Preview

How Did Douglass Cause More Harm Than Good

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
348 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did Douglass Cause More Harm Than Good
S. Douglas

Stephen Arnold Douglas was born in Brandon, Vermont, in 1813. He did not attend law school but he became attorney-general of Illinois in 1834. A member of the legislature in 1835, and secretary of state in 1840, and judge of the supreme court in 1841. He became a member of the House of Representatives in 1847. In 1854 Douglas introduced his a bill to the Senate that would let the states enter the Union with or without slavery. Fredrick Douglas warned that the bill was "an open invitation to a fierce and bitter strife". Meaning that it would cause more harm than good. In 1858 Abe Lincoln challenged Douglas for his seat in the Senate. He was against Douglass proposal that the people living in the Louisiana Purchase

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lincoln’s poisition on slavery differ from that of Stephen Douglas. Abraham Lincoln believed that the slavery was very uncommon and scary that it scared the supreme court to declare that the Constitution can not extend slavery in the new states. Lincoln was scared to spread slvaery in the new territories which was connected with the Dred Scott decision of 1857. Stephan Douglass on the other hand argued for the popular sovereignity. Mostly advocating the territories that the people could extend slavery by not following the law, he supported the Dred Scoot deciison of 1857.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    ADD TO THIS SECTION ABOUT SLAVERY - Lincoln countered Douglas’s claim that slavery was a state’s rights issue. He insisted that slavery “is a part of our national life”; therefore, it must be eliminated on a national level.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As an African-American, I know a little bit about my heritage, but after reading this short story about Fredrick Douglass, I learned the immoral, criminal nature of slavery and enslavers. I also understand why Douglass wished to be an animal.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Douglas played a major role in most of the major public issues of his day. He was an ardent expansionist, advocating the annexation of Cuba and the entirety of the Oregon Territory. In the Senate Douglas chaired the influential Committee on Territories. With Henry…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    While Douglass’s Narrative shows that slavery dehumanizes slaves, it also advances the idea that slavery adversely affects slave owners. Douglass makes this point in previous chapters by showing the damaging self deceptions that slave owners must construct to keep their minds at ease. These self deceptions build upon one another until slave owners are left without religion or reason, with hypocrisy as the basis of their existence. Douglass uses the figure of Sophia Auld to illustrate this process. When Douglass arrives to live with Hugh and Sophia Auld, Sophia treats Douglass as nearly an equal to her own son. Soon, however, Hugh schools Sophia in the ways of slavery, teaching her the immoral slave master relationship that gives one individual…

    • 161 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were so many paintings to choose from when it comes to Aaron Douglass and it really does show the impact he had on his generation. This is the main painting that stuck out to me that Douglass created because it creates a certain emotion and struggle of the African people. The painting shows people in chains and in the back round two ships which suggesting the transformation of the black culture as slaves to the United States, paintings like these are so important because it shows the African Americas past and the many things they had to endure. What is exceptional about this painting is the many colors Douglass blended in the watercolors, which shows the chains on the people sticking out in a sense. Now that we have…

    • 154 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of all the events that happened in the US before 1877, the one event that completely changed the course of history was the direct result of the Kansas Nebraska act i.e. Bleeding Kansas. The Kansas Nebraska act allowed for new territories to decide if they were a free or a slave sate by popular sovereignty. It undid the compromise that was made in Missouri compromise, which designated a line of latitude to be the separation of free and slave states. The Kansas Nebraska act re ignited the differences between pro and anti-slavery sections. Violent events and fighting had become so terrible that it had to be termed as “Bleeding Kansas”.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The main causes of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 were great in number. The first was Abraham Lincoln claiming that Douglas was encouraging fears of amalgation of the races with enough success to drive thousands of people away from the Republican Party. The second was that Stephen A. Douglas was claiming that Lincoln was an abolitionist for saying that the American Declaration of Independence applied, in fact, to both blacks and whites. The third cause was Lincoln arguing that in his "House Divided" speech that Douglas was part of the conspiracy to nationalize slavery. Lincoln also expressed fear that the next Dred Scott decision would end up with Illinois as a slave state.…

