I have a debate soon, and I'm supposed to be Frederick Douglass. Who were his enemies so I can argue w/ them?

Question

My debate is next week, and I'm supposed to pretend I'm Frederick Douglass. I already researched his background and beliefs, but who did he most vermently disagree with???(P.S. I AM NOT trying to get out of work... I just can't seem to find anything. So if you respond "read the book" or some other dumb answer, all I have to say is I ALREADY DID!!!)

Answer 1

"Frederick Douglass
"Abolitionist/Editor"
A biography of the life of Frederick Douglass by Sandra Thomas
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Frederick Douglass was one of the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement, which fought to end slavery within the United States in the decades prior to the Civil War.
A brilliant speaker, Douglass was asked by the American Anti-Slavery Society to engage in a tour of lectures, and so became recognized as one of America's first great black speakers. He won world fame when his autobiography was publicized in 1845. Two years later he bagan publishing an antislavery paper called the North Star.

Douglass served as an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and fought for the adoption of constitutional amendments that guaranteed voting rights and other civil liberties for blacks. Douglass provided a powerful voice for human rights during this period of American history and is still revered today for his contributions against racial injustice. "

Answer 2

Here is some information on the debate between Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison in the 1850s....
In 1851, Douglass merged the North Star with Gerrit Smith's Liberty Party Paper to form Frederick Douglass' Paper, which was published until 1860. Douglass came to agree with Smith and Lysander Spooner that the United States Constitution is an anti-slavery document, reversing his earlier belief that it was pro-slavery, a view he had shared with William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison had publicly demonstrated his opinion of the Constitution by burning copies of it. Douglass' change of position on the Constitution was one of the most notable incidents of a division that emerged in the abolitionist movement after the publication of Spooner's book The Unconstitutionality of Slavery in 1846. This shift in opinion, as well as some other political differences, created a rift between Douglass and Garrison. Douglass further angered Garrison by saying that the Constitution could and should be used as an instrument in the fight against slavery. With this, Douglass began to assert his independence from the Garrisonians. Garrison saw the North Star as being in competition with the National Anti-Slavery Standard and Marius Robinson's Anti-slavery Bugle.

I would not really call Garrison an "enemy" as they were both on the side of abolishing slavery.
There were obviously those who supported slavery in the south in the 1850s (and later, sadly).

I found a site on slavery that might give you some ideas:
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/scripts/sia/gallery.cgi

Good luck and keep researching

Answer 3

Well, I would think that anyone who opposed what he stood for would be his enemies. While research wouldn't necessarily tell you their names, you can choose some. For example, John Wilkes Booth is said to have killed Lincoln because Booth was a Southerner who believed strongly in slavery. So, you could imagine a debate or meeting between Douglass and Booth. Choose some prominent players in the Civil War on the Southern side, some plantation owners, like maybe the owner of the one that Douglass escaped from or a previous owner. In these two cases, make them up and give them the opposite points of view from Douglass, as they most assuredly would have had. The more creative you can be while staying in the confines of possibilities, the better grade I think you will get, especially since you are more likely to keep the interest of your audience during the debate. If I can be of further help, you can contact me. Good luck!

Answer 4

Hi Miri, here are the links that might contain the info you're looking for.

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) Teacher Resource File

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/douglass.htm

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave

http://douglass.thefreelibrary.com/Narrative-of-the-Life-of-Frederick-Douglass-An-American-Slave

http://douglass.thefreelibrary.com/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html

Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895

My Bondage and My Freedom. Part I. Life as a Slave. Part II. Life as a Freeman.

New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass55/menu.html

"North American Slave Narratives" collects books and articles that document the individual and collective story of African Americans struggling for freedom and human rights in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. More…..

http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/index.html

"The Meaning of July Fourth for the *****"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html

Good luck.

Kevin, Liverpool, England.

Answer 5

Since you've done research, you probably know that Douglass was an avid abolitionist. This means that basically anyone from the South who believed in slavery was his enemy. He really didn't have a "rival" or "enemy."