation of self, it was a speech tailored to what he believed were the urgent needs of his audience. Instead of merely pointing out the fact that he did not know the details of his background is a structurally vital part of the narrative, but Douglass takes this observation one step further by remarking upon the difference between the white and black children. To Frederick Douglass, freedom and liberty remained vague concepts for a great deal of time. Near the start of the speech, he admits that “Properly speaking, there are in the world no such men as self-made men. Peter C. Myers was first on the scene, with his outstanding Frederick Douglass: Race and the Rebirth of American Liberalism (University Press of Kansas, 2008), followed by Nicholas Buccola’s noteworthy The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass: In Pursuit of American Liberty (New York University Press, 2012). For instance, Abraham Lincoln’s views on colonization and his actions in response to the Confederacy’s horrendous mistreatment of captured black soldiers are not relayed quite accurately. But the proper term for that combination isn't Social Darwinism; it's classical liberalism. July 24, 2018|abolitionism, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Liberalism, Timothy Sandefur. First, it should be noted that Douglass never mentions himself in “Self-Made Men,” although it is true that any listener, then or now, would be aware that the speaker met the definition set forth in the speech. A new entry, Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man by Timothy Sandefur (Cato Institute, 2018), also focuses on freedom, tracing how Douglass put his freedom to work in the service of self-improvement and societal progress. Some of his first realizations about what it is not, namely the gross inequities of plantation life formed the basis for his later struggle to emerge from slavery. It was his newfound knowledge of what freedom is like that grew discontentment and motivated his escape. Sandefur’s subtitle refers to an extremely popular speech about the phenomenon of “Self-Made Men” that Douglass gave dozens of times during his postbellum career as a lecturer. A great master of rhetoric, Douglass used traditional persuasive appeals to sway the audience into adopting his point of view. They turn obstacles into opportunities. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. His owner and overseer, Aaron Anthony, fed enslaved children from troughs and mercilessly whipped slaves who did not obey his orders quickly enough. Did the Civil Rights Constitution Distort American Politics. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out" (47). He can no longer stand the combination of inequality with his newfound sense of education and urban knowledge. Douglass let his righteous anger flow in metaphors of degradation, chains, and blood. This showed the conversion to Christianity had a negative impact on Auld. There were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected to the same narrow examination" (51). 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