Towards dystopia.

“The presence of slavery increasingly becomes the haunting other on the

surface of the American dream.”

The American Dream and Slavery

Undoubtedly, the famous concept of “The American Dream” has been undermined across
time by various problems, one of the most serious being that of slavery. The present essay aims
at analyzing the connection between this concept and Frederick Douglass’ Narrative, examining
the way in which slavery irreversibly marked the American dream. To this regard, I will briefly
discuss the aforementioned concept, eventually focusing on the text of the Narrative and
attempting afterwards to draw some concluding remarks as far as the relation between slavery
and American ideals is concerned.

Investigating the notion of the American Dream and attempting to define it, Jim Cullen
arrives at the conclusion that “there is no one American Dream. Instead, there are many
American Dreams (Cullen 7), exploring then the topic from a diversity of perspectives. The first
of them, the religious one, laid the foundations of the “first great American Dream” (8). The
New World proved to be for the Pilgrim Fathers fleeing persecution what Canaan was to the
descendants of Abraham (8), providing them with the freedom of conscience that they lacked in
England. Taking from Jesus the metaphor of the “city upon a hill” (Matthew 5:14-16), John
Winthrop exhorted his fellow believers to build up a community that would become a model for
the other nations. A further aspect, no less prominent, is the political one, epitomized by the bold
statements of the Declaration of Independence, which established equality and the rights to
“Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” as pillars of the future Republic (38). Another
equally significant perspective, perhaps the one that most people think of when attempting to
define the idea of American Dream, is that of (financial) success, the “rags-to-riches” myth,
personified by such figures as Benjamin Franklin, or Abraham Lincoln (8). Undoubtedly, there
are still more facets of the concept, the definitions having developed chronologically according
to time and circumstances. Nevertheless, these three serve best to the aims of the present essay,
as they characterize the era that Frederick Douglass lived in.

Frederick Douglass represented a figure of major significance in the history of 19th

century America. The ex-slave who, after his emancipation, went to become one of the main
black leaders of the Abolitionist movement, spent the rest of his life fighting against slavery and
defending human rights. (Lee) He took an active part in the most significant stages of this fight,
from the time when The Abolitionist Society represented only a marginal organization, to the
Civil War and up to the Reconstruction and its aftermath (2). The first of his autobiographies,
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, attempts to give an account of
slavery seen through the eyes of a male African American, from childhood to early adulthood.
From the very first pages we are introduced to the dehumanizing, deplorable system of slavery,
where people have the same status as animals (Smith 175), being deprived even of the most basic
element of identity, namely, the date of their birth: “I have no accurate knowledge of my age,
never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as
little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my
knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant.” (Douglass 1)

Reading further, one discovers that not only was a slave deprived of the relation with his
parents (Smith 176), but in some cases, the father, if white, remained completely unknown to the
child. As to the mother, the contact with her is sparse and limited:

“My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my
parentage. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this
opinion, I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from me. My mother and I were separated
when I was but an infant—before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom, in the part of
Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age.” (Douglass 2)

Describing his first master, Anthony, and his overseer, Plummer, Douglass proceeds to
give a first account of the presence of violence that was characteristic of slavery. He thus relates
the well-known episode of his aunt Hester’s whipping, an episode that will prove crucial for his
understanding of what slavery meant (Smith 176): “After rolling up his sleeves, he commenced
to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-rending shrieks from her,
and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor” (Douglass, 6). To the child, this
represented “the bloodstained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery” (5).

Another relevant episode in his depiction of slavery is the scene of Mr Gore shooting
Demby, proving that slaves could even be killed, without any trial: “Mr. Gore then, without
consultation or deliberation with any one, not even giving Demby an additional call, raised his
musket to his face, taking deadly aim at his standing victim, and in an instant poor Demby was
no more.” (Douglass 20)
 A further episode in Douglass’ life takes place during his stay with Mr. Covey, when, one
day, Douglass resists him and wins his first victory in the fight with slavery (Smith 178): “This
battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring
embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed
self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free.” (Douglass 179)

Returning now to the notion of the American Dream, we can approach each of the
perspectives discussed in connection with Douglass and slavery. As far as religion is concerned,
Douglass powerfully condemns the utter hypocrisy of those who name themselves followers of
Christ. In the Appendix to the Narrative, Douglass, fearing that his religious views might have be
misunderstood because of his denunciation of the abuses of Christian slave-holders, makes a few
further comments, attempting to clearly state the difference between the fundaments of
Christianity and the behaviour of slave-holders:
“What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding
religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity
of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference—so wide, that to
receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To
be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and
impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-
plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most
deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.” (Douglass 101)

