I was wondering why Douglas didn't try to take someone with him when he tried to escape? He could have at least told someone what his plan was and if they didn't see him again, they could have tried it.

-- Anonymous, February 08, 2000

Answers

He wanted to be the glory boy. He becomes famous because he escaped and then pushes for an end to slavery. He didn't have any competition.

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2000

Douglas didn't tell anyone where he was going because the last time he tried to escape someone sold the group out, so this time he thought that for his safty he should remain quite. As far as they might worry if he turned up missing I think they would have relized what happened just by knowing his personality. The reason he didn't take anyone with him was because that way he wasn't responsible for their life and it was up to him to either succeed or fail. Maybe it was just a test for him, I don't know but to me his actions were very smart.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2000

The reason that Douglass didn't take anyone with him him when he left was because he didn't want to get caught. It is a lot easier if a couple people escape than if there are a lot more. If you try and take a whole bunch of people with you, you are more likely to get caught. If Douglass would have told others how he escaped, they would be more likely to talk about this plan and the owners would find out, and they would be back where they started

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2000

I feel that Fredrick Douglass was playing it smart by not telling anyone of his plan to escape or to try to take someone along. Just by telling one person things get spread around very easily and he didn't want this to happen. When escaping he had to be careful and take the very most precise procautions, this means not telling or taking someone with him. Also if he did tell someone of his plan, that someone, could talk about it and have Doulgas followed and caught.

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2000