The newly freed Douglass understood that his name was inseparable from his identity and chose to retain his first name. However, he deferred to his host in picking a new last name. The Lady of the Lake tells of a fugitive hero (James of Douglas) who redeems himself; it is a story which vaguely parallels Douglass' fugitive life.
In this final chapter, Douglass presents economic arguments against slavery. Foremost, slavery is a thief, he says, and the fruits of slave labor are enjoyed only by slaveholders. Douglass remembers that Hugh Auld was even disappointed that Douglass failed to bring as much as Hugh expected. Greed is clearly one of the fundamental ingredients of slavery—greed and power.
In New Bedford, Douglass learned that the capitalist free market could be perilous. A free market in which a person must fend for himself or herself is a difficult one, indeed, but Douglass certainly preferred that situation to a slave economy. Indeed, on reaching the North, Douglass was extremely happy to find work for himself although he was unable to work in his chosen profession (caulking) because of racism. Douglass is much less critical and forthcoming about racism in the North (at least in this first version of his autobiography). There are several obvious explanations for this. First, he was still intoxicated with freedom in the North and any racism he experienced there would have been minor compared to what he underwent in the South. Second, he did not want to alienate his Northern hosts; as a fugitive, he certainly would not have wanted to confront racist Northerners who could inform slave hunters of his whereabouts. The power of slave hunters in the free states was a contentious issue for many years. Later, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 would legitimize fugitive slave hunting in free states.
Money became a necessary key for freedom, a key as important as knowledge, for Douglass needed money to buy his passage to New York. He learned that a free market system indeed produces more wealth in the North. The white and black workers there were healthier, happier, and more prosperous than those in the South. Northern living conditions were better and the free market was simply a more efficient process. Machinery had replaced slave labor. Douglass heartily embraces the kind of capitalism he has seen in the North.
