ipl-logo

Summary Of George Fitzhugh's Logical Fallacies

946 Words4 Pages

No individual should have to bear the chains of slavery. Because to hold someone physically and mentally captive is not only wrong, it’s a deprivation of our natural born right to freedom. In 1845, a southerner, George Fitzhugh writes a pamphlet called Slavery Justified, portraying slavery as beneficial to all. The article ‘‘Logical Fallacies’’ by Maggie Escalas, Julie Freia, and Carrie Jean Schroeder, destroys the validity of Fitzhugh’s claims. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the compelling evidence to why Fitzhugh’s arguments are false, given that Douglass recounts his harsh experience as a slave. While Fitzhugh claims that slaveholders take care of their slaves, Douglass describes how the slaves are not given much thought. Likewise, when …show more content…

He writes, ‘‘We never saw one who did not like his slaves, and rarely a slave who was not devoted to his master… I am thy servant!’’ (3). Fitzhugh hides information from the reader and is ambiguous about when or who would ask the slaves if they were content with their masters. He misinforms the reader about why a slave would be glad to say he is a servant, making the reader assume it’s because of their devotion to their master. Based on ‘‘Logical Fallacies’’, Fitzhugh commits the fallacy of hiding information/half truth (4) that once again discredits his argument. On the other side, Douglass explains the logic of why a slave would lie. Douglass reveals, ‘‘Slaveholders have been known to send in spies among the slaves, to ascertain their views and feeling in regard to their condition’’ (35). According to Douglass, the slaves would say they were content with their masters because they were not sure if they were being spied upon, and therefore, had to be cautious of what they said and to whom they told. This does not sound at all beneficial as Fitzhugh writes it to

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Douglass Narrative Of My Bondage And My Freedom

    350 Words  | 2 Pages

    Frederick Douglass published two similar versions of his fight with the ‘slave-breaker’ Edward Covey in the tenth chapter of his The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, and in the seventeenth chapter of My Bondage and My Freedom. By comparing the two accounts it is possible to see an evolution of his thoughts on abolishing slavery and person hood which occurred in the years which transpired between the two works, 1845 and 1855. In the first account which Douglass wrote at around the age of 27 he narrates a physical confrontation where he refuses to allow himself to be whipped. Douglass struggles for two hours with Covey and also fights off Covey’s cousin at the same time.

    Read More

  • Rhetoric In Fredrick Douglass 'As With Rivers So With Nation'

    257 Words  | 2 Pages

    “With them, justice, liberty and humanity were “final”; not slavery and oppression.” This relates to the hardships and the fact that the people don’t recognize how terrible it is. And that these meanings of these “free” words mean something else to him and other slaves. He shows that the changes are hard but once they are made everything will be peaceful. Rhetorical features and strategies are Douglass’ forte’ in engaging with the audience.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Paradox Analysis

    161 Words  | 1 Pages

    Douglass uses paradox to demonstrate that slavery degragrates the slaverholder. When Douglass under Mr. Sever’s care he described that: “He was less cruel, less profane… He whipped, but seemed to take no pleasure in it. ”(Douglass 24). Most slaveholders are characterized to be cruel and inhuman because of the whipping and the way they treated the slaves.

    Read More

  • Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    648 Words  | 3 Pages

    ‘’ No words, No tears, No prayers, from his glory victim, seemed to move his iron heart fro his bloody purpose.’’ (page 5). Douglass appeals to the mournful emotions of the audience by expressing how the overseers gave no mercy or cared about the effect of whippings to the slaves. Douglass use of parallelism displayed how slavery was

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass: Overcoming Obstacles

    392 Words  | 2 Pages

    Douglass encountered multiple harsh realities of being enslaved. For example, the ex-slave was practically starved to death by his masters on multiple occasions. In fact, “[He was] allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else... It was not enough for [him] to subsist upon... A great many times [he had] been nearly perishing with hunger” (pg 31).

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Position Of Slavery

    1574 Words  | 7 Pages

    Douglass uses his Narrative to share his position is by telling his audience how unfairly Douglass is treated and how white men or slaveholders take control of the life of a slave because in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass on page 1 paragraph 1 it says, The nearest estimate I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age. I come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old.” What this piece of evidence is demonstrates is that Frederick Douglass did not even now his own birth and that he had to guess on what his master said and that his master knows more what Frederick knows about his life. Another way that Douglass’s uses his Narrative to share his position is by telling their audience how unfairly Frederick and many other slaves were treated because because in the Document “‘ Pro Slavery Arguments South’’ on paragraph 6 it says,”Southern slaveholders pro-slavery arguments defended the interest of the plantation owners against attempts by abolitionists, lower classes, and non-whites to institute a more equal social structure.”