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Henry Clay also delivered more than seventy speeches throughout the process, “ as a powerful sentiment for acceptance gradually crystallized in the North” (Cohen/Kennedy). For eight months members of Congress, led by Clay, Daniel Webster, Senator from Massachusetts, and John C. Calhoun, senator from South Carolina, debated the compromise. With the help of Stephen Douglas, a young Democrat from Illinois, a series of bills that would make up the compromise were ushered through Congress. It was these few men that led the creation of the compromise and are known historically for their…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an autobiography written by Frederick Douglass himself.Serving as an 1845 life story and treatise on abolition, the book was written by Frederick Douglass. In chapter 10 of the autobiography, Douglass finds himself under the hand of his master Edward Covey. Douglass describes Covey as evil, with fellow slaves even calling him a “snake”, in direct reference to the Devil. Douglass even notes that Covey saw profit in breeding slaves, having a married man having sex with a purchased female slave. Douglass confesses that witnessing this blasphemy may have been the lowest point in his life because he contemplated killing Covey and himself.With Covey’s farm being located near Chesapeake bay, Douglass…

    • 182 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In "Frederick Douglass" the author uses factual evidence ot develope important ideas. For exmaple, it states " Because he was born into slavery, Douglass did not learn the alphabet until age twelve." This detail helps develop ideas of hardwork when he learned how to read and write. "In 1838, Douglass successfully escaped slavery by boarding a train and arriving in New York—a state where slavery was illegal." Here it shows how Douglass finally escapes slavery and goes to a place where slavery is illlegeal. In "The Underground Railroad" the author also uses factual evidence to develope important ideas. FOr example, "Technically the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 required state officials to return slaves who had escaped to free states." Here the…

    • 149 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the antebellum South, slavery existed not only as an economic staple, but also was seen by many as a key component of the Christian religion. African-American slaves were subject to the will of their owners who believed the Bible supported their every action. As a slave himself, Frederick Douglass quickly realized that the ideals of Christianity strictly opposed the practice of slavery. The false form of this religion, explained as “The hypocritical Christianity of [the] land,” is practiced by whites, most notably Mr. Covey, and is a complete mockery of the true ideals behind genuine Christian thought (Douglass, 95). Douglass refutes Covey among others to expose the underlying hypocrisy of the slaveholding South while revealing his version…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When it comes to building the right kind of character, it's easiest to start with a person when they're young. Fredrick Douglass’ quote alludes many impressions. One of the main factors in his quote concerns age difference. Children at a young age are more moldable than adults, meaning they adapt quicker and easier to change. Adults become increasingly aware that their children won’t have them forever, as children start to age. Douglass wrote this quote to address the situation of making strong children for the future. Douglass suggested in his quote, that by encouraging independent life skills, this would ensure a smoother transition through life’s trials.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Kansas-Nebraska Act

    • 833 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Kansas-Nebraska Bill caused territorial problems that destroyed the National Party system. It was introduced by Stephen A. Douglas, one of the leading men behind the Compromise of 1850, and in opposition to sectional quarreling. The bill was to establish the Kansas and Nebraska territories. He wanted to send an transcontinental railroad into the area to help increase the economic activity in his home state of Illinois and encourage settlement of the Great Plains area. Since no Company would build a railroad until the area had been organized, Douglas introduced the bill.…

    • 833 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Compromise of 1850, as well as, the policies that extended from it, caused political upheaval, which would soon spark the Civil War. The first political change was the disintegration of the Whig party. Next, was the formation of a weak political party, known as the Know-Nothings. The Most important political change, of the decade, was the introduction of the Republican Party. The opposition of slavery was central to the Republican Party. The election of 1856 was won by the Democrats, who favored a less strong central government, and were overall divided on the issue of slavery. The Republican Party, however, won one third of the popular vote, and 11 of the northern states, marking their arrival as a powerhouse in Congress. The Republican Party would soon take a giant step towards popular vote when the Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott, a slave suing for his freedom, as he was being held as a slave, within the free state of Illinois. Essentially, the ruling stated that slaves could exist anywhere within the Union, and that, effectively, there was no such thing as a free state. This alarmed the northern states. The Republican Party and their endeavor to end slavery became widely supported in the North. Two great political figures emerged, by the close of the decade, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Both become famous through their debates with each other, and so did…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays