In Frederick Douglass’ speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” which was given in 1852, slavery was still a heavy part of American society. Douglass himself was an escaped slave. As a young boy, he began to learn to read with the help of his owner’s wife. As he began to pick up reading very quickly, Douglass started to teach other slaves how to read. When his owner found out about this ordeal, he ordered his wife to stop teaching young Frederick Douglass how to read and later traded him off to a new slave owner away from Douglass’ family.  Douglass found out very quickly the significance behind being sold to a new owner; if he realized that he was truly worth as much as a white person, then he may start a rebellion against his owner. When he was around eighteen years old he escaped to the north and eventually became one of the biggest abolitionists against slavery in American History. In 1852, the slave debate was starting to heat up and eventually sparked the Civil War nine years later in 1861. Douglass gave his “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” speech in 1852. In 1850 the Fugitive Slave Law essentially kept the repulsive institution of slavery alive in America while the stoppage of the slave trade seemed to increase the demand for slaves to be returned as property to their owners. We have a better understanding of the impact Douglass’ word choice and images of irony in the Declaration of Independence when we consider the industry and laws surrounding slavery at the time. 

Douglass addressed the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester as he was addressing an audience that was chasing the same goal that he was; abolishing slavery. Douglass spoke about how the Declaration of Independence is a great piece of American Literature that promotes a separation from the British crown and freedom for all. Douglass went on to point out the principles of freedom and equality that the founding fathers constructed the Declaration from when he says, “Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost” (Douglass 259). He then points to the irony of the great document because it is ironic that there is such an institution of slavery if the ratifying document of the land states that all men are equal. He points to numerous events that show that in fact slaves are even less than equal as they are viewed as packages that can be shipped back or objects that can be used against their will to maintain slavery. 

One major historical event that influenced Douglass to speak out about the lack of equality and irony in the Declaration of independence was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1950 declared that the Federal Government and civilians had a responsibility to return escaped slaves from the South to their rightful owners. This is shown in “The Fugitive Slave Law: A Double Paradox” when Larry Gara states, “Even though the owner of an escaped slave might not particularly care to have him back in slavery he considered it his right to recapture him if he wished and the Northern states had an obligation guaranteed by the Constitution to assist him” (Gara 231). Abolitionists saw this new piece of legislature as a way to further declare slaves as property, as Douglass states, “In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this Fugitive Slave Law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation” (Douglass 268). As an educated black man, Douglass understood the meaning behind this law, but not all black men and slaves could understand it because they did not have the education and understanding of language that whites did. The law uses strenuous language that requires complex interpretations, as Larry Gara states, “Article IV, Section Two, of the Constitution clearly implied that fugitives from labor who escaped into another state should be delivered to their masters, though the word "slave" was carefully avoided” (Gara 231). Many uneducated people didn’t understand the complexity of this law because it never says anything directly about slaves. The legislators realized that if they wrote the law with enough complexity then it would restrain uprisings of slaves because they would not be able to comprehend what the law was about. There is simply no equality between the slaves and the white man yet the Declaration says every man is created equal. By showing the irony of the Declaration, Douglass shows his audience that based off the laws and legislation of the United States, slaves are considered property and not people.   

Another historical event that Douglass referenced was the abolition of the Slave Trade and the atrocities it causes to American Slavery. The abolition of the Slave Trade from Africa in 1807 meant that there were no more slaves to continually replace slaves that die off or escape. The only way to get more slaves was to make the current slaves reproduce. This led to more rapes of female slaves by their owners, so that the owner could continue to have slave labor done. The desperation of southern plantation owners to create more slaves is shown when Edward Baptist states, “Women of color, and black communities in general, waged constant rhetorical and physical battles against both the sexual assaults of white men and white ideas about black people” (Baptist 1622). The United States was one of the last countries to abolish the slave trade, as Douglass states, “I doubt if there be another nation on the globe, having the brass and the baseness to put such a law on the statute book” (Douglass 268). America was also one of the last countries to still belittle slaves and see them as unequal. Douglass stated that the domestic abuse of these women was solely used for personal gain. This practice is shown, “The business was a slave-trading partnership, and systematic rape and sexual abuse of slave women were part of the normal practice of the men who ran the firm” (Baptist 1619). Douglass used this to point to the fact that slaves were still far from equal after the slave trade was abolished. Women were degraded to be objects of reproduction, and Douglass implies that is far from the equality that is stated in the Declaration. 

The irony of equality in the Declaration of Independence is illustrated through historical references of the Fugitive Slave Law and the abolition of the slave trade. With these historical connections, the reader can now fully understand Douglass words in “What to the slave is the Fourth of July.” Slavery in America ultimately led to the abolition movement which then led to the Civil War. Douglass pointed out the inequalities of slavery. Douglass continues throughout his entire speech to make the reader wonder if the slave supporters know slavery is wrong. He knows that the white man and slave are equal in every physical and mental way. Douglass also believes that the white man knows this to be true but will not acknowledge it because of the loss of personal gain. For a white man, slaves are not people, but property. 
