Values of Frederick Douglass and Benjamin Franklin - Essay Example

A Comparison of the lives, and values of Frederick Douglass and Benjamin Franklin If Frederick Douglass ever wished to rise above the degraded circumstances of his birth, he would have no choice but to exemplify the essence of the self-made man. A quality espoused before him by the life and times of Benjamin Franklin, the lives of the two historic figures finding several points of similarity in terms of achievement, and values. For young Frederick, education was forbidden by law. Yet he still found means to improve himself. "Give them an inch, and theyll take an ell." So came the admonition from his second owner - Hugh Auld, in discussing the perils of teaching slaves to read, as the masters inherently good-natured wife had attempted. But it soon became apparent that education was incompatible with chattel slavery, Mr. Auld wisely concluding that no educated Negro could ever truly be content with a life of perpetual bondage. When the wisdom of the statement became apparent, that self actualization in the interest of education would forever unfit him for slavery, young Frederick resolved to make that his mission. Most men, such as Benjamin Franklin of the prior century seek learning and knowledge that they might become something worthwhile. The man of ingenuity betters himself to become suitable for a future pursuit. But for Frederick Douglass, an ironic twist of his fate required that he educate himself to become unsuitable, that he might be useless in the life of menial drudgery under the overseers whip. Only by becoming worthless at his imposed vocation, could young Frederick succeed at becoming a self-made man. It was an unsuitability that would stay with him for the rest of his days and usher in his true lifes work. Douglass exemplified his commitment to progress, and self-improvement not only through his own advancement, but during his youth in Baltimore he aided in the education of others, such as his surrogate father whom he calls "the pious Lawson". He imparted instruction to other slaves that desired self-improvement, while at the same time receiving instruction from sympathetic white boys. For his entire life, Douglass wrestled with the common conceit among whites that African Americans are soulless animals without human feelings. The presumption is one of a degraded being, some crude – accursed descendent of the First Murderer, allegedly marked for his crime with black skin. Ideas such as this gave rise to notions that blacks somehow cannot form families, or love their children. The contemporary novel, Uncle Toms cabin expresses this point with the character who implies that we cannot reason with our own feelings with regard to the Negroes, when asked how she should like it if her two children were torn from her and sold down the river. (Stowe, 1852) A prejudice of which Douglass was all too painfully aware, having read the novel – and lived its lessons himself. He even made reference to it in describing a man he referred to as - old pious Lawson as the very counterpart of Uncle Tom perhaps the original of Mrs. Stowes Christian hero. As he puts it in his own words. But the piety and humanity of personages such as this was deliberately denied by the white majority. A denial of humanity, of that self-made man-hood became a convenient justification for breaking apart those phantom families; selling married men and women, and their children separately – as though they were interchangeable action figures. An excuse perhaps, but it does appear from Douglass writings that these were the honest convictions of millions of white Americans. Northerners were taken in, Southerners believed their own propaganda, blinding themselves to their shared humanity. Commonly held theories near the middle of the 19th century were disdainful of the prospect of blacks as soldiers during the Civil War, against the uprising of the Confederacy. Their supposedly jungle nature would cause them to run for the trees, and make marching in formation impossible. To the extent that these quasi-biological notions held sway, black Americans never had a chance for equality. The propagandist justifications for slavery took on a life of their own, both apologizing for and perpetuating the exploitation. For the slave himself, such as pious Lawson, all he had to cling to, to sustain him was the religion of his oppressors, strategically preached in white churches to paint the slave system as an expression of Divine Providence. Douglass notes that as a boy he was taught, quite simply – "that white people were made to be masters, and black people made to be slaves." (Douglass, 1881) yet with penetrating intelligence he noted that there were deviations to this rule; not all black people everywhere were slaves, and certainly not all whites were masters. But for those under such a system, it became easier by far to accept their servitude; the new slave identity taking the place of their once African heritage. The chains deprived the slave of freedom, while adding a new identity to justify the loss of that freedom. How much more difficult would it become, for any other would be Nat Turners to find something to fight for, something to believe in other than the identity they had known their entire lives; than for a Spartacus-like figure, who had never forgotten who and what he was. Under these conditions of intellectual, as well as physical bondage the escape to freedom, and self determination becomes a greater achievement when Frederick, from birth has been indoctrinated with servitude. Douglass work ethic was centered towards personal education, and as noted above - his most ardent labors came in his efforts to promote literacy and reason, most commonly among the black race, but in an abstract sense he promoted reason and justice for all. I will join with anybody to do good, and nobody to do wrong he asserts. He is a laborer for literacy and national/racial education. In a general way, this