Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man

by Timothy Sandefur (Author)

Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass rose to become one of the nation's foremost intellectuals―a statesman, author, lecturer, and scholar who helped lead the fight against slavery and racial oppression. Unlike other leading abolitionists, however, Douglass embraced the U.S. Constitution, insisting that it was an essentially anti-slavery document and that its guarantees for individual rights belonged to all Americans, of whatever race.

Douglass spoke in his most popular lecture, "Self-Made Men," of people who rise through their own effort and devotion rather than circumstances of privilege. "If they have traveled far, they have made the road on which they have travelled. If they have ascended high, they have built their own ladder." In this fast-paced biography, lawyer and author Timothy Sandefur examines the life and ideas of the nation's foremost "self-made man"―from his horrific experiences in slavery and his heroic escape to his eloquent demands for equal treatment by the federal government and his later career as statesman and intellectual. Throughout it all Douglass was guided by his belief in the sanctity of the individual.

"There is no Negro problem," Douglass insisted. "The problem is whether the American people have honesty enough, loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own Constitution." Led by his dream of an America where all people would be free to make the most of themselves without hindrance, Douglass ultimately transformed the United States.

As the nation pauses to remember Douglass on his bicentennial, Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man gives us an insightful glimpse into the mind of one of America's greatest thinkers.

Review
"[Timothy Sandefur is] an inspired choice to write a short biography of this fierce defender of individualism." - George F. Will

"From Timothy Sandefur's elegantly written new biography, the reader gains a profound education in the life and thought of Frederick Douglass, one of the most heroic and insightful champions of liberty in this or any nation's history. For a concise introduction to the greatness of Douglass, one could do no better than to read this book." - Peter C. Myers, author of Frederick Douglass: Race and the Rebirth of American Liberalism

About the Author
Timothy Sandefur is Vice President for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute's Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation. He also holds the Institute's Duncan Chair in Constitutional Government. His books include The Right to Earn a Living: Economic Freedom and the Law (Cato Institute, 2010), The Conscience of the Constitution (Cato Institute, 2014), and The Permission Society (Encounter Books, 2016).