 
Frederick Douglass was an integral part of the abolitionist movement in the 1800s, which sought an end to slavery in the United States. Born into slavery, he escaped in 1838, and later had his freedom bought by a group of British men who were interested in his speaking talents. In Douglass’ speech “What to a Slave is the 4th of July”, we can see a former slave's patriotism and devotion to a country where he was once considered property, and disregarded in the country’s governing document, The Constitution. After being freed, Douglass shared similar beliefs with leaders of the abolitionist movement regarding the Constitution, but throughout his travels, his views evolved allowing him to see the document as it was truly intended for by the founding fathers.

Slavery was a critical topic during the founding of the United States. The abolitionist movement began in the 1830s and called for an end to slavery and the racial injustices in this country. Abolitionists believed in the creation of programs that promoted social equality through education and religion. According to History.com, the ideas were prominent in the Northern churches and politics; abolitionist’s thoughts could be seen on pamphlets, which were distributed to the people. Frederick Douglass, a renowned abolitionist, was a former slave, who would travel the country preaching the ideas of the movement. One of Douglass’ early mentors was William Lloyd Garrison, who was seen as the leader of the movement. He published the Liberator, which was a weekly anti-slavery newspaper, whose subscribers were primarily black. The ideas published in this pamphlet and later preached by Douglass led to great analysis of the Constitution and the liberties which were only granted to a select few. The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by the fifty-five state delegates that made up the Constitutional Convention. The convention took place in Philadelphia and set out to replace the Articles of Confederation which created a country with a weak central government. Instead of having states that operated like independent countries, the delegates sought a plan that would create a federal government with three branches; Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The three branch system created checks and balances that would not allow for any branch to become too powerful. A controversial topic while writing the Constitution was slavery. Many of the Northern states outlawed slavery, but they went along with the Southern belief that slavery was an issue for each state to decide because without agreeing to the terms it was believed the South would not join the Union. So to please the Southern states, slavery was left out of the Constitution, but there were several clauses that dealt with slaves and slave trade. The addition of these clauses was controversial to many of the abolitionist, such as Douglass and Garrison, who early on believed the document was pro-slavery. 

The ideas of the abolitionist movement were evident in one of Douglass’ speech that took place on July 5th, 1852 in Rochester, New York. He was speaking to a primarily white crowd about the meaning the of 4th of July to African Americans. He began the speech talking about how the Revolutionaries fought for freedom against British rule, and that in doing so they assumed the risks that came with it. This served as an example so that he could later compare it to the abolitionist movement and the risks they assumed by fighting for the emancipation of slaves. He then urged the audience to continue the work of the founding fathers and put the country’s well-being before their own. He evoked the question, “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” (Douglass 262). This quote highlights the message of abolitionism and questions the foundation of the country. The Declaration of Independence, along with the Constitution, were the founding documents of this country, yet neither specifically mention African Americans as equal. Douglass continued his speech by mentioning that America was deceitful with its founding principles. He explains to the audience, “your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your shouts of liberty and equality” (Douglass 265). Douglass is explaining his frustrations towards the country and the people because America was built on three principles: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; these foundations, however, only applied to whites. Throughout his speech he kept reminding the audience that the nation is young and like a young child, will make mistakes, and over time will be able to learn from those mistakes and create change.

Born into slavery, Frederick Douglass understood the hardships of being an African American. He became a freeman on September 3rd, 1838, but never fully understood what it meant to be free. Although Douglass was free of slavery, he was not granted the same rights under the Constitution as white citizens. As Douglass began to speak out against slavery, he shared similar beliefs to William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips, who at the time believed that the Constitution was a pro-slavery document. These leaders of the abolitionist movement believed that because the document possessed several clauses that condoned slaves, the entire document was pro-slavery. Some of these clauses include: the “three-fifths” clause (art. 1, sec. 2, cl. 3), which counted slaves as three-fifths a white man for purposes of congressional representation; and the “fugitive slave” clause (art. 4, sec. 2), which provided for the return of slaves who escaped from one state to another. In addition to those two clauses, the “slave trade” clause (art. 1, sec. 9, cl. 1) was included to prevent the elimination of slave trade prior to 1808. These clauses helped the belief that the Constitution was created with the intention of continuing slavery. The idea that Douglass was not truly free was apparent in his early work when he argued that, “To have patriotism is to love one’s country; consequently to have patriotism one must have a country; but he had no country” (Boxill 301). Douglass believed that he could not accept the United States as his own because the country was built around a document that considered him property. He believed that until African Americans were granted the same rights as white people they should not be celebrating the freedom of their country when they truly are not free.

Douglass’ beliefs on the American Constitution and the founding fathers evolved over time. While he traveled the United States and England engaging in speeches about slavery and the abolitionist movement, Douglass realized that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document, instead of a pro-slavery document which he believed prior. This made him change his beliefs on patriotism, also allowing him to reflect on the people that populated the country. His speech “What to a Slave is the 4th of July” comes after his change in beliefs, which at first is hard to tell because he criticizes the holiday as a celebration of white man’s freedom. He later stated in his speech that:

the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? (Douglass 273). 

This quote explains Douglass’ change in beliefs and realizing that the people of the South were the ones interpreting the text in a way that allowed for the continuance of slavery. The founding fathers wrote the preamble to introduce what would be contained in the Constitution. The argument that Douglass took was that nowhere in the text does it specifically mention slavery, in fact it states “promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” (U.S. Constitution, Preamble). Based on the preamble, the Constitution was set up to establish rights for all future generations, not biased against the color of their skin.

During the time of Douglass’ change in the beliefs, there was no significant conversation about the rights of all people regarding the Constitution. The leaders of the abolitionist movement, such as William Lloyd Garrison, and Wendell Phillips influenced the black community in order to push their own beliefs against the Constitution. Others with differing beliefs were Lysander Spooner and Gerrit Smith, who influenced Douglass that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document. Douglass used these newfound beliefs in order to influence the black community the way Garrison did years prior. In the speech “What to a Slave is the 4th of July” Douglass states “No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light” (Douglass 274). This summarizes Douglass’ entire speech by explaining that while there was abuse and outrage during the abolitionist movement, that they must be willing fight for the rights of all people. 

Frederick Douglass’ was born into slavery and experienced the injustice against African Americans. A former slave, he fought for his freedom, and later traveled the country and England speaking about the abolitionist movement. After being freed Douglass was critical of the United States and its Constitution, but later would change his beliefs praising the founding fathers. At first, Douglass believed the Constitution was a pro-slavery document in accordance to Garrison’s beliefs and due to the numerous clauses that supported slavery. While speaking to numerous other abolitionists such as Lysander Spooner and Gerrit Smith, Douglass has since regarded the Constitution as an anti-slavery document because it called for the freedom of all future generations. He believed that it was the people who created the divide allowing for the continuance of slavery. This divide is what led to the Civil War, and the separation of a nation. All of these factors are evident in Douglass’ speech “What to a Slave is the 4th of July”, because he begins with being critical of the celebration of an American patriot holiday, but then talks about the Constitution being a “Glorious Liberty Document.” Douglass’ speech was more than words, it was his life experiences as a slave who never felt a love of his country of birth, to an abolitionist who began to find the love and patriotism for that same country.
 