




Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July” speech addressed the issue of slavery and prejudice in the United States of America in 1852. In 1850, only two years before this speech took place, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, making it legal to recapture fugitive slaves that fled to free states. Because this law passed, the national divide of ideology augmented between northern abolitionists and southern conservatives in the United States of America at the time. The growth of prejudice and the divide is reflected in Douglass’ speech through his comparisons of tyranny, his citing of the constitution, his mentioning of the horror that is slavery, and the setting of his speech. With the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 only having been passed two years prior to his speech, his speech was inevitably affected by it. The setting of Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July” speech explains to the listener these issues with slavery, as well as explains the extent of the growing national divide.

The Baltimore Democratic Convention that was held on the first of June in 1852 determined that the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was an amendment to change the fact that we protect fugitives from justice (1). The law was enacted to allow slave owners to recapture slaves that had run away to free states. The law, much like the people at the time, saw slaves as nothing more than property, and fugitive slaves were simply lost property. While slavery is horrific, the idea of insurance was appealing to the population of slave owners that existed at that time. However, lack of proper enforcement of this law led to great misuse of it. Slave owners and slave catchers abused this law to go into free states and kidnap and enslave free black men. The party searching for the slave was supposed to obtain a warrant before seizing a slave, and after seizure, there was supposed to be a post-seizure hearing for the accused party (Basinger 311). The process rarely worked this way, and blacks were often just taken. The heritage society explains how local officials would be rewarded for capturing a slave, which amplified the corruption in doing so (1). The combination of these aspects led to horrific misuse of the law, as well as incentive to misuse the law, and a growing animosity between pro-slavery, and anti-slavery advocates.

Frederick Douglass, an African-American abolitionist, was a fugitive slave for a number of years. At the time he gave the speech, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was still very much in effect, making him a target. His speech took place in Rochester, New York, for the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society, which was perfect for him. His speech takes on the topic of slavery and prejudice, and he is speaking to an anti-slavery society. Also, New York was a free state, with a large population of abolitionists. If he would have spoken in the south for slavery advocates, it is probable that he would have been captured and enslaved. The abolitionist support acted as a shield for him so he would not be captured. 

One thing that Frederick Douglass addresses constantly throughout his speech is the fact that slavery, and the law are hypocritical. Douglass cites the United States Constitution for not having a single pro-slavery item in it, as well as the Declaration of Independence for saying the famous line, “all men are created equal” (Douglass 273). He also makes references to the fact that blacks and whites fought as equals against the British; however, he says the freedom gained from that is “yours” (259). By this, Douglass meant that even after the war that was fought for the purpose of independence and freedom from Britain, only the white half of the population gained their independence and freedom. It is clear through the enslavement of a race, as well as the hunting of the escaped population of that race as entailed in the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, that the two parties were far from equal. What makes it worse is the innocence of these black men and women. If the white men and their governing body believed and followed the principle that all men are created equal, that would have to mean that all of these black men and women have done something to deserve their punishment. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The fact that even after winning independence, blacks still were not free, nor anywhere close to it is the reason Douglass has for the Fourth of July not being an important day for him and his people, as it is the day that white independence was won, not the day all independence was won (259).

In addition to the blatantly obvious, some of the subtle aspects of Douglass’ speech speak volumes to the prejudice and discrimination that his people faced, particularly his word choice. As time progressed, we have seen more and more outspoken leaders and followers of these types of movements. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior referenced the fact that the black man was held to a lesser standard than the white man at the hands of the white man in his speech, Malcolm X mentioned that his fellow African Americans need to stand up to the white man in the face of adversity and oppression, using violence if necessary, and most recently, the Black Lives Matter movement, while for a good cause, has been plagued with violent acts. What has also happened as time has passed is a greater disability for the white man to do anything to the black man. In the time Frederick Douglass gave this speech, lynching was still a popular form of punishment for black men, and it could almost happen whenever the white man saw fit. When Dr. King spoke, African-Americans were gaining respect throughout the country, and the government. However, an overwhelming prejudice still ran through the country, and law enforcement was allowing the mistreatment of African-Americans at an alarming rate. This mistreatment and prejudice has lessened since then, but it still exists today. The key way Douglass expressed the fact that his people’s mistreatment was the fault of the white man was his constant use of the word “your”. He used this to describe the freedom gained for “the country”, as well as to describe the fault of his people’s mistreatment. This was one of the only way he could convey the message of “this is your fault” without being too abrasive, because should he have been too abrasive, he would have lost a lot of support for his movement, as well as he could have been punished in some way, such as kidnapped and enslaved due to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, because someone did not like the comments he was making. By using these subtleties, Douglass was able to get his point across without any negative consequence, while still garnering the respect and support of the followers of his movement. 

Another huge selling point for Douglass was his comparisons of people that were subject to tyranny. Blacks in the United States of America in the 1850’s were the subject of prejudice, slavery, and abuse. Douglass was very aware of this, and was very aware of the fact that blacks were not the first group of people to go through extreme hardships like they were. Douglass makes the comparison to the Jews, who were forced into manual labor, extreme punishment, and general slavery (261). The Jews went through difficult times in Egypt, and were forced to build the pyramids, and other large feats of architecture by hand. They were given the worst of the worst in terms of clothes and food, and if they tried to escape, they were caught, and punished accordingly. The comparison is easy to make, as blacks were subject to slavery, which entailed manual labor for their owners. They were subject to extreme punishment if their owners saw fit, and if they ran away to a free state, they could be recaptured thanks to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Often, after they were recaptured, their owners were not too pleased with them, so they were punished physically. Douglass was able to feed off of this, because he was able to explain that others have experienced such tyranny, and they made it through. Thanks to historical context, Douglass was able to accumulate a greater support for his movement, because he could draw comparisons to other times to allow people to see just how tragic it all was, and it turned out to be an effective method.

The time period Frederick Douglass lived in was an incredibly tough time for his people. He was the subject of prejudice, slavery, and fear due to the fact that he was black, and the fact that he was a fugitive slave. Under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, it would have been entirely legal for an authority figure to take him back to his owner, and he would never be seen again. In the present, we see elements of this racism to a far lesser degree, but it still exists. Hate crimes occur far more often than they should, and in general, hate is still incredibly prevalent in modern society. In fact, after the most recent election of President-elect Donald Trump, white supremacy in America made a stand, and vandalized personal property with racist images and phrases. There were churches burned, vehicles destroyed, and people hurt, both physically and emotionally. It is key that our advanced modern society learns from the mistakes made hundreds of years ago, so we do not regress to a point in our history that the majority of our population is ashamed to admit existed. Frederick Douglass in his speech hinted that his job would not be complete until the nation was rid of prejudice. Hundreds of years later, this prejudice extending from slave times is still very much alive. The only way for us to make progress as a nation is to learn from the past, and move forward trying to be better from it. 