dovetails with the labors of Franklin, who is well known to have been a patron and instigator of the sciences. His well-known lightning experiments and studies of electricity reveal a similar love of reason, and desire to promote intellect; but through specialized, materialistic investigation to enhance general scientific knowledge. In terms of the motivation behind their driving labors they are most similar in their commitment to the advancement of intellectual acumen. Douglass worked more in terms of general literacy towards a well-rounded world view that would improve the general condition of his race, though he espoused a love of learning, and justice for all races, raising public knowledge, towards the elimination of intellectual inequities. Franklin would certainly not have disagreed with any sentiment of public education, but the achievements for which Franklin is most famous push the boundaries of absolute knowledge out further. Franklins efforts encompassed both dimensions of general enlightenment and advancing the forefront of knowledge through his inventions, not the least of which being the bifocals. In a less severe Way, Franklin did promote the goal of general education against the wishes of those more powerful than himself, by secretly submitting anonymous articles to his brothers newspaper, believing that his brother would reject the ideas contained therein if the origin of the writing should be made known. Though he in no way risked consequences as severe as that of slave Frederick, he demonstrated a similar willingness to make his voice heard concerning the relevant issues of his day, towards the advancement of the public interest. Benjamin Franklin enjoyed the entirely reasonable expectation of a fair reward for a fair days labor. And over the course of his life he commanded mounting respect both for his leadership acumen, as well as his literary and scientific labors. The question of reward, or lack thereof does delineate key differences with Frederick Douglass. For Douglass, physical labor became a sort of enemy. The foe of his intellect, by which man becomes a brute. During his early life Douglass exemplified the hard realities of the slavery system which saps incentive for efficiency. The slave gains no benefit, no advantage or reward from his labors, no matter the intensity, diligence or ingenuity. He remains a slave, with no material profit nor any ability to bargain with his master. In this regard, a common assumption of laziness as characterizing the moral fabric of African-Americans arose among whites. The slave works only out of fear of the wrath of his master/overseer. And in Douglass writings there remains an undercurrent of labor becoming detrimental to enlightenment. Circumstances forced moral variances upon Frederick Douglass that Franklin was not subject to, such as the need to justify stealing meat from his master to soothe his own starving belly. If he steals food from his master, the meat itself being owned – just as Frederick himself was owned, by that master then it becomes simply a case of his (the Masters) own property being used towards the upkeep of said property. And since Southern society incorporates a legal apparatus by which the system of law and government conspire to make Frederick property, then they too are responsible for his needs, and he thus divorces himself from any moral obligation. Slavery being in his estimate, the death knell of any hint of moral responsibility. Forced to labor without profit, and steal to survive, one can project a hostility towards servile work that while understandable, coloring Douglass future success when compared with Franklin. One might speculate that Douglass apparent lack of interest in experimentation might grow out of this tacit hostility towards manual labor. Among the ancient world, there were few intellectuals as rational, or as clearheaded as the Athenian Greeks, and those influenced by their philosophical renaissance. Pythagoras developed impressive mathematical insights, Socrates debated endlessly, but while the modern scientific method owes much to the reason and skepticism of Hellenistic civilization, very few of the Greeks undertook anything like the physical experimentation needed for the development of scientific theory. Someone must set up the test tubes, someone must clean up the lab, someone must feed the lab rats and the fruit flies. To gain any meaningful insight concerning the natural world, there is a necessary level of physical labor that must be involved – and which can be tedious at times. The Greeks thought about philosophical and scientific matters, yet they failed to create the sort of science industry that is essential towards the development of actionable technical knowledge about nature. Modern scientists, and Franklin himself in many instances were not afraid to get their hands dirty, so to speak. There is the iconic imagery of Franklins kite with the key attached to elucidate the conductivity of electricity, proving that it is possible to channel on Earth the same fundamental power as that which is expressed brilliantly in the lightning bolt. It is a noteworthy distinction that Douglass himself seemed to have no interest in performing these sorts of labors that would lead to any advancement in the natural sciences. It is worth speculating about Douglass lack of apparent interest in this regard, and to the extent it was attributable to his slavery. Is it possible that the reason he did not become an earlier predecessor to George Washington Carver, or a later version of Benjamin Franklin – was a suspicion towards menial/manual labor? Whereas Carver was born in the dying days of the Civil War, and would have no conscious memory of chattel slavery on a plantation under the whip of a master. (Harness, 2008) Douglass autobiography does not make clear if he had ever seriously contemplated this subject, nor whether he had any scientific ambitions. We may presume in the negative by this very lack of