Born Free and Everywhere in Chains

Abstract

Abstract This chapter forges a greater synthesis between Frederick Douglass’s literary and political endeavors by exploring the often-overlooked social contractarian dimensions of Douglass’s work, particularly his autobiographical writings and revisions. It places Douglass in conversation with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, another practitioner of Romantic autobiography and famous social contract theorist, to demonstrate not only how Douglass used social contract theory to critique the slave system, but how his understanding of the origins and purposes of government must be rooted in a robust understanding of the self. It therefore argues that a comprehensive understanding of Douglass’s political thought must also attend to the Romantic dimensions of his work, especially his concern with selfhood and imagination.