What Impact did Frederick Douglass have on America?

While reading the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, I couldn’t help but wonder what his impact upon America was. While researching this question, I have come to find that because Douglass was an African American who was able to read and write, he was one of the minorities among slaves. While reading was common place among the slave population of America, writing was disallowed because white America found that writing was a “Status Mark” and was not needed for slaves. (Wikipedia) Because Douglass could write, he was able to put into words the way that he was treated while a slave, prompting the masses to have a greater understanding of the plight of the slave community.  America also was able to understand what was being said about the treatment of slaves better, because the tales were coming from a person whom had lived the life first hand, not just someone who had just merely seen it.

Writing was not the only way that Douglass became a champion of the Slave; He was also a grand orator and was able to sway the opinions of the masses through speeches about the treatment of his brethren.  The plight of the slaves is not the only thing that Douglass was a champion of however; Douglass was one of the first African Americans to take up the cause of women’s suffrage. He was the only African American to attend the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls. (Wikipedia)

Throughout his life, Frederick Douglass was a man of the down trodden and abused. He was a champion of the underdog and his greatest impact upon America was a greater recognition of those who before were ignored, beaten, and forgotten.

Why did Thomas Jefferson own Slaves, yet called for anti-slavery legislation?

While reading the autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, I was awestruck at the fact that he attempted to introduce many anti-slavery legislations into the House of Burgesses. I find the fact that he proposed the legislations rather hypocritical, given the fact that he employed slaves on his estate called Monticello. It is believed by many historians that Jefferson had a sexual relation Sally Hemings with a slave who was in his employ. It is even believed that Hemings had a total of seven children, “who were noted for their resemblance to Jefferson.” (Wikipedia) Jefferson became an advocate for the slave population out of necessity, to defend the rights of his newly acquired family.



Early in Jefferson’s Career as a lawyer, he had the occasion to represent many of the people living in the Colony of Virginia, both white and colored with mixed success. “In 1770, he defended a young mulatto male slave in a freedom suit, on the grounds that his mother was white and freeborn. By the colony's adoption of partus sequitur ventrum, that the child took the status of the mother, the man should never have been enslaved. He lost the suit. In a case in 1772, Jefferson represented George Manly, the son of a free woman of color, suing to secure his freedom after having been held as an indentured servant three years past the expiration of his term. Once freed, Manly worked for Jefferson at Monticello for wages.” (Wikipedia) This shows that Jefferson was a man of the law, no matter what color the client may be.

Jefferson’s greatest influential dealings with people of color and interracial families came after the death of his Father-in-Law, John Wayles. “In the will of Wayles, Jefferson and his wife had inherited a great sum of land and also 135 Slaves which included Wayles’ mistress Betty Hemings, mother of Sally Hemings.” (Wiki) Because of the Wayles property, Thomas Jefferson became one of the biggest slaveholders in the Colony of Virginia. It also made Jefferson more aware of the struggles that slave families must deal with every day.

All of these events explain the reason that Jefferson remained a staunch advocate for slave rights. It also shows me that he wasn’t being hypocritical. He finally realized the immorality of slavery, and knew that in order to change the laws of slavery he had to go against his own beliefs and own slaves.

What exactly was Thomas Paine's Role in the Revolutionary War.

While reading Thomas Paine’s publication the Crisis, I began to wonder what exactly his role in the Revolutionary War was. Many times in the publication he speaks as to the maneuvers that the army made against the British and Hessian soldiers during the New Jersey campaign of 1776, but he never specifically speaks of his own role in the Army.  In the pamphlet, Paine tells the readers that “he was with the troops in Fort Lee” (The Crisis); unlike today, where it is common for media persons to be imbedded with combat units, the commanders of the Armies of the revolutionary times would not allow someone who was not a soldier to be around soldiers and the battle plans that could be compromised. The revolutionary war was an atmosphere where neighbor was fighting against neighbor and many times throughout the war, many persons changed sides in the blink of the eye as was the case with Benedict Arnold (a prominent American General, who turned against the American cause and sided with the British).

After researching Thomas Paine, I found that ”he was made an Aide-de-Camp to General Nathan Greene” (http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-war/patriots/thomas-paine.htm) and it was during his service to General Greene that he wrote the pamphlet “The American Crisis.” An Aide-de Camp is a soldier who is like “the right hand man” to a General officer; however the encyclopedia Britannica tells us that “the official role of the Aide-de-Camp is that of General’s secretary.”(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/10405/aide-de-camp) Aides-de-Camp also served as the “eyes and ears” for the commanders, often serving as a liaison between the senior commanders and the junior commanders or the commanders who were actually dealing with the maneuvers of the troops. Given the fact that Thomas Paine was the Aide-de-Camp to one of the most senior of the American Generals, probably the most senior of the American Generals besides George Washington in the middle colonies, he was able to use his writing prowess to uplift and inspire the men under Greene’s command. When Paine wrote “The Crisis,” he did not write it to be a historical document or even as  a literary document, he wrote it to allow the troops to know the purpose of their service to America, and it was this fact that General George Washington wanted “The Crisis” to be read to his soldiers at Valley Forge.