




In New York on July 4th, 1852, Frederick Douglas delivers a speech in an attempt to try and change the outlook of those around the country on a prominent social issue at the time known as slavery. In this speech Frederick Douglas starts out by going back on our history as a country and how we became free from the rule of England and the reasons that backed such a break. He then later ties back the freedom that our country once sought, to the freedom that slaves are in such dire need of. With the knowledge of how Frederick Douglas gained his emancipation from slavery, and what was occurring around the country with slaves at the time, one can see the passion behind such a poignant speech. To a slave the 4th of July was no celebration of Independence, even though they were inhabitants of America. It was a confusing and distraught time for the slaves in the deep south and this speech gave them a voice that they had previously not had. Frederick Douglas was the spokesperson for all those enslaved in such a brutal manor in the mid 1800s. In the two primary resources one can take a glance into the lives of slaves in the 1800s and another opinion on how brutally they were treated. To gain insight on the subject allows one to get a better perspective and be able to analyze why Douglas said some of the points that he did. It is important to be knowledgeable about the topic before just diving into “What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July?”, by Frederick Douglas.

In the article, the author goes into detail about the struggles of being a slave in the American South prior to the Civil War. Many of the slaves worked their entire life with no pay and no hope of freedom. The author uses a saying from a slave, “No day dawns for the slave, nor is it looked for. It is all night — night forever.” This perfectly illustrates the lifestyle that these slaves went through, and how tough their lives truly were. The slave masters also brutally treated their slaves with absolutely no freedom and only thought of them as property, “The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labor; [the slave] can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything but what must belong to his master.” Taking away a person’s personal freedoms is the most demining thing that can happen to someone, and in the American South in the mid 1800s, it was a normality. All of this brutality fueled the speech delivered by Frederick Douglas on July 4th.

In another article, one can grasp another view point and understand of the slave life in the South. The author goes into detail describing what it was like to be a slave day to day, “Life on the fields meant working sunup to sundown six days a week and having food sometimes not suitable for an animal to eat.” (ushistory.org). Not only was the daily lifestyle brutal and cruel, the housing of slaves was inhuman, “Plantation slaves lived in small shacks with a dirt floor and little or no furniture.” (ushistory.org). This living style is not only disgusting but shows the unacceptable mistreatment of slaves in the South. This type of behavior towards another person was thought to be acceptable during this time period and that is why Frederick Douglas made such a passionate address to the nation. His speech was fueled by the fact that his people as a whole were treated as property.

In Frederick Douglas’s address to the nation he starts with the freedom America gained from Great Britain in the 1700s and what it meant to be a free man. After discussing the importance of the Fourth of July he gets into the true meaning of his speech. The meaning of his speech turns when he says, “Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. -The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine” (Frederick Douglas 262). In saying this he is addressing the issue of slavery and using the words yours and mine to address the difference between the races. Acknowledging the fact that the Fourth of July is not a holiday for all those in America opens people’s mind to change and educates the uneducated on the topic of slavery and the brutality in the South. He then later goes into detail of how we are all men of America fulfilling the same tasks, “For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and cyphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian’s God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!” (Frederick Douglas 264). This quote is one of the biggest quotes in his speech demanding those that are listening to hear how similar all men are. Frederick Douglas makes the comparison to hopefully allow those an understanding of how similar every man truly was. 

One point that Frederick Douglas makes that adds greatly to his argument is bringing religion into the speech. During this time period most people were very religious, so making this point connects with the audience on another level. Frederick Douglas asks the people, “What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition.” (Frederick Douglas 264). Taking the speech to a religious level and asking those if the mistreatment of people is divine and God’s wish, creates a situation where there can be no argument. Those that are faithful to the word of God see that these are not his wishes and one can recognize that through the reading of their spiritual text. Creating all men equal at birth was the objective of God. Every man under his creation is equal and created to be treated as so. This is the changing point in his speech, where there can be no argument as to the injustice of slavery. There is no way to justify such mistreatment of another human after bringing in religion due to the fact that slavery is not part of the divine text that is God’s word.

Having knowledge of these articles and the historical context gives one insight into the lifestyle of a slave. With this knowledge one is educated on the subject. One can then make an opinion of the topic, but there really is no discussion on the injustice of slavery. Every educated person on the subject opposes slavery and realizes that the South was a corrupt area of America during the early to middle 1800s. Frederick Douglas’s address to the nation instilled an idea in the minds of Americans all throughout the nation and educated those who needed an understanding of how unjust slavery truly was.



