American Way

The pre direct term paper will compare the life struggles of the two tout ensemble different American historical figures Frederick Douglass (1818 1895) and genus Benzoin Franklin (1706 1790). Although the were dissimilar in regard to their social backgrounds and characters, both of them praised knowledge as the most valid source of power, and were perseverant in their strivings for self-education. Both successfully tried their hand in writing. The compari intelligence of Douglass and Franklins lives will be supported by the quotes from their autobiographies.Before proceeding to the analysis part, it makes sense to over idea the contributions which distributively of the men made to the United States history. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, to a greater extent widely kn suffer as Frederick Douglass, was natural a slave. He managed to cast off that yoke tho at the age of twenty when he arranged false identification papers to take a long journey from Maryland to New York. Up on connection various abolitionist organizations in Massachusetts, Douglass had been delivering lectures on anti-slaveholding across the Eastern and Midwestern states as well as across the ocean from 1841 till 1846.In the late 1840s, he became active as a publisher. Acknowledging the Emancipation Proclamation (announced by President Lincoln in 1862) to be one of the most self-aggrandizing documents in the American history since it declared the liberation of black slaves, the prominent abolitionist fought for granting equal rights to all American citizens regardless of sex and ethnicity. Benjamin Franklin bring aboutd prominence as a writer, politician and scientist. Being born in a rather poor large family, he managed to make money on newspaper editing, printing, and commerce in Philadelphia.Franklin founded the offshoot human beings lending subroutine library, fire department, and policy-making discussion club in the United States. He refined the theory of electricity and inv ented many valuable utensils and instruments (i. e. the lightning rod, bifocals, the iron furnace stove, a carriage odometer, etc. ). He grew popular as a politician and civic leader after publicly speaking against the molding Act. During the American Revolution, Franklin, the diplomat, managed to chaffer military and financial aid from France. In his later period of life he supported the ideas of abolitionism.To return back to the comparison of Douglass and Franklins views on the importance of knowledge and education, both were never tired of improving their cognitive skills. Despite totally different social backgrounds, Douglass being a born slave, and Franklin, being the youngest son in the family of a tallow chandler of a British ancestry, were similarly deprived of the regular schooling. The wife of one of Douglass masters, Sophia Auld, started teaching Frederick the alphabet and elementary spelling. The cleaning woman unintentionally broke the law which forbade educating sl aves.In his autobiography Narrative of a Life, Douglass reconstructed the speech of Sophias husband who raised his voice against literacy for slaves If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master to do as he is told to do. Learning would cover the best nigger in the world. Now if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.(Douglass 36) Although in a racist and humiliating form, the slave master emphasized the great role of knowledge and education for a human being. Having learnt to put letters into words, Frederick mum how right his master was concerning the importance of studies It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful underst anding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now mum what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty to wit, the white mans power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly.From that moment, I understood the pathway from sla very(prenominal) to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the least expected it. (Douglass 36) These thoughts of the famous abolitionist prove that literacy could expand mental horizons of Afro-Americans so that they were able to trace ine throw iny in social life of the United States in the early 19th century. There colored plenty were degraded to the range of hard-laboring and powerless beasts. A talented boy had to continue his studies in secrecy, opposing to his masters intention of shutting him up in mental darkness (Douglass 36).Being sent on errands, Frederick used every opportunity to learn letters from the white poor boys in the neighborhoods. The young slave enjoyed tuition because i t gave tongue to interesting thoughts of his own soul, which had frequently flashed through his mind, and died away for want of utterance (Douglass 42). This happened when Frederick managed to read one of Sheridans speeches which inspired him to think over the nature of truth and its impact on conscience. Possessing a sharp wit, Douglass learnt to write as he watched the ship carpenters marking timbers.He also copied the Italics in Websters Spelling Book and finally succeeded in producing the letters correctly without peeping into the copy-book. Frederick dared even up to take the copy-books of his masters son to practice in handwriting. One would admire the strong will and courage of the young slave who progressed in