

Frederick Douglass, a former slave, experienced many things throughout his lifetime. He lived through enslavement as well as being a free man trying to end the sick, twisted, trade and forced labor of his people. The man devoted his free life to abolishing slavery at it’s roots and making sure he got his point of equal freedoms for all people across to audiences all over the nation. In Douglass’ speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” Douglass expresses the failure of the American people to follow the Declaration in the way it was intended to be. A document founded on freedom for all citizens and a document based upon the fact that all citizens are equal was interpreted in such a way that African American citizens were not included in it. The people the Declaration stood to help were outcasted by the people who tried to implement it. So the Declaration of Independence to a slave is a document that was once a sign of hope but quickly turned into a symbol of inequality due to the overwhelming fact that the white population refused to accept African Americans as equals. 

In a scholarly form of the Declaration of Independence from the University of Harvard, David Armitage expresses the overall importance of the Declaration in international law and the natural rights given to all beings. He stresses the importance of the declaration and its proceedings from European culture, not only how our country broke free from their oppression but as well as how we can take our legal system and base it off of theirs. In addition, of course what is stressed is the importance of the rights that are given to all humans, the most basic truths that we deserve as a race, stating “a universal statement of self evident truths regarding the inalienable rights of human beings” (Artimage 42).  Along with the overwhelming fact of independence, a great sense of respect for all human beings and their well being is also a huge factor in the journal. Furthermore, it is explained that, “the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitles them” (Artimage 45).  Here Armitage is saying that all humans belong to the earth and God, they do not belong to others and by this fact we all deserve equal treatment as well as equal rights because we all come from the same creator. This journal argues that all humans in this newly freed nation should be treated equal under the laws of God and under the laws of nature; all humans are equal on this planet and should be treated that way in the great nation that is starting to develope.

This article relates to “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July” in a parallel way. Both Armitage and Douglass would agree that the Declaration was supposed to grant equality to all who abide and live under it. Douglass would be most accepting of Armitage’s interpretation because Douglass spent the greatest years of his life on the road trying to abolish slavery and get the African American community the same rights and privileges as whites. Armitage states “disagreement about the Declaration’s sources and characters has created confusion about it’s original purpose” (42). Douglass would agree with that statement and moreover explain how the Declaration gives all people inalienable rights, not only the white population and the black community should as well be free. However, his people are still oppressed because the white population absolutely refuses to see them as the same under one flag and one God. Even though the Declaration clearly states its principals. The Declaration allows all citizens equal protection under the law as well as equal rights but African Americans are still not included in this in the eyes of white society.   Douglass reflects that the declaration was supposed to set people free from oppression and hardship from rulers, however; all this new nation did was turn around and put oppression right back on it’s people. Specifically, the slaves, who worked tirelessly to build the country up were never given the spoils of the great fortune the country received from its great success. “America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be blind to the future” (Douglass 263). Douglass here creates the idea that the nation has been lying to itself for generations. A country that defines themselves by freedom and correctness has been holding the black population hostage as forced laborers for decades and sees no wrong in doing so.  In summation Douglass emphasizes how this cloak of so called freedom is a sham.

The second article by Jonathan Lande entitled “Trials of Freedom: African American Deserters during the U.S. Civil War” is another article that explains the hardships of the black population. The article examines the lives of black soldiers during the American Civil war and their continued mistreatment even when fighting for their country. This article is important since the civil war happened after Douglass’ speech and several years after African Americans were still feeling injustice in society.These brave men fought along white soldiers, battling the confederate south, in an attempt to shift the country and end slavery. Be that as it may, these African American Soldiers were still treated as often as the slaves they once were, “strict military discipline conjured up memories of bondage. Comparing freedom in the army to life on the plantation, one soldier even condemned white officers as ‘Union masters’”(695). As you can see, the joy of freedom these slaves short felt was quickly diminished by life as a soldier, “the triumphant and sometimes triumphalist narrative of black martial heroism passes too quickly over black soldiers”(695). Due to the harsh conditions of the war even when not in battle caused many slaves to lose passion and hope for their fight and caused thousands to desert the fight they believed would change everything. 

Frederick Douglass experienced the same struggle those soldiers felt. The sense of being lied to and still treated as an animal still sat sour with him. The Declaration of Independence in Douglass’ case felt the same to him as the oppression to the black soldiers. Douglass declared the framers of the document “went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measure of the government unjust, unreasonable” (257). The government that is supposed to protect, praise, and promote the welfare of its people fails to do so and lies in the Declaration itself by saying every man, woman and child have equal rights under God. Much like the soldiers were given the false pretence of freedom by fighting in the war. The article sheds light on what Douglass explains when he said the country was lied to. 

The pain in the words spoken by Frederick Douglass in his speech deliberate a strong message. A message that the very people who longed for freedom and the ability to live independent without oppression turned right around on the African American community. The white citizens of the country failed to see African Americans as equals and greatly misinterpreted the Declaration of independence.