Not only is slavery on trial, but unfortunately, the enslaved people are also on trial. I see, too, that there are special reasons why I should write my own biography, in preference to employing another to do it. Any facts, either from slaves, slaveholders, or by-standers, calculated to enlighten the public mind, by revealing the true nature, character, and tendency of the slave system, are in order, and can scarcely be innocently withheld. Its friends have made for it the usual plea-"not guilty " the case must, therefore, proceed. I agree with you, that this system is now at the bar of public opinion-not only of this country, but of the whole civilized world-for judgment. It is not to illustrate any heroic achievements of a man, but to vindicate a just and beneficent principle, in its application to the whole human family, by letting in the light of truth upon a system, esteemed by some as a blessing, and by others as a curse and a crime. Nevertheless, I see, with you, many reasons for regarding my autobiography as exceptional in its character, and as being, in some sense, naturally beyond the reach of those reproaches which honorable and sensitive minds dislike to incur. These considerations caused me to hesitate, when first you kindly urged me to prepare for publication a full account of my life as a slave, and my life as a freeman. To write of one's self, in such a manner as not to incur the imputation of weakness, vanity, and egotism, is a work within the ability of but few and I have little reason to believe that I belong to that fortunate few. I have also felt that it was best for those having histories worth the writing-or supposed to be so-to commit such work to hands other than their own. I have never placed my opposition to slavery on a basis so narrow as my own enslavement, but rather upon the indestructible and unchangeable laws of human nature, every one of which is perpetually and flagrantly violated by the slave system. In my letters and speeches, I have generally aimed to discuss the question of Slavery in the light of fundamental principles, and upon facts, notorious and open to all making, I trust, no more of the fact of my own former enslavement, than circumstances seemed absolutely to require. Refused to narrate my personal experience in public anti- slavery meetings, and in sympathizing circles, when urged to do so by friends, with whose views and wishes, ordinarily, it were a pleasure to comply. Entertaining that feeling very sincerely, and permitting its control, perhaps, quite unreasonably, I have often Douglass, written in answer to my urgent solicitation for such a work:ĭEAR FRIEND: I have long entertained, as you very well know, a somewhat positive repugnance to writing or speaking anything for the public, which could, with any degree of plausibilty, make me liable to the imputation of seeking personal notoriety, for its own sake. Perhaps the best Preface to this volume is furnished in the following letter of Mr. I am authorized to say that there is not a fictitious name nor place in the whole volume but that names and places are literally given, and that every transaction therein described actually transpired. The reader is, therefore, assured, with all due promptitude, that his attention is not invited to a work of ART, but to a work of FACTS-Facts, terrible and almost incredible, it may be yet FACTS, nevertheless. The nature and character of slavery have been subjects of an almost endless variety of artistic representation and after the brilliant achievements in that field, and while those achievements are yet fresh in the memory of the million, he who would add another to the legion, must possess the charm of transcendent excellence, or apologize for something worse than rashness. If the volume now presented to the public were a mere work of ART, the history of its misfortune might be written in two very simple words-TOO LATE. ![]() WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY?. XVI-ANOTHER PRESSURE OF THE TYRANTS VICE.172 XI-"A CHANGE CAME O'ER THE SPIRIT OF MY DREAM".118 ![]() VI-TREATMENT OF SLAVES ON LLOYDS PLANTATION. V-GRADUAL INITIATION INTO THE MYSTERIES OF SLAVERY. IV-A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SLAVE PLANTATION. HIS PRE-EMINENT SERVICES IN BEHALF OF THE RIGHTS AND LIBERTIESĪFFLICTED, DESPISED AND DEEPLY OUTRAGED PEOPLE,īY RANKING SLAVERY WITH PIRACY AND MURDER,ĭENYING IT EITHER A LEGAL OR CONSTITUTIONAL EXISTENCE,īY HIS FAITHFUL AND FIRMLY ATTACHED FRIEND,ĮDITORS PREFACE.1 Necessarily excludes the idea of PROPERTY IN THAT BEING_.Įntered according to Act of Congress in 1855 by Frederickĭouglass in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of theĪDMIRATION FOR HIS GENIUS AND BENEVOLENCE,Ī Small but most Sincere Acknowledgement of _By a principle essential to Christianity, a PERSON is eternallyĭifferenced from a THING so that the idea of a HUMAN BEING, My Bondage and Freedom by Frederick Douglass 1855
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