learning at the risk of being severely punished. Franklins path of education started in a less secret way. His father hoped that his son would make a go of a clergyman and sent the boy to the grammar-school at the age of eight.Benjamin showed a quick progress in lear ning so that he managed to jump from the first to the third class within one year. However, the fourth-year Franklin found the cost of studying at that educational establishment too high and placed his son to some other school where the latter succeeded in writing but failed in arithmetic. At ten Ben was taken home to assist his father in standard candle business. As Franklin recollected, he used to have a thirst for knowledge (14) and used every opportunity to expand his fathers small library by buying new books. He mentioned Plutarchs Lives, Defoes Essay on Projects, and Dr.Mathers Essays to do Good as the books which influenced his mind in the earlier period. The boy continued his self-education when he was made a printers apprentice. He borrowed books from booksellers apprentices and used to read at nights so that he could return them the following morning. When a flush tradesman Adams by name invited Benjamin to his library, the boy showed interest in poetry and attempted t o write his own ballads. In the autobiography Franklin called his earlier verses horrifying stuff (15) and explained that he preferred to master his writing skills in prose.Benjamin wrote a few letters to his friend to share some thoughts on womens abilities for study, and the senior Franklin happened to read those letters. He praised the son for correct spelling and pointing but criticized for the flaws regarding elegance of expression, method and perspicuity (Franklin 16). The younger Franklin decided to train himself by imitating the style of the sweetheart magazine that focused on political and current events and by turning some tales into poems. Thus Benjamin made a progress in expanding his phrase and arranging his thoughts in the dampen structured phrases.Finally the future Founding Father of the United States became satisfied with the results of his efforts By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I observed many faults and amended them but I sometimes had t he pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method or the language, and this encouraged me to think I competency possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was extremely ambitious. (Franklin 17) more or less the same period Franklin studied arithmetic and navigation.By attentively reading Xenophons Memorable Things of Socrates he practiced in the Socratic method of conducting disputes and refined his grammar. Benjamin aimed at expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence (Franklin 18) in his writings so that the argumentation contained both pros and contras related to the main thesis. At that time the perspective political theorist and polemicist designed an original concept of a good and authentic behavior of writing. In his autobiography, Franklin emphasized that knowledge brought power to an educated man.Literate people could use their aptitude in eloquence and writing to persuade peopl e into the things that would otherwise have been neglected or labeled as wrong. Since the scholar believed that the old-timer ends of conversation are to inform or to be informed, to please or to persuade, he warned the men of letters against the whim of expressing themselves as firmly fixd in their present opinions in a positive and dogmatical manner (Franklin 19). He suggested instead analyzing the issues under research in a critical and modest manner so that audiences were stimulated to think independently and freely without prejudices and cliches.It should be noticed that despite different manners of acquiring knowledge, Douglass and Franklin learnt similar lessons from their earlier exercises in reading and writing. Douglass observed that in a course of studies he started contemplating about human rights and the abnormal distribution of power between the master and the slave. On the one hand, as the author recalled, reading was a blessing because it enabled him to get the bett er command of the train of thoughts.On the other hand, however, it appeared to be a curse since it had given him a view of his wretched condition, without the remedy and opened his eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out (Douglass 42). It became evident to the boy that knowledge by itself could not ensure a persons happiness and well-being and had to be supplied by civic acts. In his turn, Franklin arrived at the strong conviction that truth, sincerity and truth in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life (58).He had the enough independent mind to understand that certain actions might not be bad because they were forbidden by Revelation, or good because it commanded them, yet probably these actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded because they were honest to us, in their own natures, all the circumstances of things considered. (ibid. ) In other words, Franklin opposed the social struct ure as based on traditions and rigid rules which were imposed by the elite on the rest of citizens.Later those thoughts made the author of Autobiography to fight against any immorality or injustice caused by rich whites to people of another