Based on the reading of the Narrative of Frederick Douglas An American Slave, what does Douglas have to say about the consequences of slavery for...

Frederick Douglass' argument throughout the book is clear: slavery is dehumanizing for both blacks and whites, slaves and slaveholders. He makes his argument best by providing examples of the dehumanizing effects of slavery.

For blacks, he points to the separation of families, the selling of very small children, the beating of slaves of all ages, and the inhumane treatment of the slaves by slaveowners and those who work for them to oversee the slaves. One specific example of this is Mr. Gore in Ch. 4 who is ruthless in his treatment of the slaves under his control. 

"Mr. Gore was proud, ambitious, and persevering. He was artful, cruel, and obdurate. He was just the man for such a place, and it was just the place for such a man. It afforded scope for the full exercise of all his powers, and he seemed to be perfectly at home in it. He was one of those who could torture the slightest look, word, or gesture, on the part of the slave, into impudence, and would treat it accordingly. " (Ch. 4).

Mr. Gore's behavior demonstrates his unwillingness to view slaves as human beings and he relishes in abusing them. Clearly this type of dehumanizing treatment of anyone can lead to dire consequences, and Douglass argued that this treatment broke many slaves mentally and physically, and many others (like Douglass) did all they could to escape it.

For whites, the act of slaveholding has, as Douglass pointed out in the case of Mrs. Auld, the ability to turn otherwise good people into bad ones. Mrs. Auld is critical to young Frederick's education by teaching him the alphabet, but once her husband warns her about the consequences of doing so, she stops. Her behavior from that point forward is cold and distant. The act of holding slaves has the consequence here of turning an otherwise caring woman into one who sees her slaves as less than human.

Douglass' narrative is a clear indictment of slavery due to its dehumanizing effects on everyone involved, whether black, white, Northern, Southern, slave, or slaveholder. His point is that anyone involved in such a dehumanizing enterprise is at risk of losing their own humanity.