In Frederick Douglas’s “What to the slave is the Fourth of July” he attempts to change the mind of people who don’t see a problem with slavery. Douglas intended to make the abolition movement more acceptable with Northern whites. Many northerners condemned slavery, but approved of southerners having slaves because this was a right given to them in the Constitution. Many of these northerners were only concerned with slavery not spreading to places where it shouldn’t, and actually stopping the institution. In Fredrick Douglas’s oration “What to a slave is the Fourth of July?’ he accuses people of being anti-slavery but not taking the step forward and acting to abolishing slavery. 

Frederick Douglas begins the speech by expressing “that the law of our land, the constitution, should have been a document that granted freedom to everyone in America” (What to a slave is the Fourth of July? pg. 259) “The framers of the constitution knew about the threat of slavery when drafting the constitution and they chose to do nothing about it. This allowed Southern Politicians to use this document to protect this institution.” (Knowles 1) He is sick and tired of people not seeing the issues with the abuse of an entire race. Douglas then appeals to the emotions of the people he speaks to. He says that “the Patriots of this country established a just nation, one that should not have slavery” (What to a slave is the Fourth of July? pg.257). “America has betrayed the ideals of the Revolution and disappointed the Patriots that worked arduously to defeat the British, by not outlawing slavery yet.” (What to a slave is the Fourth of July? pg. 257) He is making them feel guilty by not taking the initiative to stop this atrocity called slavery.  After this, Douglas takes time in his speech to make his audience reflect upon themselves. America was restricted of rights and freedoms under British rule, and this is why they broke away to from their own country. People were so active in trying to achieve freedom from Britain, but now are doing nothing to assure freedom in their own country. Northerners also have no motivation to help abolish slavery because the law of the land says it is completely fine and not illegal. Douglas speaks in depth about how the founders of America should have made the Constitution prohibit slavery, and appeals himself directly to his audience, talking about examples that will trigger their emotion. 

Next, Douglas identifies the role of racism in the legal system. He says that “There are seventy-two crimes in the state of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man, subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment.” (What to a slave is the Fourth of July? pg. 263) Douglas uses this example to show the extreme prejudice of the legal system and willingness of officials to put African Americans up for the death penalty, showing a complete disregard for African American lives. At this point in his speech, he wanted the Caucasians to be asking themselves the question “Are we really this divided from black people?” Next, Frederick Douglas tries to draw a parallel between Caucasians and African Americans.” Slaves do activities that regular people can do such as ploughing, planting and building, but are treated unequal” (What to a slave is the Fourth of July? pg.264). The three-fifths clause recognizes slavery literally says by law slaves are not considered people. (Knowles 3) This completely goes against American ideals. Even if white people were anti-slavery, they should have at least raised awareness about why blacks weren’t treated like actual people. Douglas says “Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write.” (What to a slave is the Fourth of July? pg.263) Douglas wanted to make it a point in his speech to change the mind of his audience. Here, he wants to change their mind on the abilities and intelligence of African Americans. Slaves are treated like animals and denied of some of the basic needs in life such as education. He is also pointing out how white people are being denied rights by not having the freedom to teach an African American, even if they want to. (Pole 3) Slaves are people just like whites, so they should be treated like it. The whole population of white Americans at this time turned a blind eye to the urgent need for abolition, failing to see both the discrimination blacks faced in the legal system and the cruelty they faced by not being able to be educated. 

Finally, Douglas begins to speak about how it is very surprising to him that Caucasians are in support of slavery. Frederick Douglas says “Americans celebrate the Fourth of July but have 3 million innocent African Americans enslaved in their country” (What to the slave is the Fourth of July? pg. 271). He is using this holiday to show people that the Fourth of July is meant to celebrate our country’s ideals, such as liberty and democracy. Douglas aims to draw the irony out of this holiday since this country is supposed to be free but it is in support of slavery. Next, Douglas uses events that have occurred around the world to further display the hypocrisy of Americans. This evidence includes “Americans were in support of liberty in France and Ireland but ignore it in their own country” (What to the slave is the Fourth of July? pg. 271). He then says “Americans were very supportive of the French revolution and the freedom of their country, but they don’t even have a free country themselves” (What to the slave is the Fourth of July? pg. 271). He also indicates that “Americans take in, honor and salute fugitives of oppression from other countries but they advertise, hunt, shoot and kill slaves being oppressed in their own country” (What to the slave is the Fourth of July? pg. 271). This is another interesting point made by Douglas because America has always been famous for taking in immigrants that have fled their country to escape oppression. These people are treated like heroes by the American people, but the slaves being oppressed in their own country are “treated like animals” (Pole 5). The mindset and lifestyle of Americans are inconsistent with the values and ideals they claim to be following.

          It took people a very long time to realize that this injustice happening in America was wrong and not aligned with the ideals the country was founded on. African Americans were not treated and viewed like human beings until the late 20th century. In Douglas’s “What to the slave is the fourth of July?”, the main point of his speech was to change people’s minds. He convinces people about the wrongfulness of slavery, and pleads for the people who are anti-slavery to gain the courage to join the abolition movement. He is very convincing in his orator and he even made a strong case to change the mind of his audience about the intelligence and abilities of slaves. It took the hard work and motivation of abolitionists such as Frederick Douglas to change people’s views on slavery and help them realize the barbaric, unjust nature of this institution that had been justified by Americans for so long. 
