Literary Analysis Essay: Slavery and Abolition

Surname 1 Literary Analysis Essay: Slavery and Abolition The readings by William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass address a wide range of thematic issues, the main being slavery, and abolition mainly focusing on the United States.

Slavery came with horrible issues such as abuse of the black people who served as slaves to the white masters. The post-independence United States was plagued with the plight of the AfricanAmerican, who were still enslaved. The post-independence struggle to free slaves was fought on various fronts, of which much has been written. The readings by William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass depict slavery and abolition as the struggles to create an equal society in which all are free to enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms.

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Garrison shows slavery as a problem that then African Americans suffered under the Whites, making them a less privileged community. His writing ably captures racism as one of the motivating factors on which Slavery thrived. The African-American, by their skin color, they were considered lesser human beings that could not work and lead a meaningful life without being directed by the whites. Consequently, it was because of the assumed low intelligence that the blacks had; they were considered suitable for doing manual work and other duties as may be assigned by the masters.

Slavery was a complex challenge that took the efforts of the enslaved and those who were free to end. The slave masters saw it as a critical factor in their wealth generation, hence did all they can to fight efforts to end slavery through the use of force and legislation that gave them the right and freedom to own slaves. However, among the White majority, there emerged an antislavery voice, which grew each passing time. Garrison is one of the whites who actively participated in the campaign to abolish slavery in the United States and beyond.

Moreover, the text by Garrison depicts the abolition of slavery as a necessary measure for upholding the spirit and the latter of the American declaration of independence, which declared that all human being are born equal and are entitled to certain inalienable rights. In this respect, it was unconstitutional to enslave fellow human beings as it amounted to a violation of their rights as well as advancing inequality. Slavery was a problem not for the blacks alone but all people who believed in the spirit of the American constitution. Consequently, Garrison found it imperative to advocate for the freeing of all slaves as a way of creating an equal society where human rights and freedom are guaranteed to all.

Surname 3 From the text, it is clear that the anti-slavery campaign helped to enlighten the society about the dangers of condoning the practice of owning slaves. The problems the slaves went through were horrible and the more they were highlighted, the more the momentum to end slavery grew. The whites started seeing the blacks as fellow human beings who deserve equal treatment and privileges. Before the anti-slavery crusade, the whites had been trained to believe that the African-American were not equal human beings and that they contained a lower intelligence quotient that made it the duty of the whites to own and control them for better use.

However, the campaign to end slavery demystified all these myths, leading to a strong appeal to free the enslaved people.

The war on slavery was fought on various fronts, streets, court, media, and the church.

The diversity of the avenues used was informed by the myriad of factors that contributed to its prevalence. The laws had been formulated to support slavery, hence the drive to repeal or do away with them, which was the task of the lawmakers and courts. The church, which had been used as an avenue to perpetuate the notion that God created the whites superior and the Black inferior, was also debunked. The church also served as an equalizer, hence took its rightful position in the struggle to abolish slavery.

The struggle to end slavery was a long and tedious process, but a rewarding one to the American society. The reading about Frederick Douglass, "Narrative," depicts slavery as a problem that was deeply rooted and to some extent legalized in the United States. The racial aspects of it are brought out in the assumption that was then made that the blacks were lesser human beings and that religion allowed the treatment the slaves were subjected to. Consequently, it took the strong efforts from the liberalists such as Mr. Douglas to raise compelling awareness about the need to end slavery. It became a crusade of slavery must end, with no options being

Surname 4 given to the masters. However, this did not augur well with the slave owners, who sought to use their influence on the government to fight back and intimidate the anti-slavery voices.

In conclusion, the two readings portray slavery an issue that had hindered the enslaved from enjoying their entitlement to freedoms and rights as human beings. The independent United States struggled with this problem immediately after independence until the time it was abolished to create an all free society in which every human being was treated as equal in dignity. The ending of slavery in the United States was as a culmination of concerted efforts from across the racial, social, religious, and political divides. The abolitionist had to muster more courage and zeal to deal to enlighten the society about the plight of the slaves and the need to end social injustices that come with slavery.

Surname 5 Works Cited Frederick Douglass, Narrative, pp. 2163-2234.

William Lloyd Garrison, pp. 2118-25