Reference no: EM133208678

Assignment - History United States of America History Questions

1. Describe what Douglass believes the "civic creed" of the United States should be. Or, in other words, what principles does he believe the U.S., based on its founding and founding documents, should be guiding principles of the country? (This section needs to be at least 150 words and cite the speech directly.)

2. Describe how and in what ways, according to Douglass, the U.S. had failed by 1852 to live up to the meaning of its creed. (This section needs to be at least 150 words and cite the speech directly.)

3. Evaluate the extent to which you believe that Douglass's speech is optimistic or pessimistic with regard to the potential prospects for African Americans and all people in the U.S. going forward from 1852. Remember that this is an evaluation of how Douglass imagines the future in 1852 and is not your evaluation of what becomes his future. (No word limit here-just don't write the great American novel).

4. You could conclude, using only the parameters that Douglass sets in the speech for the nation's "civic creed," whether or not Douglass, if he were transported to our time, would believe that the U.S. now lives up to its "civic creed." (This last concluding section would be extra credit for the assignment and can be worth up to an additional 20 points on this assignment).