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Hypocrisy Essay

    1049 Words  | 5 Pages

    Group Essay on Frederick Douglass “That this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system”, and that Frederick Douglass does in his eponymous autobiography. Douglass throws light by dispelling the myths of the slave system, which received support from all parts of society. To dispel these myths Douglass begins to construct an argument composed around a series of rhetorical appeals and devices. Douglass illustrates that slavery is dehumanizing, corrupting, and promotes Christian hypocrisy. Using telling details, Douglass describes the dehumanizing effects of the slave system which condones the treatment of human beings as property.

    Read More

  • What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July Essay

    636 Words  | 3 Pages

    He proclaims that "…While we are…living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!" By showing the mundanity of the slave, Douglass shows the audience that the slaves are human and therefore unable to be considered property. He forces his audience to examine their own lives and realize their similarities to the slaves and the hypocrisy of slavery. He doesn't give his audience a chance to disagree with his stance on slavery because he makes such a blunt argument. Douglass asks again, "Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man?

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Use And Abuse Of Power Essay

    498 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass's Arguments Against Slavery

    1080 Words  | 5 Pages

    In “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass narrates in detail the oppressions he went through as a slave before winning his freedom. In the narrative, Douglass gives a picture about the humiliation, brutality, and pain that slaves go through. We can evidently see that Douglass does not want to describe only his life, but he uses his personal experiences and life story as a tool to rise against slavery. He uses his personal life story to argue against common myths that were used to justify the act of slavery. Douglass invalidated common justification for slavery like religion, economic argument and color with his life story through his experiences torture, separation, and illiteracy, and he urged for the end of slavery.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Abuse In Frederick Douglass

    1838 Words  | 8 Pages

    This shows that the way a Master behaves around a slave can be very influential, and Douglass explains that he was compelled to give all his hard-earned money to Master Hugh because the influence the Master had on him was to give him everything he worked hard for. Next, on page 10 of his Narrative, Douglass proclaims, “They never knew when they were safe from punishment. They were frequently whipped when least deserving, and escaped whipping when most deserving it. Every thing depended upon the looks of the horses,

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Rebunk The Myth Of Slavery

    814 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1700-1800’s, the use of African American slaves for backbreaking, unpaid work was at its prime. Despite the terrible conditions that slaves were forced to deal with, slave owners managed to convince themselves and others that it was not the abhorrent work it was thought to be. However, in the mid-1800’s, Northern and southern Americans were becoming more aware of the trauma that slaves were facing in the South. Soon, an abolitionist group began in protest, but still people doubted and questioned it.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Negative Effects On Slaves

    753 Words  | 4 Pages

    Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a first hand experience into the imbalance of power between a slave and a slaveholder and the negative effects it has on them both. Douglass proves that slavery destroys not only the slave, but the slaveholder as well by saying that this “poison of irresponsible power” has a dehumanizing effect on the slaveholder’s morals and beliefs (Douglass 40). This intense amount of power breaks the  kindest heart and changes the slaveholder into a heartless demon (Douglass 40). Yet these are not the only ways that Douglass proves what ill effect slavery has on the slaveholder. Douglass also uses deep characterization, emotional appeal, and religion to present the negative effects of slavery.

    Read More

  • Essay Comparing Frederick Douglass And Harriet Jacobs

    486 Words  | 2 Pages

    Douglass also emphasizes how owning slaves does not only hurt the slave but the slave owner. He says that owning

    Read More

  • Essay On Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

    973 Words  | 4 Pages

    Because of this, he successfully creates a contrast between what the slave owners think of and treat the slaves and how they are. Douglass says that slave’s minds were “starved by their cruel masters”(Douglass, 48) and that “they had been shut up in mental darkness” (Douglass, 48) and through education, something that they were deprived of, Frederick Douglass is able to open their minds and allow them to flourish into the complex people that they are. By showing a willingness to learn to read and write, the slaves prove that they were much more than what was forced upon them by their masters.

    Read More

More about Summary Of George Fitzhugh's Logical Fallacies

Open Document