Frederick Douglass Attitude To Slavery

According to the famous British slave owner William Lynch, once you take away the mind of a man, their body and morals come with it. In his letter of The Making of a Slave, breaking down the human mind was a comparison to molding slaves into the conscious of a horse. Through this novel, Douglass explains his attitude towards slavery through three vague key points. In the United States, religion is commonly depicted as a way of life and direction. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass argues how America had single handedly contradicted religion and manipulated it into slavery. Fredrick Douglass also explains through his text the actual physical, psychological and spiritual struggle he battled when it came to the …show more content…
Douglass perceives that white supremacy is being deceitful by calling themselves Christian and holy when indeed they are forcing slavery and racial humanitarianly views on others, as well as their offspring and surrounding oppressors. In the excerpt, Douglass quotes that “We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members.” This explains how even though people appear to follow the bible and the Christian religion; they are in a sense no Christian by the bible because of all the racial slavery going on. Douglass in his narrative talks about his slave master, named Auld. He describes how he too, calling himself a Christian only to carry the same notion as the other slave owners. Douglass explains Auld’s pious demeanor. As it begins to manifest, so does his confidence, in which gave him the right to hold others against their will, and to mistreat his slaves anyway he deemed as fit. Witnessing Auld’s occurrences, referencing his church, Auld himself benefited from the monies. Monies that was earned by means of slavery. Other southern churches alike adopted these same practices, as a way of conducting weekly business, while never changing their complacent views in the inhumane treatment bough forth to all slaves. As followed, Douglass quotes, “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, …show more content…
He handed them monthly allowances of food. Amongst all the slaves in their unit, they would have to ration fish, cornmeal, and pork. Their beds were nonexistent except for the coarse blankets that they laid down on the concrete during cold seasons. They would have down time for rejuvenation until they were summoned again for work. Their clothing consisted off ripped and torn linen shirts, linen trousers, and one pair of shoes. The opinion of Douglass was that they wanted slaves to work in the fields and fulfill their house duties off of malnutrition and being sleep deprived. The concept of that was delusional and unjustly just based off of a common sense aspect. Having these things in mind, he had a hard time respecting his oversees in the religious context that they were trying to