Douglass found solid reasons for believing what he repeatedly affirmed throughout the decade, as in his Dred Scott speech: I base my sense of the certain overthrow of slavery, in part, upon the nature of the American Government, the Constitution, the tendencies of the age, and the character of the American people. Not only will people need to know where you got your evidence, they might even want to see it. Slavery has been around since the 1700s, but the subject of slavery is controversial because it not only includes information written from former slaves, but information acquired from historians. (a) In one sentence, state Douglass's argument, -abolsih slavery in the eyes of God/our country. [43] True abolition and true liberation, in Douglasss understanding, required the restoration of slaves property rights, not the elimination of all others property. For Douglass especially, the stakes of that contest were matters of concrete urgency as well as of larger national destiny. Various options can be effective: 1. [27] Douglass, Speech at the Unveiling of The Freedmens Monument in Memory of Abraham Lincoln, April 14, 1876, in Douglass Papers, Vol. : Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), chapter 1. The conclusion of the essay is one paragraph and contains an overarching summary of the argument as well as any implications this argument may have moving forward. Americas mission and destiny are to supply the [most] perfect national illustration of the unity and dignity of the human family that the world has ever seen. This is the essential bequest of our fundamental principles of government, world-embracing in their scope and character.[31] The Union victory, in Douglasss view, signified a momentous victory for a grand politics of integration. "What is Frederick Douglass's overall claim in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass? Taking a long view, Douglass judged that there was no greater danger to the elevation of black people and the integration of America than this spirit of alienation. At the end of this excerpt, what encouraging signs does Douglass find? To the enslaved and battered millions [who] have come, suffered, died, and gone, he observed, no recompense can be made. The same was true for those millions living descendents: If the American people could put a school house in every valley; a church on every hill top in the South and supply them with a teacher and a preacher respectively and welcome the descendents of the former slaves to all the moral and intellectual benefits of the one and the other, without money and without price, such a sacrifice would not compensate their children for the terrible wrong done to their fathers and mothers, by their enslavement and enforced degradation.[52]. Wiki User. However a very courageous man, Frederick Douglass challenges those beliefs. Mark them![15], In truth, Douglass had long admired the Declaration and the Revolution; but now, having broken with the Garrisonian variant of abolitionism, he had come to admire the whole of the Founding, because he had come to judge the Constitution to be faithful to the saving principles of the Declaration. It contains a hook or way of gathering the audience's attention. A claim tells what you think is true about a topic based on your knowledge and your research. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. [60] He feared that such a development among black Americans likewise would be the effect of continuing failures to do justice by American institutions, as it could result also from the disaffection propagated by black advocates of emigration, despairing of Americas prospects for reform. Douglasss sometimes stern emphasis on the virtues of self-reliance and self-elevation does not mean that he had grown insensitive to the magnitude of the difficulties yet to be overcome; nor does it mean that he had resorted to blaming the victim or placing exclusive responsibility on the freedpeople for their condition. For Douglasss ultimately irrepressible faith in America was not at all a natural inheritance or an easy acquisition. The claim is the author's argument that they are attempting to prove in the essay. For a standard 5-paragraph essay, the introduction is one paragraph and contains the thesis statement, or overall claim for the essay. Douglass gives detailed anecdotes of his and others experience with the institution of slavery to reveal the hidden horrors. Good reasoning for a claim is on topic, logically sound, factual, and can be supported by evidence. This counterclaim both disagrees with the claim and disproves it with on-topic reasoning. It's how the detective is able to put the criminal in jail. In order for evidence to be reliable, it must come from a credible source that is current, nonbiased, provides researched sources, and (preferably) peer-reviewed. A rebuttal is when the author disproves an argument. Douglass saw slavery as a, It is at this time that Frederick Douglass learns one of the greatest freedoms of all. With due respect to King and to other stalwarts of the 20th-century movement, I submit that in the search for the most thoughtful proponents of the pro-integration, pro-America argument, there is no worthier object of our attention than the life and thought of the greatest of their 19th-century predecessors, the renowned abolitionist and advocate of civil and political equality Frederick Douglass. 