Francis Fukuyama

To what extent is Douglass’s critique of the legal and political system of the United based on his disapproval of the essential concepts of “rights” that are part of the foundations of that system, and to what extent is his critique based on other grounds?

Consider the ideas about “rights” that are set forth in (a) the Declaration of Independence of the United States and (b) the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen from Revolution-era France. Does Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” represent a rejection, a criticism, or an endorsement of the […]

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