| A Plea for Free Speech in Boston |
| "A man's right to speak does not depend upon where he was born or upon his color. The simple quality of manhood is the solid basis of the right-and there let it rest forever" ("A Plea For Free Speech in Boston," par. 11). This was Frederick Douglass's final statemnt in "A Plea for Free Speech in Boston." In this speech Douglass effectively argued about the importance of everyone's right to free speech. Douglass begins his arguement criticizing the fact that free speech is supposed to be an "accomplished fact," yet the right to express oneself freely is unsecure, even in Boston ("A Plea For Free Speech in Boston," par. 1). He continued his arguement, citing an instance when a "mob of gentlemen" interupted a meeting about the abolition of slavery ("A Plea For Free Speech in Boston," par. 3). Douglass said that it would be more acceptable if the men were intolerant, intoxicated men, but ther weren't: "They were men who pride themselves upon their respect for the law and order" ("A Plea For Free Speech in Boston," par. 3). In the middle of his speech, Douglass explained how "no right was deemed by the fathers of the Government more sacred than the right of speech" ("A Plea for Free Speech in Boston," par. 6). He gives examples of free speech and how it would not be tolerated with the institutions of slavery still in place. He addresses his opponents, who say that the abolition meeting was held at the wrong time and was addressed to the wrong audience. He stated that "After all the arguments for liberty to which Boston has listened for more than a quarter of a century, has she yet to learn that the time to assert a right is the time when the right itself is called in question, and that the men of all others to assert it are the men to whom the right has been denied?" ("A Plea For Free Speech in Boston," par. 8). Douglass concludes his speech by stating that the government is false and will continue to be based on false principles until it recognizes the rights of all of its citizens, nomatter who the person is, as long as they are human. Douglass's speech helped raise awareness that every human has a right to freedoms, mainly the right to free speech. Source: A Plea for Free Speech in Boston. Comp. D. L. Oetting. 29 Nov. 2004. <http://www.douglassarchives.org/doug_a68.htm>. |