'My friends that have Internet access make the Honor Roll.'. In his efforts to cultivate a respect for and proper understanding of the natural right of property, Douglass was laboring for a cause he considered vital both to Americas moral and political culture and to the liberation and elevation of black Americans in particular. There are four types of argumentative claims: claims of fact, claims of value, claims of policy, and claims of cause and effect. In time, Douglass came to see the wisdom in Lincolns prudent statesmanship, as he acknowledged in his most developed reflection on Lincoln, his speech at the unveiling of the Freedmens Monument to Lincoln in 1876. appalachian school of law shooting victims; private members' clubs london mayfair. To correct this historical record is at once an intellectual, a civic, and a moral imperative, but to reaffirm the old integrationist faith in Americas principles and institutions, it is necessary (if not sufficient) to recover the Founders actual opinions about slavery and race. 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Under the whole Heavens, he remarked in 1894, there never was a people liberated from bondage under conditions less favorable to the successful beginning of a new and free mode of life, than were the Freedmen of the South. [51] With respect to corrective justice, he firmly endorsed the principle but took a subtle, carefully measured position with respect to its present application. In a more formal way, she might say, 'Your current situation does not require a new cell phone.' Frederick Douglass went on to write books and give speeches in hope that one day all slaves would be free. His speeches and writings supply a treasure of arguments against the perpetuation of racial injustice and, no less, against the demoralizing critiques of it according to which, absent a utopian transformation of Americas principles, institutions, and culture, white racism and an oppositional identity for blacks must be taken as permanent features of American society. Evidence tells your reader how your claim is proved. Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. All measures devisedto allay and diminish the antislavery agitation, have only served to increase, intensify, and embolden that agitation.[22]. Finally, he cites his altercation with Mr. One is that slavery was an institution that corrupted whites and robbed (or attempted to rob) blacks of their humanity. Attorney Douglass does not refute any specific findings by the trial court, but simply claims in a conclusory manner that there was . She has something to say against your claim that you need a new cell phone, and it goes something like, 'No, you don't.'. No people can prosper, Douglass reiterated late in life, unless they have a home, or the hope of a home; and to have a home, one must have a country.[61] America was AfricanAmericans proper home, he maintained, their only realistic alternative and also the locus of their highest ideals. Douglass' primary claim in his narrative is that a nation predicated upon individual freedom cannot allow slavery to exist. Douglass's sometimes stern emphasis on the virtues of self-reliance and self-elevation does not mean that he had grown insensitive to the magnitude of the difficulties yet to be overcome; nor . 556, 569. Frederick Douglass, J. M. Whitfield, H. O . He includes personal accounts he received while under the control of multiple different masters. His fair-play principle required, first and foremost, the cessation of various practices in the post-Reconstruction South that were designed to frustrate blacks efforts to acquire property for themselves. In that position, Douglasss fame grew rapidly, and with it came controversy and heightened personal danger. Including using the example of Joseph and his brothers, as well as the Israelites being slaves in Egypt (a) In what ways is Douglass's word choice suited to his audience? [36] The Present and Future of the Colored Race in America, May 1863, in Life and Writings, Vol. For each of the following sentences, write the correct word or expression from the pair in parentheses. [18] Douglass, The Republican PartyOur Position, in Life and Writings, Vol. [11] Douglass, Speech at the American Anti-Slavery Society, May 11, 1847, in The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, Vol. Provide a quotation from the speech that shows Douglass's response to the counterclaim identified. In his reasonable faith in their ultimate triumph in America, Douglass found an enormous reservoir of strength that he labored to share with others. