Social Inequality In 1820s

The Fourth of July is about America’s freedom, yet it is ironic to be celebrated when people of a different race are not allowed to celebrate freedom. Our fathers fought for freedom of all, not for different races to have more control of life than others. They fought for the equality of all and for everyone to have the freedom they deserve. “With them, nothing was settled that was not great. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final. Not slavery and oppression” (Douglass 2). The people who fought for our freedom believed they were fighting for the liberty of all, instead slavery still existed in society. To slaves, the Fourth of July is not the day of celebrating freedom, it is just another day of hard work and without liberty. “To him your celebration is a sham, your boasted liberty, your national greatness… your shouts of liberty and equality” (Douglass 4). The irony of American freedom falls where the constitution lies since the constitution is looked at as the liberty document of an unliberated and unequal country. “If the constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave holding instrument, neither slavery , slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it” (Douglass 4). Slavery is not part of the “Glorious liberty document” so why is is able to exist? It should not be acceptable to call

The speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” opens with Frederick Douglas explaining how he was asked to give a speech on the Fourth of July. He then gives a brief statement about how hard his journey has been and now he will try to lay out his thoughts to the audience. He talks about how this is a day of celebration for their nation, not his nation. Douglas talks about how young the nation is, and how many obstacles they will soon have to face. He goes on to talk

Today most people think of the Fourth of July as a holiday to celebrate freedom. However, in

In 1776, on July 4th, the 13 English colonies officially declared their freedom from England. However, as the years progressed, slavery became incorporated into everyday American life. In 1852, former slave Frederick Douglass gave a speech to celebrate America’s independence; however, instead of praising the country, he censured Americans for saying they were a “country of the free”. In the speech, Hypocrisy of American Slavery, Frederick Douglass declares that Americans should not be celebrating their freedom when there are slaves living in the country. To convince his audience that Americans are wrong celebrating freedom on the 4th of July when slavery exists in their country, he uses emotional appeal, ethical appeal, and rhetorical questions.

Independence comes wide a wide range of definitions, varying in its point of view and analysis from perspectives in scenarios that give the most fit definition. Being a memorable date where good things happened and the beginning of a new government with freedom and justice as its standards is emerging. A word which is defined by freedom in all means. A definition of open doors to new changes for better. In many eyes, these statements apply and for other do not. Douglass uses juxtaposition to denote his anger and demands to widen and bring the attention of his public: “The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony”-Douglass. Where there is joy, in other places there is sadness and death. People who had control over slaves, helped in a way to grow an economic and labor system based on oppression and

Frederick Douglass’ speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” encompasses a powerful meaning for the mistreated African Americans in America. It showed the other side of America’s opinion, and how they viewed the Fourth of July. The Fourth of July was supposed to be a day about Americans gaining their freedom, but not everybody gained their freedom on this day. Although Douglass gave his famous speech to a sympathetic audience, he presented a strong condemnation of America through his use of a pathos appeal and by the style of his diction.

On July 4, 1776, Americans cheered with joy and celebrated independence. The spilt from England proved Americans had what it takes to govern their own country. The American people were finally free, or at least the majority were free. The slaves of the new nation saw no change, and no freedom. They still lived their lives as property in human bondage. The location and the family the

The speech “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?” was spoken, by Frederick Douglas, to the supporters and abolitionists at the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Fourth of July. In his speech Frederick Douglas speaks heavily on the subject of abolitioning slavery. Frederick Douglas provides comparisons and analogies, appeals to the audience 's logic, and appeals to the audience’s emotion in order to convince the audience to more vigorously fight for the abolition of slavery.

From 1803 through 1850 westward expansion was occuring in the U.S. bringing a variety of issues along with the expansion of the country. As a result of westward expansion, Native Americans were being forced to leave their homes that their ancestors had lived on for thousands of years along with tensions increasing between the abolitionist North and the pro-slavery South due to slavery as well. Although many people were against slavery, white Americans still saw themselves as superior to other minorities including Native Americans and African Americans. During Westward Expansion from 1803-1850 “all men created equal” didn’t include anyone other than wealthy white men due to, Native Americans being removed and forced off their ancestral lands, and African Americans inferiorly viewed as property of white men because of their ethnicity.

