Oppression in early days essays

Oppression in early days essays In many ways, our founding father's idea of oppression differed greatly from Frederick Douglass' thought of oppression during his lifetime. Thomas Jefferson, a highly influential leader during our nation's birth, claimed that Great Britain, led by King George III, was infringing on the fundamental laws that colonists were entitled to. In many ways, Frederick Douglass uses fundamental laws to try and define his oppression by slave holders of the United States. In both cases, oppressed people were fighting for freedom. Although each view, Thomas Jefferson's and Frederick Douglass', had the idea of oppression, these ideas were no closer to each other in definition. One oppression that was clear in both cases was the ability of the upper social classes to infringe on economic profit and economic freedom to their respective oppressed classes. In Douglass' case, the upper class constituted of wealthy land owners who owned enslaved Africans. This bridge in social standing created a status quo of white slaveholders to keep their slaves to work in a field or a trade which generated income solely for the slaveholder. One might create an argument by stating the slave could buy his way to freedom, which some slaves did. The decision to let slaves create or maintain a steady income was solely up to the slaveholder, in most cases, restricted the slave to mere pennies if any at all (Douglass, p. 319-320). Mere pennies could not buy freedom, and in most cases slaves worked for very little food let alone money, as stated in Douglass' case (Douglass, p. 100). Slaves were not able to go out and live a free life not even for one day. Frederick Douglass was bo und to a master and even though he persevered and took in a substantial amount of money per week for Master Hugh during his life as a tradesman, if he were to leave on a given Saturday night to partake in any activity at all, he should expect harsh treatment on his return home, which did happen t...