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? III, p. 274. In a short manuscript written sometime in or near 1869, he formulated in rough outline a land-reform proposal, according to which the federal government would correct for southern landowners collusion by becoming itself a purchaser and seller of lands. One of the key arguments in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass as well as in other narratives about slaves is inequality. Douglass discovers that a slave was set free by persuading his master, and as a result, this information makes Douglass an avid learner. (b) Up to that point, what evidence has he presented to support his claim? In paragraph 5, (a) What does Douglass acknowledge as a counterclaim to his But there are two sides to every argument. [50] My Bondage and My Freedom, in Autobiographies, p. 286; Douglass to Stowe, March 8, 1853, in Life and Writings, Vol. America is said, and not without reason, to be preeminently the home and patron of self-made men. Although the election meant that a new order of eventsis now fairly opening upon the country, he reserved judgment as to just how significant a change was in prospect. Everyone would agree that education helps develop us into who we are and what we can become. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? - tiebe.gay [8] The reader interested in a fuller account of Douglasss life should begin by reading Douglasss autobiographies: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845); My Bondage and My Freedom (1855); and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881; expanded 1892). Rebecca Simon is an ELA and social studies Master Teacher. Debate participants will often prepare counterclaims in order to have a rebuttal ready for their opponent. Standing in the foreground of the Lincoln Memorial nearly 50 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered the most famous speech by any American in the 20th century. Addressing a womens rights convention in 1868, Douglass made the point simply and bluntly: If the elective franchise is not extended to the negro, he dieshe is exterminated.[39], Moreover, as the voting right was an imperative of justice, it was also, Douglass argued, a powerful agency for the cause of integration. We want [the voting right], Douglass explained in his most extended discussion of the question, because it is our right, first of all. Counterclaims are also provable and supportable by reasons and evidence. Soon thereafter, Frederick Douglass uses some smart tactics to resume his learning. He talks of the ways in which black men and women struggle to hold their families together, and the importance of music as a way to express deep sadness. Some of his works are obvious and others are a bit harder to see. When Douglass remarked on Americas inexpiable debt to those who had been enslaved, he was not demanding an effort to restore, however imperfectly, the actual and potential material wealth that slavery had stolen from its victims. [45] The manuscript is available in the Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress (Speech, Article, and Book File; Miscellany, Folder 7 of 20) and also online at the librarys Douglass Papers Web site, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/doughtml/doughome.html. We are able to explore new ideas and concepts, which leads to more knowledge. Writing before slaves were freed in the United States, Douglass' main objective in the Narrative is to dispel any notion that slavery is good for those enslaved. Claims of fact make assertions that can be proven or disproven with evidence. With the election of the first Republican President in 1860, Douglasss hopeful predictions would soon be vindicated, but this was not what he initially expected of an Abraham Lincoln Administration. Space permits here only a brief sketch of Douglasss singularly remarkable life story, which sheds much light on the formation of his political philosophy. All rights reserved. -yes! In Douglasss day, the forces of disintegration were represented by slaveholders, white supremacists, segregationists, colonizationists, and the more extreme partisans of state or regional sovereignty, and also by black emigrationists and other proponents of black nationalism in its own more extreme forms. The signers of the Declaration of Independence, Douglass told his audience that day, were brave men. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Conclusion--The conclusion of a five-paragraph essay is one paragraph. The thesis provides the main argument for the essay as well as an outline for the rest of the essay. For its first 18 months, Douglass found in Lincolns presidency mostly a confirmation of his doubts. In the long history of AfricanAmerican political thought, there is no more forceful proponent of the cause of integration than Douglass, and there is no more insightful analyst of the varieties and dangers of national and racial disintegration. Dont pick a straw man. In other words, dont pick a weak opposing argument that is too easy to refute. [54] Douglass, To the Editor of the National Republican, in Life and Writings, Vol. Add an answer. He barely knew his mother, who died shortly before or after he turned eight years old. -it allows the student to prove his/her point even further by refuting a misconception. You really want a new cell phone, after all. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain.