The United States of America is a country that was founded on the basic principles of freedom and liberty. This often leaves it with a reputation as a land full of hope, where anything is possible as long as one is willing to work hard for it. Unfortunately, this idea is not always true. Frederick Douglas, who was born a slave, did not have the privelege of this aforementioned freedom, liberty, and social mobility. Even though he was an exceptionally bright man, he was enslaved and persecuted because of his skin color. His life represents both the failure and success of the American dream, with the failure being the extremely more dominant, because of the color of his skin.
The most fundemental of aspect of the American dream is that of freedom and liberty. Relative to other countries, America was going above and beyond the call of duty to give its citizens these freedoms and rights. The country was founded with a main focus on freedom from Tyranny. This is shown by the following excerpt from the Declaration of Independence: "The history of the present King of Great Britian is a history of repeated injuries and ununsurpations, all having direct object the establishment of Tyranny over these states." When the Constitution was written the first ten amendments were a bill of rights. The amendement the was most powerful was the ninth. "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." This amendment means that any rights that were not mentioned in the constitution are still held by the people. This includes any god given rights that all human beings are given. All of these rights to freedom and liberty that are clearly spelled out hold a lot of weight in the American Dream. This leads to the first reason why Frederick Douglass's life represented the failure of the American dream.
Being born a free man is no doubt a god given right. And in a country that goes to great troubles to make sure each specific right is spelled out, it would seem obvious that the freedom to belong to yourself was one of those rights. This is why it is so outlandish and hipocrtitical that slavery existed in America. Frederick Douglas was born a slave and shipped around the country just as a piece of property. From the time he was a young boy he had a notion of what bei...
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...t he wanted. He was obviously successful because the paper three thousand subscribers. This fit the idea in the American dream that states, if one is willing to work hard enough they can achieve anything in America, and Frederick worked very hard on that paper. So, Fredercick did experience a success of the American dream in this aspect. But one must feel it was a bit tainted, since he was doing this to try to get justice for his people.
Frederick Doulgass's life did not represent the success of the American dream. He was born a slave and witnessed all of the harsh brutalities that come with slavery. He eperienced no freedom as a slave, and was just a piece of property. His strong yearning for freedom led him to flee his master, only to find he was now looked upon by most as a free inferior black man. This strongly lessened his ability to pursue happiness. He did find a slight success in the American dream through his paper, but it was tainted because he was trying to get justice for his oppressed people. In Douglass's life the failures of the American dream far outweigh the successes, and one will find the reason for this imbalance is simply the color of Douglass's skin.
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