skin color. Douglass and Franklin displayed similar manners of life-long self-education and educating other people, although the results of those efforts for the each were different. Douglass became enough skillful in reading to teach other slaves to read the New Testament, and he was lucky to do that at a Sabbath school on Mr. Freemans plantation (the man who hired Douglass from his master).Over forty slaves had been attending lessons for about half(a) a year. Freeman did not object to Douglass initiative but other slave-owners hated the very idea of Afro-Americans behaving like intellectual, moral, and accountable beings (Douglass 82). One Sunday a gang of whites attacked the pupils of the Sabbath school during their meeting and put a violent end to the enterprise. Franklins attempt to found a public subscription library ended more happily. In 1731, he and his colleagues from the Junto club created the Library Company of Philadelphia to engage people into reading.They sold the so-called shares to shareholders to buy books so that members borrowed them to their convenience. The goal Franklin et al. pursued was very noble These libraries have improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so generally made throughout the colonies in defense of their privileges. (70) In a course of time, another three public libraries emerged, thus forming a strong educational network in the United States of the eighteenth century.The foundation of the library admitd Franklin with more opportunities to immerse into constant study, for which he set obscure an hour or two each day, and th us repaird in some degree the loss of the learned education (79). As it is evident from researching Franklins autobiography, this prominent scholar possessed a skill of self-discipline and high self-organization. At the age of 27, this man of knowledge started learning French, Italian, and Spanish. He did it in a gay manner one of Franklins friends often tempted him into playing chess, which game Benjamin was fond of.The scholar agreed to do it on the following condition the superordinate in every game should have a right to impose a task, either in parts of the grammar to be got by heart, or in translations, etc. , which tasks the vanquishd was to perform upon honour, before our next meeting. As we playd pretty equally, we thus beat one another into that language. (Franklin 99) His own linguistic experience gave Franklin the right to criticize the traditional approach to teaching foreign languages specifically and education in general.I would offer it to the consideration of th ose who superintend the education of our youth, whether, since many of those who begin with the Latin quit the same after spending some years without having made any great proficiency, and what they have learnt becomes almost useless, so that their time has been lost, it would not have been better to have begun with the French, proceeding to the Italian, etc. for, tho, after spending the same time, they should quit the study of languages and never arrive at the Latin, they would, however, have acquired another tongue or two, that, being in modern use, might be serviceable to them in common life.(Franklin 100) As the abovementioned passage demonstrates, Franklin valued systematic education for its utility in everyday life. In his perception, knowledge was not only a collection of abstract truths about world order or human morals and ethical motive but also a very important tool in communication and career promotion. To summarize, education and knowledge were highly appraised by both Douglass and Franklin as it was evident from their writings. It is especially interesting that the men of the so different backgrounds arrived at the same conclusions despite living in different periods of the United States history.Franklin was one of the brightest minds of the 18th century when the country liberated itself from the British rule, and the American nation proclaimed its independence. Douglass belonged to the next age when the United States society became segregated by race, sex, and the issue of origin. Franklin be the most literate and progressively thinking members of the privileged class which exercised power over poorer classes and people of the races other than White Caucasian. Douglass was the son of the degraded and oppressed clan of Afro-Americans who were formally liberated only upon the end of the Civil War.But, however different were the experiences of these two prominent figures of the United States history, both of them praised knowledge and education as efficacious means of destroying inequality, ignorance, prejudice and rigidity of thinking. Both of them emphasized that education liberated the mind and soul from primitivism and barbarism. Both used every opportunity to acquire novel information that would widen their mental horizons and inspire other people to follow the path of knowledge.Douglass Narrative of a Life and Franklins Autobiography provide us with vivid and interesting-to-read examples of how human beings could refine themselves and society by being perseverant and enthusiastic in learning. Works Cited Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave. Charlottesville, Va. University of Virginia Library, 1996. Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Charlottesville, Va. University of Virginia Library, 1995.