- Source
- Self-Made Men
- Date
- c. 1872
Meaning of “Personal independence is a virtue.”
Douglass values personal agency and self-dependence while rejecting the idea that anyone creates a life entirely alone, placing independence within a wider network of social assistance and obligation.
Where does it come from?
Self-Made Men lecture, commonly dated to 1872 in edited versions. The compact statement occurs within an argument that values self-dependence while the lecture’s opening explicitly denies that anyone is literally or completely self-made; Library of Congress manuscript materials anchor the source identity and preserve later versions.