coverage. Although earlier in his life, in his twenties Douglass did find employment, and a physical trade in the repair/maintenance of the hulls of the many ships that came regularly to Baltimore Harbor. Here then, was another incident of racial violence. Not perpetrated by any master or overseer – but rather by a disgruntled mob of white workmen at the same site. Their motivation in part came from no other provocation than Douglass color, and perhaps also a lingering fear that their jobs might be taken from them by slave labor. For which blaming the slave seems a meaningless gesture. Upon achieving freedom in the North, this color prejudice was a regular barrier towards Douglass efforts to find legitimate manual employment. From the young black mans perspective, it may have appeared that his activism was thrust upon him. While he does not espouse this conclusion specifically, there may have been a lurking suspicion in the back of Douglass mind that a simple, honest living by the sweat of his brow was essentially futile. Franklins own journey towards a literary life seems to have been more the result of inborn determination, from an early age as well as a strong inclination due to natural abilities. His autobiography candidly admits that while his reading skills were so innate that he does not remember a time in which he could not read, (Franklin, 1757) he was essentially a failure at mathematics. One cannot avoid wondering if this lapse was perhaps fortunate for American history, would Franklin have been so famous, so influential as a man of numbers and notebooks, rather than one of letters and literature? As it is the written word, that moves men in the public sphere far more than any mathematical treatise. To a point we can only judge either man by what they actually did do, the careers that they actually did undertake. To some extent, throughout the entirety of Franklins life he had a continuous involvement with print media. Both in attempting to write articles for his brothers newspaper, as mentioned above – his later employment at a printing house, and his later writings paint a portrait of a man for whom the regularity of public engagement via the newspaper becomes a critical vehicle for self-expression, public activism, and political discourse. Just as it was for Douglass, himself intimately involved in numerous newspapers throughout his life. Franklins interests appeared to be somewhat bookish from the outset. Dissatisfied with the prospect of continuing in his fathers footsteps as a Chandler, it was natural for him to gravitate towards literary pursuits, and newspaper journalism. His words suggest a desire to assist others towards the goals of self betterment, and thus good citizenship. The youngest son of a large family, his advancements and high station in later life certainly cannot be attributed to any sort of aristocratic origin, as no aristocrat is put to work at the age of ten. Yet Franklin retains a thrifty sense of industry that stays with him throughout his life, encapsulated by early to bed proverbial wisdom. His rise from humble origins in essence makes him the quintessential prototype of the American dream. Americas first self-made man. Yet his true calling was not in any simple trade, such as his fathers candle making, but in the intellectual arena where his hard-working, self actualized ideals could be communicated to the public for the benefit of all. How might his attitudes have differed if his most ardent, vigorous labors produced no reward save the absence of brutal, physical punishment leaving him drenched in his own blood? It may also be worth noting that while Douglas felt his true calling led away from manual labor, he also shrank from violence. As is evidenced by his missing deliberately, an invitation to join John Browns doomed raid on Harpers Ferry (Douglass, 1881). If Franklin is a prototypical representative of the American drive towards prosperity from humble origins, then Douglas is prototypical of the timelessly American yearning for freedom. During his condition of servitude, it might be said that his true determination to achieve freedom was born not simply from the cruelty of the whip, such as he suffered at the hands of the Negro breaker Mr. Covey. But his true appreciation for freedom came when he was living with the comparatively kindlier Auld family. The brutal mistreatment of any creature can certainly provoke longings for revenge or escape obviously. But when he was introduced to letters, and the alphabet, this kindled within him a curiosity about the broader world, and it is under the kinder master that Frederick first conceives of his desire for freedom, through a comprehension of the value of freedom. Even had he not suffered heat stroke, and been beaten with a hickory stick by the brutal Mr. Covey until he was covered in his own blood from head to toe, still the desire for freedom would have burned within his heart because of its intrinsic importance to all mankind. In this young Frederick parallels the very American quest for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the face of anti-democratic adversity. The sort of adversity born of old world systems that America had to free itself from, both externally and internally before the true spirit of the American dream could be made manifest. REFERENCES Douglass, Frederick. 1881. The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (African American) Dover Publications (December 19, 2003) ISBN: 978-0486431703 Franklin, Benjamin. 1757 Autobiography and Other Writings. (Oxford Worlds Classics) Oxford University Press, USA. (jan. 15, 2009) ISBN: 978-0199554904 Harness, Cheryl. 2008.The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science and Invention in America (Cheryl Harness Histories) National Geographic Books. ISBN 978-1426301964 Stowe, Harriet Beecher. 1852. Uncle Toms Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly. Oxford University Press (July 21, 2011) ISBN. 978-0199841431. Read More