Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass APPENDIX Summary

Summary

Frederick Douglass adds a clarifying appendix to his Narrative to prevent readers from misunderstanding his remarks about religion. He explains that his criticisms target the slaveholding, corrupt form of Christianity practiced in America, not Christianity proper. Douglass draws a stark contrast between the “Christianity of Christ” — which he calls pure, peaceable, and impartial — and the “Christianity of this land,” which he condemns as slaveholding, hypocritical, and morally bankrupt.

He catalogues specific hypocrisies: ministers who are men-stealers, missionaries who whip women, church members who plunder cradles, and religious leaders who enforce ignorance among the enslaved while preaching salvation. Douglass depicts the mutual reinforcement of church and slaveholders — auctions and church bells ring together, slave prisons sit near churches, and slave money supports pulpits that sanctify the slave system. He invokes biblical condemnations of scribes and Pharisees to show how American Christians practice outward piety while failing in justice, mercy, and faith. The appendix closes with a northern Methodist’s parody that satirically exposes southern religious practice, and Douglass reiterates his hope that his book will help illuminate the American slave system and hasten freedom for the enslaved.

Key events

1. Douglass clarifies his criticisms: aimed at slaveholding religion, not Christianity itself.
2. He contrasts the Christianity of Christ with American slaveholding Christianity.
3. Lists examples of religious hypocrisy among slaveholders and clergy.
4. Describes how churches and slaveholders mutually support and excuse each other.
5. Applies biblical condemnations (scribes and Pharisees) to American Christian practice.
6. Includes a parody poem illustrating the hypocrisy of southern religion.
7. Concludes by reaffirming his purpose and hopes for the Narrative’s impact.

Analysis

This appendix functions as a focused moral and rhetorical coda that sharpens the Narrative’s critique of American institutions. Thematically, it extends Douglass’s ongoing attack on the moral corruption of slavery by showing how religion — an institution normally associated with compassion and justice — is co-opted to justify and perpetuate bondage. By distinguishing between ‘the Christianity of Christ’ and the ‘Christianity of this land,’ Douglass refuses blanket hostility to religion while making a precise ethical indictment of American religious practice.

Structurally, the appendix acts as both clarification and amplification: it anticipates readers’ misreadings and supplies concentrated moral argumentation and vivid examples that echo incidents described earlier in the Narrative. Rhetorically, Douglass uses irony, biblical citation, and a biting parody to delegitimize the authority of slaveholding clergy and congregations; the borrowed language of Scripture (the denunciation of Pharisees) turns the Bible against those who misuse it. Symbolically, the chiming of auction and church bells, and the proximity of prison and pulpit, compress complex social relations into powerful images of collusion. The appendix reinforces Douglass’s narrative persona as a moral witness who grounds his experiential testimony in broader ethical and religious critique.

Important quotes

“I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.”

NarratorDouglass states his fundamental distinction between true Christianity and the corrupt, slaveholding religion practiced in America.

“The slave auctioneer’s bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master.”

NarratorA vivid image Douglass uses to show how religious observance coexists with and conceals the cruelty of slavery.

Characters in APPENDIX

• Frederick Douglass
• Christ
• Jesus
• God
• Pilate
• Herod
• scribes and Pharisees
• Israel