Fredrick Douglass Argumentative Analysis

Fredrick Douglass initially scorned both political parties of his time, the Democrats and Republicans, for being too pro-slavery and compromising too regularly on issues of slavery. From Lincoln 's early presidency, Douglass criticized Lincoln before the emancipation proclamation, stating "Whoever live through the next four years will see Mr. Lincoln and his Administration attacked more bitterly for their pro-slavery truckling, than for doing any anti-slavery work." Instead of compromise, Douglass believed that the Republican Party would have to transform from an anti-slavery party into a fully abolitionist institution. Although Fredrick Douglass believed himself to be separate from the Republicans because of their more moderate views, he …show more content…
By the middle of the Civil war, it was believed that 186,017 black men had accepted President Lincoln 's call to arms, with an additional 92,676 men serving integrated regiments. General Stanton found that they were good soldiers, and immediately sent word to Douglass to enlist him as a recruiter. Douglass complied, producing manuscripts like "Why a Colored Man Should Enlist", urging colored men into the army based on nine points he believed would help free black men from their stigma of slaves and eventually allow their liberty either by the government or by force. His first argument is that black men are not animals, they know both right and wrong and by not participating in a war for their struggles, they are inviting "the contempt of mankind." He goes on to explain that it is their duty to use the rights declared to them as United States citizens to enlist, or the injustice done upon them will be justified. As every "Negro-hater and slavery-lover" in the country is attempting to stop black men from enlisting, it is therefore their duty to their fellow race to take up and enlist to learn the use of arms, so that they "secure and defend [their] own liberty" . By enlisting, Douglass argued, black men may fight for their independence away from the sea of slavery and Emancipation. Many of the points such as learning how to carry arms and …show more content…
When the Republican Party began to practice some of his own suggested policies, Douglass joined to Republicans to become a more relevant voice in national politics. Through Douglass 's criticism and recruitment of the colored troops, he was accepted into the Republican Party and given legitimacy by President Lincoln. Douglass 's influence began to change the Republican Party into an institution for the abolishment of slavery by bringing abolitionists into the Party and influencing its