Frederick Douglass And The Slavery Debate Essay

The three people I think had the biggest impact on the slavery debate was Frederick Douglass, Stephen A. Douglass and Chief Justice Roger Taney. Frederick Douglas was important to this debate because, he beat the odds of being freed from slavery. Once Douglas was free he didn’t stop there he continued to be a part in major debates. Stephen A. Douglas was a senator from Illinois who argued for popular sovereignty. This meant to let the people decided whether there would be slavery in a particular territory. Chief Justice Roger Taney was important to the slavery debate due to his decision on the Dred Scott case. Roger Taney took the view of “Once a slave always a slave”.

Frederick Douglas was an abolitionist, with his own personal experience to show people how slavery was so horrible. Douglas is also the most famous runaway slave because, he didn’t hide that he had run away. Once Frederick Douglas had made a life for himself he made many speeches and spoke of his experiences to everyone he could. Frederick Douglas began to speak at as many
Douglas drove the debate for popular sovereignty or to let the people vote. He felt that too let the people vote on whether to have slavery in a territory or not, would bring an end to all of the conflict. One reason this didn’t work is neighboring states would send their citizen to weigh in on the voting. So if the state next to the voting ones was a slave state they would cross the border and sway the vote in their favor. Stephen A. Douglas definitely had good intentions with popular sovereignty but had no enforcement on how biased the voting was. If the voting was like how it is today Douglas’s plans definitely would have been successful. Stephen A. Douglas contributed to the debate by offering a fair solution. Instead of being a part of the endless argument Stephen A. Douglas simply said why not let the people decide. This was a great decision because, they are the one who have to live