Frederick Douglass Speech Analysis

Frederick Douglass was one of those who believed that the Constitution was in fact antislavery. He gave a speech entitled “The Constitution of the United States: Is It Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery?” to explain how easily one could misinterpret something that’s been written. Douglass explains throughout his speech that people tend to interpret things in ways that will benefit them in particular rather than everyone. He believed that the Constitution’s wording was meant to be taken literally. In fact, he believed that even the debates as the Constitution was being put together “were purposefully kept out of view, in order that the people should adopt