David Walker Preamble Of Appeal Analysis

David Walker and The Appeal
“Having travelled over a considerable portion of these Unites States, and having, in the course of my travels, taken the most accurate observations of things as they exist-the result of my observations has warranted the full and unshaken conviction, that we, (coloured people of these Unites States,) are the most degraded, wretched, and abject set of beings that ever lived since the world began; and I pray God that none like us ever may live again until time shall be no more.”, said by David Walker. Born a free African American man in North Carolina to a free mother and an enslaved father in 1785. In the document of David Walker, Preamble of Appeal to The Coloured Citizens of The World, it states that David writes a pamphlet about slavery and how the document spread all around the United States even with all the effort of
the southern white people trying to abolish it.
Walker was known to be a very blunt advocate about slavery, and he made his concerns and worries known when he wrote his famous Appeal in the 1830's. In his famous Appeal he mainly states how the slaves in the North and the South should be freed, and even mentioned the Northern white people and the slave owners, and the Northerners out of eagerness read what Walker had to say. Walker wanted his document to take immediate effect instead of waiting around for it to be taken seriously. To help his Appeal, Walker commended slaves to start dispersing all at once, and it began to scare overly suspicious white masters.
This document showed that Walker was a very serious advocate that wanted desperately to free slaves.
His past shows proof of that because before he wrote his pamphlet Walker had traveled across the United States widely to view other parts of the country that slavery took place in. After awhile Walker settled in Boston where he was effectively helping the poor, the needy, and the runaway slaves he had developed the reputation for being bountiful and compassionate. He even married a woman who had a been a run away slave; her name was Emily. He made a very deliberate choice in writing this because he knew that there would be people out there that would absolutely hate his seventy-six page pamphlet, so he took pride in what he wrote and stood behind it. In his pamphlet he even wanted slaves to stand up to their masters regardless of what bad things that could possibly happen for doing it. Some might say that Walker telling slaves to do this was outrageous, and foolish, but he knew what he was doing and the only way to get people's attention was to force slaves to stand up for what was right, and what was right was
freedom.
The consequences for those who chose to read, write and stand up for freedom were going to be dangerous. When the Appeal reached the slaves in the South, they put their masters on alert causing them to turn their Governor John Owen for help because they thought that their slaves were being headstrong and insuppressible. The Governor then went to the Legislator for help and they agreed to have the most retraining system that had ever been passed to administer slaves and the free black men and women. The Legislator made it to where if you were caught teaching slaves how to read, there would be punishment. If you were a free black person entering the state by ship, you would be confined. If you were a resident and had any contact with the ships that were coming in, you would be punished. The legislator made it to where the consequences of being apart of this Appeal of 1830 would be severe. Three months after Walkers publication of his third edition, Walker had died in Boston due to an unknown cause of death. Rumors say that someone had poisoned him for the large reward offered by a Southern slave owner.
In conclusion, Walker knew what he was doing and knew that writing that pamphlet would result in lost lives. His attempt in freeing slaves helped open eyes and minds so people could understand that living everyday as a slave was wrong. Walker once said, “I am fully aware, in making this appeal to my much afflicted and suffering brethren, that I shall not only be assailed by those whose greatest earthly desires are, to keep us in abject ignorance and wretchedness, and who are of the firm conviction that Heaven has designed us and our children to be slaves and beasts of burden to them and their children.” After Walker had passed away his son was born. His son named Edward G. Walker became the first black man to become elected to the Massachusetts state legislator.