[19] Stronger still was his statement following the Dred Scott ruling: My hopes were never brighter than now. Her husband tells her that instructing her slave in literacy will spoil him as a slave, and she stops teaching young Frederick. A great deal is at stake in this critique, and it demands a clear, forthright response: These charges against the Founders are false as well as pernicious. [24] Douglass, The Late Election, December 1860, in Life and Writings, Vol. Douglass labored throughout his postwar career to preserve and propagate this enlarged, moralized understanding among a war-weary loyalist population longing for reunion and a stable peace. Abstract: Nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King delivered his memorable I have a dream speech, there is a growing consensus that the civil rights movement, despite some important victories, has been a failure. [32] Douglasss response was disarmingly blunt. In a widely publicized speech commemorating the Constitutions bicentennial, Marshall asserted that in its infamously pro-slavery ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Supreme Court merely reaffirmed the prevailing opinion of the Framers regarding the rights of Negroes in America. He claimed that Chief Justice Roger Taney, writing for the Court in that case, had accurately described the Founders views when he alleged that in the Founders day, black Americans, had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white raceand so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. athenaeum club southend membership fees. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? If the claim is that the United States should ban capital punishment, an effective counterclaim would be that the United States should not ban capital punishment because capital punishment provides a sense of closure for the families of the victims of violent crimes. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. At the same time Douglass is disgusted with education because it lets him know and fully understand the extent and horrors of slavery. 1. These displays of humanity would naturally arouse the sympathy of non-slaveholders, a few of whom at first, and more with the passage of time, would take up the cause of abolition. A reader can see bleak picture of black slavery from the narration of Frederick Douglass who confronts brutal conduct of white masters throughout his childhood. Even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, King told his audience, I still have a dream. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? The fact is, Douglass observed as he reviewed the succession of failed attempts to quiet the controversy over slavery, the more the question has been settled, the more it has needed settling. in Literary Studies. He says of Sophia Auld, "Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me" (page 28). In the "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," Douglass has the ability to show the psychological battle between the white slave holders and their black slaves, which is shown by Douglass' own intellectual struggles against his white slave holders. By learning to read and write, Douglass eventually came to the conclusion that he was not living the life he wanted and longed to get away. Today we're going to learn about the parts of an argument necessary to win one! Douglass publicly announced his change of opinion in the spring of 1851, but his most powerful statement of his revised view appears, fittingly enough, in his speech at an Independence Day celebration in 1852. That's a reason. IV, ed. In Stevenss plan, lands belonging to the former Confederate states and their soldiers would be deemed forfeited and then distributed in parcels of 40 acres as homesteads to the freedpeople. In fact, weve already writtenour argumentative essays on whether Phoebe was a good friend to Sal. Of course the writing prompt is a bit more complex. The standard format for an argumentative essay is as follows: An effective argument contains all of the necessary components (claim, reasons, evidence, counterclaims) while keeping the intended audience in mind. Sometimes, an author breaks their overall claim, or thesis, into smaller claims called sub-claims. But this is the opinion of the Founding and, more generally, of the nations basic moral architecture that critics have propounded widely in todays schools and universities. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? - medialist.cz Douglass says that laws in the South are anti-black. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. This is her first step from being a kind-hearted woman with generous tendencies to harnessing her natural instincts and instead becoming cruel. Yet, while Douglass narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Pro-slavery whites pointed out that black people, when questioned, said they were happy with their situation. This commitment not only appears in the Preamble, but also reflects a bedrock rule of legal interpretationa rule as old as law itself, Douglass observed, and grounded in the very nature of law, according to which a legal instrument must be construed strictly in favor of liberty and justice.