Lincoln vs Douglas

While it may be true that Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass lived very different lifestyles, Lincoln having all the benefits of being a white male in the 1800’s and Douglas born into slavery with no civil rights, they had very similar views. Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass came from similar backgrounds, they put great value into education, and they became well-known for their impact on slavery. Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky in 1809, and moved to Spencer County, Indiana, when he was eight. His mother died when he was ten years old, and since his family was very poor, he began working at an early age. He worked on a farm until he was twenty-two years old. Fredrick Douglas, on the other hand, was born a slave in Tuckahoe, Maryland. His mother was hired out to a distant farmer shortly after he was born and died when Douglass was about eight years old. Like many slaves, Douglass never knew who his father was. Abraham Lincoln had little formal schooling and was mostly self-educated. He loved to read and did so every minute of his spare time. He would walk miles just for another book, reading anything he could get his hands on. Lincoln studied to become a lawyer and moved to Springfield, Illinois, to practice law. From 1834 to 1840, Lincoln served in the Illinois state legislature, studied to become a lawyer, and moved to Springfield, Illinois, to practice law. In 1846, he was elected to congress, and was pro-abolition. Conversely, Fredrick Douglas was taught the alphabet by his master’s wife, but when his master discovered that she was teaching Fredrick to read, he immediately made her stop. It was unlawful to teach a slave to read. Analogous to Lincoln, Fredrick soon realized that reading was an important distinction between slaves and free men, and he saw education as freedom to think and have ideas. Fredrick taught himself to write by copying words in his master’s writing book. He later became an important speaker and writer