With respect to the political aspect, one should take into consideration the primary
document of a state, namely, the Constitution. In his journal article, Robert Cohen analyzes
Douglass’ change of opinion regarding the constitutionality of slavery. At first, Frederick
Douglass adhered to Garrison’s opinion that Constitution was a pro-slavery document and they
used as main evidence the Three-fifths clause, The Fugitive Slave clause and Article 4, section 5
(Cohen 246, 247). As Gregg Crane explains, Douglass understood that at the root of slavery
stood man’s desire for power and control, rather than a hierarchy imposed by God (Crane 89,
90).
As Cohen points out, Douglass held the view that the authors of the Constitution were
hypocrite and had a double morality, as on the one hand they talked about liberty as their
national dream and on the other hand, they encouraged slavery (Cohen 248): “The identical men
who … framed the … constitution were trafficking in the blood and souls of their fellow men.”
(Douglass qtd in Cohen 248).
 Nevertheless, after his stay in England and his discussions with another abolitionist,
Gerrit Smith, Douglass changed his perspective and come to hold the opinion that the
Constitution was actually against slavery. As Crane explains,
“Gerrit Smith confronted Douglass with William Goodell’s contention that a straightforward
reading of the Preamble justified the eradication of slavery: ‘To promote the general welfare’ could not be
consonant with ‘crushing the laboring, the producing class, in half the States of the Republic,’ and
securing ‘the blessings of Liberty’ had to require the ‘overthrow’ of ‘the deadly antagonist to liberty, to
wit, slavery.’” (Goodell qtd in Crane 96)

As Robert Cohen explains, one of the reasons that backed Douglass’ shift in thought was
related to what James Oakes called the “passive” attitude of Garrisonian abolitionism (Cohen
248). William Garrison held the view that the Constitution and the entire system were faulty and
thus abolitionist should not vote. But Douglass, with his new perspective, was in favour of
getting involved in the political life and ally with parties that were not supporters of slavery with
the hope that the proliferation of slavery and eventually the institution itself will be abolished
(248).
As Cohen points out, the problem that arises is the fact that we know that among the
forefathers were also slaveholders (Cohen 249). Nevertheless, he points to Justice Curtis’
resolution in the Dred Scott case. He argued that the preamble “included free blacks, most
notably residents of New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts
who, ‘though descended from African slaves’ were not merely citizens but voters in the
Constitution’s ratification process.” (249).
As far as the “rags-to-riches” myth is concerned, one might say that Douglass was
successful in achieving this dream, of course, as much as the social context of those times
allowed a black person to do so. Commenting upon Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s essay on
Frederick Douglass, “The Lives and Deeds of Our Self-Made Men”, Harold Bloom affirms: “She
succinctly defines the myth of self-ascendancy that lies at the heart of the American Dream: by
following a good work ethic, adhering to Christian notions of morality, and being properly
ambitious, any individual can overcome the humblest of circumstances to achieve prosperity.”
(Bloom, and Hobby 153)
All things considered, one might safely conclude that although the ideals epitomized by
the American Dream aim high and are centered around the successful fulfillment of man’s basic
needs, time and experience have proven that very often they fail to obtain, slavery remaining a
stain on the history of this great nation. Douglass’ conclusion at that time was harsh, illustrating
best how a dream can turn into a dystopia:
“America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the
future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of
humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and
the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the
emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery — the great sin and shame of
America.” (Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”)

Bibliography:
Cohen, Robert. "Was The Constitution Pro-Slavery? The Changing View Of Frederick
Douglass". Social Education, vol 72, no. 5, 2008, pp. 246-250. Web 16 Dec 2019.

Crane, Gregg. "Human Law And Higher Law". The Cambridge Companion To Frederick
Douglass, Maurice S. Lee, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009. 89-101.

Cullen, Jim The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation.
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Douglass, Frederick. Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass. The Anti-Slavery

Office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845.

Douglass, Frederick. ""What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?" - Teaching American
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Lee, Maurice S. The Cambridge Companion To Frederick Douglass. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Smith, Valerie. “Born into Slavery: Echoes and Legacies”. The Cambridge Companion
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