The Heroic Slave

By some strange neglect, one of the truest, manifest, and bravest of her children [that is, children of the state of Virginia]--one who, in after years, will, i think, command the pen of genius to set his merits forth, holds now no higher place in the records of that grand old Commonwealth than is held by a horse of an ox (25).

Douglass is indicting the state of virginia and the whole of the United States for its injustice, its cruelty, its inhumanity, and its hypocrisy. If the United States claims to be a land and a government wherein democratic principles prevail, then it would not honor and cherish only white heroes who show their heroism, but would also honor and cherish black men, slaves or not, such as the heroic slave about which Douglass writes. Douglass aims to change the minds of his readers, probably mostly white readers, who have not yet looked at slaves as human beings. He wants to create in the minds of those readers a human portrait of a black man who has suffered mightily from slavery, who has survived that ord

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Some common words found in the essay are:
Madison Washington, Founding Fathers, Heroic Slave, Douglass United, Madison Madison, white readers, madison washington, heroic slave, minds readers, white people, beast burden, honor cherish,
Approximate Word count = 808
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)

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