Frederick Douglas DQ PDF

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Hannah Petersen 3-2-16 Frederick Douglass 1. In paragraph 2, Douglass describes Mrs. Auld as possessing “the fatal poison of irresponsible power.” What are the ethical responsibilities of power in her relationship with Douglass? When Douglass refers to Mrs. Auld as possessing “the fatal poison of irresponsible power” he is referring to the powering of her owning a human being as property. There are many ethical responsibilities of her power including making sure her slaves are fed and healthy. As we all know, this didn’t always happen to all slaves; some definitely had it easier than others. If Mrs. Auld was really interested in being ethical with the slaves, she would have continued to teach Douglass how to read. It seems as she was almost peer pressured by her husband to be unethical to the slaves, especially after he caught her trying to teach Douglass how to read.

2. In what sense were the laws of Douglass’s time immoral? How can a law be immoral? Though many of the laws in Douglass’s time seemed to be immoral, I think the worst one was the allowance of slavery. Our country allowed certain people to own other people as property just because they were of a different race. Slavery is one of those things where some citizens in Douglass’s time thought was a great idea, while others recognized the immorality of the act and worked to free the slaves. There have been many examples in our country’s history where lawmakers have made laws directed toward a specific race or religion that some people may consider immoral such as Japanese concentration camps and, of course, slavery. Many people realized that the laws they

had to live by day in and day out went against their beliefs, but what were they supposed to do? Break the law for their own morality? People also have to take in to consideration that even though something is immoral to one person, it may be completely fine and moral to another. Everyone has their own beliefs.

3. Did slave owners think it immoral to teach slaves to read and write? I don’t think all slave owners thought it was immoral to teach their slaves to read and write. A good example of this is in the beginning when Mrs. Auld was teaching Douglass how to read. She originally thought it was okay and moral to teach her slaves how to read, that is, until Mr. Auld came and yelled at her. He influenced her to think that it was wrong to teach them how to read. I have heard stories of other slaves whose owners weren’t as awful either and had taught them to read. So, I think it just depended on the slave owner. One specific reason slave owners didn’t want their slaves to be able to read was out of fear of escape. If a slave knew how to read, they could read the news and find out about abolitionists and work being put in to try and end slavery. Once Douglass was able to read, he understood that some slave owners were nicer to their slaves than others, and some just had no hope besides trying to escape. Slave owners were scared of their slaves knowing about better places they could be if they ran away or giving them hope of a better future. 4. Was it immoral for Douglass to learn to read and write even though he knew it was prohibited for him to do so? No, I do not believe in anyway it was immoral for Douglass to learn to read and write. Just because Douglass was a different race than the majority of the country at the time doesn’t mean he was any different than someone of a different race or inferior in anyway. Though they are not

rights guaranteed in the Constitution, reading and writing are essential for almost every human being. People should not be held back from reaching their full potential just because they are different or owned by someone else.

5. How does an ethical contract between slave and slaveholder function? What were the responsibilities of each to the other? Though many slaveholders didn’t follow an ethical contract, there definitely was one. The slaves were still people and still had basic human needs like food, water, and sleep. Many slaves were offered the bare minimum when it came to food and water, and worked the majority of the day leaving only a few hours left for sleep. In an ideal slaveholder contract, the slave would work by day, and work hard, for the slaveholder. In return, the slaveholder should supply the slaves with adequate food and water, and also a comfortable place to sleep so that the slaves were refueled and ready to put in their best work the next day. If all slave owners would have followed a contract like that, I feel like we wouldn’t have heard so many horror stories about slavery and how disgusting some of the owners treated their slaves due to disobedience or something of that matter....