[17], In Douglasss argument, these interpretive principles yielded powerfully anti-slavery results. ALL Shopping Rod. The central or overall claim of an argumentative essay is also known as the thesis. Speaking in 1993 to a black congregation at the Memphis church where King had delivered the final sermon of his life, President Bill Clinton lamented that King did not live and die to see the American family destroyed or for the freedom of people to kill each other with reckless abandon.[3]. In his successive responses to these developments, Douglass expressed not despair but rising hopefulness. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? If you've ever watched a detective show, then you know evidence. Accept the criticism of the counterclaim. Whereas Douglass from the outset called urgently and insistently for the Civil Wars prosecution as an abolition war, Lincoln saw in such a course of action only a self-destructive rashnessa premature radicalizing of the war, most likely to result in the disaffection of vital allies and, ultimately, the catastrophic failure of the Union cause. Douglass proposed the chartering of a national land and loan company empowered to purchase available tracts of land and then to resell or lease those lands to members of the newly emancipated class. How do you think that refuting a misconception strengthened your presentation? What is remarkable, then, is not that Douglass felt alienated from his country for most of the 1840s, but rather that, by the force of his character and intellect, he overcame this alienation as rapidly and thoroughly as he did. Evidence should be from a source that's reliable, and it makes your argument even better if you have evidence from multiple sources. Ten years later, in an Independence Day address, he issued a similar, much more pointed appeal. Viewing it amid the grand course of human events, Douglass saw in the Civil War an event of epochal moral significance. eNotes Editorial, 21 Jan. 2020, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-is-frederick-douglass-s-overall-claim-in-the-152137. 117118. [21], Douglass believed that slavery was doomed, first and foremost, because he believed that the law of nature as epitomized in the Declaration was, at some deep level, not only true but known or felt to be true by all concerned in the conflict over slavery. -he's hopeful that they hear what he's saying & things change over time, Write a summary of this excerpt from "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" I feel like its a lifeline. Common Core ELA Grade 8 - Writing: Standards, Writing Arguments: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.1, How to Support Your Claims in Writing With Reasoning and Evidence, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses. Body--The body of a five-paragraph essay is three paragraphs. In all such policies, Douglass protested, there is clearly seen the purpose to crush our spirits, to cripple our enterprise and doom us to a condition of destitution and degradation.[44]. The more difficult ones were put in place by Douglass in order to provide a deep and profound statement, without arousing too much opposition. work!! TheEight Writing Process Essays(printables and 170 Google slides) each feature an on-demand diagnostic essay assessment, writing prompt with connected reading, brainstorming, graphic organizer, response, revision, and editing activities. He claims that African Americans like himself have been denied the freedom that the holiday supports. She has an M.A. Suppose that you are trying to get information from people who equivocate. How does Douglass refute this counterclaim? Now you turnthe opposing point of view, evidence, and analysis back to support your thesis statement. June 14, 2022 The conclusion ties to the claim and. Search where you will, there is no country on the globe where labor is so respected and the laborer so honored, as in this country.[47], This, too, was a corollary of Douglasss non-exceptionalism principle. Slavery was established by religious law. IV, p. 319. 9 chapters | II, p. 446. 217, 219. The controversy of racism scorches Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass written by Frederick Douglass himself. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? America must be envisioned and remade by its white and black citizens alike as AfricanAmericans genuine home, not merely by the accident and force of necessity but as an object of their rational and sentimental identification. V, pp. How does douglass refute this counterclaim? - Brainly.com What did Frederick Douglass oppose? position? In all this talk of race, the motive may be good, but the method is bad. [42] Douglass, Northern Whigs and Democrats, July 7, 1848, in Life and Writings, Vol. What counterclaim does Douglass address in his dpeech in From what to the slave is the 4th of July? A broad array of racially freighted social problems persists and even intensifies in the postCivil Rights Era, in the face of which the ideals of the civil rights cause cannot be said to have been fully realized. Here again, two points are especially salient. how does douglass refute this counterclaim? [49] Douglass, The Color Question, July 5, 1875, in Douglass Papers, Vol. 235236. The power of education was also a key argument in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, but it was not an argument with a consistent meaning.