After being banned from learning how to read Sophia must have suspected that despite all caution that Frederick was expanding his ability and would on every occasion that she found him reading the local newspaper grab it away.

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With his reading improving almost daily the next obstacle to by vaulted was that of writing as Frederick knew that ‘’Free’ black individuals always had to have a ‘Pass’ or some written document upon their person and if he wanted to execute his growing ambition to someday in the future escape from bondage a ‘Pass’ would be vital to improve the chance of evading capture.

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He devises a clever means of learning how to write, taking advantage of his access to the many boatyards in an ever increasing Baltimore Docks and watching and learning from the ship builders marking their timbers for construction accordingly and then using this knowledge once again with his white peers.

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Once he attains a certain level of ability he takes advantage of Hugh and Sophia’s son, Thomas, who leaves his School copy books lying around the place so that he can copy his hand almost to accurate imitation to that of Thomas’s.