What To A Slave Is The Fourth Of July Analysis

Even the men who are in the Northern States who are black are not free. Douglass points out that “blacks are easily likely to face the death penalty for one crime, where white people would face punishment if they did the crime twice,” This, according to Douglass is slavery. This can be seen even today in our news and society. Many blacks are targeted and attacked solely based on their appearance, and experience many micro-aggressions. Douglass also says, “Do not need to argue about what is wrong with robbing these Negros from their liberty keep them ignorant from their relations to other men?” This speech truly emphasizes the inhumane, cruelty, and injustice associated with the treatment of blacks in America. While the whites look at the 4th of July as a celebratory to their lives and freedom, not everyone is truly free. It is important for Douglass to show that while many associate this holiday with prosperity and positive attributes, the blacks face slavery, prejudices, and unequal treatments day-to-day. “What is inhumane cannot be divine”, says Douglass. Later on in the speech, he talks

Douglass also in his speeches liberated what Americans in this economy would have done with blacks. In his speech “what the blacks want” he states, “I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief.” (Douglass). Society’s “America” has already put us in a category. Race we are not superior or equal to no other. Economically we don’t have the means to live out what we strive for. Education wise we have none, we are not sufficient enough to read or write for us to have a better life. Douglass in this speech stresses to leave us alone we are cable of doing bad or good on our own. His would view principle of self-ownership, which he understood to include both the racial and equality.

Throughout history, there have been many black-rights activists that use their power of speaking to fight injustice and promote equality. One of those activists, who fought for equality with the power of his words, was Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He had a vision of the roles of African Americans during and after the war to ensure they receive citizenship and freedom. Frederick Douglass faced many tribulations throughout his life and that only made his speeches for equality and justice that much more powerful because he was a victim of injustice. Douglass believed that if African Americans want to have citizenship and be seen as equals, they must prove that they deserve it. In order to prove that African Americans deserve citizenship, Douglass encouraged them to enlist and join the fight for equality. Although there were obstacles in seeing his vision implemented Douglass stood his ground and fought until his vision becomes reality.

Writers use pathos, ethos, and logos in their writing to appeal to their audience. Pathos is an appeal to emotions, ethos is an appeal to trust, and logos is an appeal to reasoning or logic. Frederick Douglass's, " What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" is about his views and the views of many slaves towards the Fourth of July. He uses ethos, pathos, and logos effectively to convey his central message.

Frederick Douglass was a freed slave in the 1800’s who was famous for his ability to read and write, uncommon of a black man at the time. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. In this speech, he called out the “hypocrisy of the nation”(Douglass), questioning the nation's treatment of slaves on a supposed day of independence. Frederick Douglass effectively uses rhetorical strategies to construct his argument and expose the hypocrisy of the nation.

According to Douglass, “They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to” (Douglass, 150). Douglass saw similarities between the struggles of the forefathers and black slaves, and he compelled his audience to recognize these similarities and follow the example of the forefathers.

In his 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”, Frederick Douglass passionately argued that to the slave and all other Americans, the Fourth of July is nothing more than a mockery of the grossest kind; that the United States stood by hypocrisy to the values they ultimately swore by. In his speech, Douglass made four clear points: (1) “This holiday is to rejoice for the sake of freedom and liberty”; (2) “My people have no freedom, have no liberty”; (3) “You rejoice, my people mourn” (4); “This holiday is a mockery to us”. In making these points Douglass exposed the hypocrisy and ignorance of the nation. Douglass produced his argument with the use of several rhetorical strategies. Douglass used rhetorical questions that created a distinct separation between the slaves and freemen of the United States; the use of repetition of important phrases left a clear and concise impression on the listener, while using the logic and credibility of the Bible to communicate claims.

Born into slavery, Frederick Douglass would soon become one of the most well-known intellect of his time. Douglass, as a slave, was prohibited to read or write but he strategically and secretly taught himself how to read and write. After he educated himself, he escaped from his bondage and made his way to the North. As his academic skills grew and improved, he started orating and writing and publication about his life. One of his famous oration was “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?”,  given at the annual Fourth of July Oration.

Douglass historically alludes to the American Revolution in order to evoke a sense of pride and egotism within the audience. Believing that Douglass is on their side, he speaks fondly of the founding fathers; however, he quickly points out the faults and the disparities between the founding fathers’ logic, specifically the ideals of the Constitution, and the logic of slavery. The revolutionaries of the American Revolution “ went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to” (Douglass 3). The fathers of the people who sit in the audience on that day, fought for justice under an oppressive government. Some could even say

Equality and freedom are fundamental necessities of the human beings. However, back to the American society of nineteenth century, both necessities was abandoned by inhumane system of enslavement and black people’s simplicity. Frederick Douglass used to be part of that time period, under the pathetic slavery system. As one of the most influential black lecturer and orator in American history, Douglass wrote down his own experiences as a former slave in the style of narrative. His words demonstrate that leaning or gaining knowledge is the most important thing led to freedom for black people in his time.

In 1852, when Frederick Douglass, a prominent civil rights activist and former slave, was invited to speak in front of a modest audience of abolitionists in commemoration of Independence Day, surely they were unprepared. Surely, they were expecting a tone far less solemn. Surely some, if not most, went home that day with at least a fraction of their patriotism replaced with something far more unsettling. Perhaps it was a newfound perspective: the perspective of an American slave on Independence Day - a day that was, according to Douglass, not a celebration applicable to a person of color. The purpose of Douglass’s speech, “The Hypocrisy of the Nation Must Be Exposed”, is exactly that: to evoke a response that makes people uncomfortable, a response that makes people reconsider. In this piece, he criticizes the nation’s blatant disregard for its own founding principles through the practice of slavery, reminding his audience that many are still a far cry from being truly free. Douglass is able to call attention to severe injustices faced by enslaved blacks across the nation and expose the corruption of the United States through the use of literary devices and rhetorical appeals within his speech.

Thesis: Douglass’s view for a good democratic citizen is superior, because Douglass’s position as a free black man in society allows him to present arguments that intersect a humans naturally endowed freedoms with the concepts of inequality, race, and marginalization within the context of the law.

Conversely, Douglass theorizes from the position of a free black man, a citizen who is politically implicated by every law, despite his geographic location. For Douglass, politics implicate every part of a citizen’s life and therefore political contradictions, such as slavery, are fundamental to the character of every good democratic citizen. He does not possess the

During the course of his speech, Douglass uses American history to show the youth of America and the strives taken on the road to freedom. This essentially validates that there was hope for the country, and how it is never too late for revolution. In his speech, Douglass even refers to the founding fathers to signify that though England was their government, settlers still opposed the government and came together to remove domination and cruelty. In my personal opinion, I think this shows similarities in the variety of thoughts towards slavery. The “objectors” joined forces for improvement because they were not backing slavery, as a result of this they quarreled with their government just like the founding fathers did.

In his address, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Fredrick Douglass begins with praise for the founding fathers, however, this acclaimed speech soon develops into an attack on the attitude American’s have taken in regard to slavery. It is important to note the place that Douglass presumably escaped from in saying, “The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable. (Douglass 50).” After establishing his own background Douglass proceeds to compare the American Revolution and the bondage Americans suffered to the current bondage and enslavement of African-Americans. This comparison and many others promote the main project of Douglass’s speech, his condemnation on America for being fictitious to its so-called once