Relationship between Economics and Freedom

However, some socialist scholars like Karl Marx used the term capitalism to criticize the operations of free markets which in his view favored capitalists who were mostly the rich at the expense of the poor in society (Scott 29). In this perspective capitalism was viewed as an economic system which promotes class divisions and unfreedom within society and in a market environment purported to be free. This class divisions and unfreedom in society was evident in the lives of Negro race in America during the era of slavery. One of the people who experienced such slavery was Frederick Douglass who was born enslaved in 1817 at Tuckahoe, near Easton, Talbot County in Maryland. This paper therefore investigates on whether economic status only can dictate a person’s freedom in society. In the biographies capitalists are represented by Captain Aaron Anthony, a wealthy man in eastern Maryland who owned several farms and some slaves and doubled as manager or chief clerk of Colonel Lloyd.

Colonel Lloyd, head of old, extremely wealthy and highly respected family in Maryland was even a wealthier capitalist owning one of largest and most productive plantations in addition to stately mansion. Douglass had been taken from his grandmother’s cabin at Tuckahoe at tender age of 7 years to serve at his master’s residence, Captain Aaron Anthony which was located on Colonel Lloyd's plantation. At age 7 years Douglass was even undergoing child labour. In most cases the slaves in capitalists’ residences operated under harsh environment. A case in point is when Douglass displayed insubordination to the master and was send to Edward Covey, a renowned Negro breaker and slave-catcher but who was a poor white man. In this place, Douglass was overworked and beaten and eventually in 1834 he back to his former master Thomas Auld.

However, he was returned to the brutal Negro breaker but this time Douglass fought back when the Negro breaker tried disciplinig him until the later gave up. Again in 1835, Douglass was hired to a new master Mr. William Freeland, near St. W. and Dewolfe Howe M. A et al. However, the Beacon Biographies also reveal that, not all occasions when capitalists deny low income earners to access freedom. Douglass though a slave from tender age had throughout nurtured the idea of breaking away from bondage of slavery. Michael's, Douglass secretly conducted Sunday-school, teaching fellow-slaves to read the Bible. Douglass eventually escaped from Maryland by borrowing a sailor's certificate for navy while pretending to be a sailor. He boarded a train in Baltimore and rode in the Negro car through an anxious journey eventually reaching New York City in 1838.

Though in New York, there were many Southerners, he was still not a free man since if known he could be reclaimed by his former master. The place also had many slave-hunters and spies and some suspected him of being a slave-hunting spy. and Dewolfe Howe M. A et al. From then henceforth, Douglass was highly sought and gave antislavery speeches in America and outside. Some of places where speeches were delivered included Rhode Island campaign, New England, Great Britain and Ireland campaigns, World's Temperance Convention in London etc. At the same time Douglass helped in escape of fugitive slaves. Works Cited Chesnutt, C. W. and Dewolfe Howe M. A et al. The Beacon Biographies --- Fredderick Douglass, Boston Small, Maynard and Company Publishers, Copyright By Small, Maynard & Company (Incorporated) --- Entered at Stationers' Hall 4th Edition.

The Concept of Capitalism, Its origins and Evolution as a System of Governance. XXXV, 672, P, Hardcover, ISBN: 978-1-4614-1878-8, http//www. springer. com/978-1-4614-1878-8.