Frederick Douglass and His Slave-Holders

It is quite obvious that most slaves are not treated well by their slaveholders. “I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm red blood to drip.” There are many accounts of these beatings in Douglass’s narrative. He also tells of rape, murder, and other horrible incidences in his experience as a slave. He recalls one of his masters, Master Andrew, “a man who, but a few days before, to give me a sample of his bloody disposition, took my little brother by the throat, threw him on the ground, and with the heel of his boot stamped upon his head till the blood gushed from his nose and ears.” Douglass does an interesting job of showing the range of slaveholders that he has by comparing them with Christianity. He shows how the slaveholders try to justify their actions by hiding behind Christianity. As a slaveholder is whipping a young woman, he quotes scripture by saying, “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” Douglass shows one slaveholder that named Mr. Covey. Mr. Covey is a prime example of a slaveholder’s faith being affected by slaveholding. It seems like Covey is a very devout man, and he puts up the cover that he is extremely religious. His actions, however, do not agree with the evangelic perception that he has of himself. He even was “said to have been guilty of compelling his woman slave to commit the sin of adultery.”

It seems like Douglass sees slaveholding as something that corrupts humans. When Douglass is moved to a new mistress, he says that she was “a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings.” She had never had slaves before, so she had never been corrupted by it. Douglass tells how a woman with good, Christian morals can turn into a completely different woman under the influence of slaveholding. “That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.”

            Douglass had had a good connection with the woman early in their relationship. She helped him learn to read and taught him the A, B, C’s. She even helped him learn to spell small words. It wasn’t until later in their relationship, after she got some experience as a slaveholder, that she became a mean-spirited woman. Douglass compares the different slave-owners he had by showing how their Christian morals lined up. He shows the range of how they start: sometimes as nice and sometimes as mean, and the similarities on how they end up.