From 1938-1969, in America was in a period called the great compression, a time where the difference between the richest and poorest Americans was very small and economic growth was explosive. Due to past and current economic policies and events, income inequality has exploded in America, which is why in 2015 America had the highest level of wealth inequality in the world at 80.56 gini[1] . In the future this inequality will slow down economic growth, increase debt for middle income Americans, make America less democratic, and reduce economic mobility. This problem, however, does have solutions and this paper will lay out some of the solutions and the effect they will have on the economy, but first I will explain the history of income inequality in the US.

Social class systems in the nineteenth century were comprised of the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the underclass. The different social classes can be “distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life-span, education, religion, and culture” (Cody). The poor, also known as peasants, were usually mistreated and segregated from the wealthy, or those of higher class. During his time, Charles Dickens “seen as a champion of “the poor” by some of the poor themselves” (“What was”). It is said that one of his greatest achievements “was to bring the problem of poverty to the attention of his readers through introducing varieties of poor persons into almost all of his novels, and showing the “deserving” majority of the poor, bravely struggling against the forces arrayed against them” (“What was”). This is clearly evident in A Tale of Two Cities. During the nineteenth century Victorian era, social class systems were a common excuse for the division and mistreatment of many individuals, as evidenced in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

There is a high degree of social inequality within the United States. Of most modern industrial countries, the United Stated has some of the richest and some of the poorest people to be found. That fact is very disturbing, however, explains why much of the inequality exists in the US. In the following essay I will explain to you about the inequality in our country and why it occurs, based on the theoretical perspectives of a functionalist, conflict theorist, and social interationist.

The idea of social inequality dates back since the time of our founding fathers. The mistreatment and unlawful equality and opportunity that these foreigners received became embedded into our history—this endless list includes, just to name a few, the Irish, Chinese, Jews, and most notably the African Americans (Blacks), who became slaves to the American people. Here in the United States, the current social class system is known as the class system, where families are distributed and placed into three different existing class—the upper class (wealthy), middle class (working), and lower class (poor). Since then, improvisations have been worked on into the class system, establishing now roughly six social classes: upper class, new money, middle class, working class, working poor, and poverty level. Social stratification is a widely common topic of debate because there have since been many arguments and debates on this controversial situation of social inequality and how it relates to social class and social mobility. According to Economist Robert Reich, he states that "The probability that a poor child in America will become a poor adult is higher now than it was 30 years ago..." (Reich, par. 5), meaning the given amount of equality, opportunity, and support that these struggle families obtain have gone mainly unnoticed by the government that it has gotten worst. The constant uproar of social inequality and injustice that these middle and lower working class families stem

Universal basic income, (UBI), has become one our leading topics for a solution towards socioeconomic inequality. Billionaires such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, have advanced the idea of going through with UBI (Kaza, 2018). UBI tackles many diversity challenges our society seriously needs solutions too. However, due to the enormity of UBI, it’s important to evaluate our decision to go forward; not only finically but ethically. For governments to implement a UBI, it would take a major overhaul of their welfare and tax systems. For example, the United States would need to spend over 3 trillion dollars a year just to provide a yearly distribution of $12,000 for each person over 18. This does not include illegal immigrants or the cost of running the program. I will evaluate the potential effects and ethics of UBI on minority groups in three areas: gender inequality, social conflict and the effects of automation on the work force.

The American declaration of independence stated, that: “All men are created equal”. But in the 19th century only whites were born with equal opportunities. Africans were imported as slaves and had to work on the fields of the whites. Until 1865 the Negroes were treated and looked at as something lower than human. They were compared to apes, and therefore just owned the same rights as animals. They were raised believing that whites were superior. It took them years to realize that they have to stand up for their rights. The uprising turned into a brutal civil war.