Beginning of Essay
Abolition stopped Frederick Douglass dead in his tracks and forced him to reinvent himself. He learned the hard central truth about abolition. Once he learned what that truth was, he was compelled to tell it in his speeches and writings even if it meant giving ....

Middle of Essay
.... for the sin of slavery. It would have also ended the North's obligation to enforce the fugitive slave law, and encourage a greater exodus of fugitive slaves from the South. (161,162 Perry) Douglass did not support this idea because it would not result in the complete abolition of slavery. Blacks deserved just as much freedom as whites. He believed that the South had committed treason, and the Union must rebel by force if necessary. Astonished by Garrison's thoughts, Douglass realized that abolition was truly a war between whites. Garrison, and many others, had failed to see the slaves as human beings. Were blacks then supposed to be irretri ....