Related questions
Question
![79. Frederick Douglass on the Fourth of July (1852)
Source: Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (New York, 1855),
pp. 441-45.
The greatest oration on American slavery and American freedom was delivered
in Rochester, New York, in 1852 by Frederick Douglass. Speaking just after the
annual Independence Day celebration, Douglass posed the question, "What, to
the American slave, is your 4th of July?" He answered that July Fourth festivities
revealed the hypocrisy of a nation that proclaimed its belief in liberty yet daily
committed "practices more shocking and bloody" than any other country on
earth. Like other abolitionists, however, Douglass also laid claim to the founders'
legacy. The Revolution had proclaimed "the great principles of political freedom
and of natural justice, embodied in [the] Declaration of Independence," from
which subsequent generations had tragically strayed. Only by abolishing slavery
and freeing the ideals of the Declaration from the bounds of race could the
United States, he believed, recapture its original mission.
FELLOW-CITIZENS, PARDON me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak
here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national
Chanter 12: An Age of Reform, 1820-1840](https://content.bartleby.com/qna-images/question/ab2bb6a3-9ea4-4d5f-8e75-259cd9bef182/99afa0cc-9f41-449b-a4cb-b0288c178583/sclzwwc_processed.jpeg)
Transcribed Image Text:79. Frederick Douglass on the Fourth of July (1852)
Source: Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (New York, 1855),
pp. 441-45.
The greatest oration on American slavery and American freedom was delivered
in Rochester, New York, in 1852 by Frederick Douglass. Speaking just after the
annual Independence Day celebration, Douglass posed the question, "What, to
the American slave, is your 4th of July?" He answered that July Fourth festivities
revealed the hypocrisy of a nation that proclaimed its belief in liberty yet daily
committed "practices more shocking and bloody" than any other country on
earth. Like other abolitionists, however, Douglass also laid claim to the founders'
legacy. The Revolution had proclaimed "the great principles of political freedom
and of natural justice, embodied in [the] Declaration of Independence," from
which subsequent generations had tragically strayed. Only by abolishing slavery
and freeing the ideals of the Declaration from the bounds of race could the
United States, he believed, recapture its original mission.
FELLOW-CITIZENS, PARDON me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak
here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national
Chanter 12: An Age of Reform, 1820-1840
Transcribed Image Text:Questions
1. What does Douglass hope to accomplish by accusing white Americans of
injustice and hypocrisy?
2. What evidence does Douglass present to disprove the idea of Black inferiority?
Expert Solution
This question has been solved!
Explore an expertly crafted, step-by-step solution for a thorough understanding of key concepts.
Step by stepSolved in 2 steps
