On Monday July 5th, 1852, Frederick Douglass captivated his audience at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York with one of the most powerful antislavery orations ever delivered, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”1 As an African American and former slave himself, Douglass was a crucial component to the Civil Rights movement and the abolishment of slavery. His concern for equal rights sprouted as early as twelve years old, often listening to debates among free blacks in Baltimore, as well as becoming a member of the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society. While enslaved, he taught himself to read and write with the patriotic essays and speeches in Caleb Bingham’s The Columbian Orator, which emphasized the power of a speaker’s …show more content…
By supporting the Revolutionaries actions to break free from British Rule, Douglass alluded to the similar fight that the American population faced to attain the same liberty that white citizens had. With the same courage the Founding Fathers had to create a free country, the American generation of 1852 faced a similar test to uphold the values of the Declaration of Independence, and liberate American slaves.7 After applauding the Founding Fathers, Douglass acknowledges that the emphasis of his speech is not to give praise, but to call on America to act on it’s own failures and begin to faithfully fulfill the nations oath.8 He asks his audience, “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us [African Americans]?”9 This rhetorical question Douglass presents, challenges America to reevaluate what they are truly celebrating on the Fourth of July, for it is surely not the freedom in which they claim to have achieved. Douglass asserts that asking black people to rejoice in the “shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery”10 and do not respect the courage, and steps the Founding Fathers took to create a free, liberated nation.11 Early on in Douglass’ career as an abolitionist, he affiliated his beliefs to fellow abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, claiming that the
Frederick Douglass’s 4th of July speech was put on by the woman’s abolitionist society and looked to speak to the fellow citizens of America, friends, and the president.
In his speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Frederick Douglass passionately argues that to the slave, and even to the freed African American, the Fourth of July is no more than a mockery of the grossest kind. Douglas uses many rhetorical strategies to convey his powerful emotions on the subject, and the end result is a very effectively argued point. Douglass begins by asking a series of rhetorical questions, not without the use of sarcasm. He refers to "that" Declaration of Independence, instead of "the" Declaration of Independence, to stress the separation between his people and those who are not oppressed. In the next paragraph, he continues to ask rhetorical questions. The purpose of all these questions is to give
“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” 1852 speech by Frederick Douglass is a passionate speech that cuts across the difficulty of black slaves particularly in the pre-Civil War America. Seemingly, the speech is rationale, elaborates, and incorporates emotional touch. On the other hand, the “Ar’n't I a Woman?” speech by Sojourner Truth is remarkable in its ability to incorporate historical precedents and sense of humor. Importance, is that in the speech Truth makes use of the biblical accounts such as the birth of Jesus through the Virgin Mary as a strategy to show how superior women are in scriptures but diminished in real society. Therefore, the essay seeks to display the similarities and differences between the two speeches as well as
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.
Americans value to have the right of equality and liberty, unfortunately not everyone is providential or important enough in society to exceed those values. The struggle for the right of freedom has always been a part of American history and still continues into the 21st century. The country as a whole has struggled to come to an agreement as to who is worthy of equality and freedom. Throughout America, the tension of slavery and women's equality has risen until the people finally realized their worth and that they are not any less of a person because of their gender or race. American history has affected life as we know today and shows the dedication to making America the true land of the free. By comparing and contrasting the perspectives
“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” is a very moving piece about what the Fourth of July means to slaves. The speech was given by Fredrick Douglas in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852. His use of ethos, pathos and logos made this an extremely effective speech.
On July 5th of 1852, the Ladies Antislavery Society of Rochester requested that emancipated slave, Fredrick Douglass, speak for their celebration of the United States’ national independence. Douglass accepted this request and presented a powerful speech that explained and argued his true beliefs and feelings concerning this event. He considered their decision to request him as a speaker on that day to be a mockery of his past and of the ongoing status of blacks as slaves in America at the time. Nevertheless, Douglass skillfully constructed his speech utilizing various methods that forced his audience to take him seriously and think twice about the issue of slavery in America. His passion about the subject, his ability to captivate his
Many people struggle for change because they believe they aren’t being treated fairly, a certain group of people aren’t being treated equal, or they just want to see a certain change in something. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”, “Ain’t I a Woman”, and “Brown v. Board” are all examples that clearly show why people struggle for change. “What to the Slave” focusses on what the Fourth of July means to slaves. “Ain’t I a Woman” discusses the differences between how black women are treated compared to white women. “Brown v. Board” is about how segregation has a lot of negative factors and how they need to change it.
In the excerpt “Learning to Read and Write”, Frederick Douglass talks about his experiences in slavery living in his masters house and his struggle to learn how to read and write. Frederick Douglass was an African American social reformer, orator, writer, and statesman. Some of his other writings include “The Heroic Slave”, “My Bondage and My Freedom”, and “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass”. In this excerpt, Frederick Douglass uses an empathic tone, imagery, certain verb choice, contrast, and metaphors to inform African Americans of how important it is to learn to read and write and also to inform a white American audience of the evils of slavery. I find Frederick Douglass to
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.
Through his crafty use of rhetoric, Douglass delivered a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of America in his self-referential speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” The speech articulated his passionate pursuit for liberty and equal rights. Douglass’s speech passionately argued that in the eyes of the slave and even the “free” black
At this age, Douglass obtained a copy of “The Columbian Orator” that included arguments against slavery and introduced it as an issue of human rights. He was now able to dispute the injustices of both his personal slavery as well as slavery as a system. However, this further left Douglass conflicted; he states, “...while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers.” (35) Douglass struggled more with this knowledge because he saw the truth in which “The Columbian Orator” described. The truth that came with literacy instilled within Douglass a pursuit for freedom.
On July 5th 1852, Frederick Douglass, one of history’s outstanding public speakers, carried out a very compelling speech at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York. Within that moment of time where the freedom of Americans was being praised and celebrated, he gathered the nation to clear up the tension among slavery and the establishment of the country’s goals. Frederick Douglass’s speech mentions the development of the young nation, the Revolution, and his own life experience. While speaking, his main subject was seen to be American slavery. The “Fourth of July Oration” was a commendable model of Frederick Douglass’s affection and engagement towards the freedom of individuals. Frederick Douglass’s speech left an impact on his audience
Within the seventy years following the Revolutionary War, the United States had a critical fault festering deep inside it. This fault was the fact that the United States had become divided into the North and South regions. These two regions differed severely in infrastructures: the North had a capitalistic manufacturing system that had no use for unpaid labor as the free laborers were already paid very little, the South on the other hand had an agrarian slave based system. As the years carried on new states began popping up, and the one question that needed to be answered was which system would these states adopt. The United States also suffered due to issues in its infrastructure with corruption and severely differentiating ideas being put into law. With all that being said, the Civil War was caused by slavery, economic differences, and political tensions between the North and South.