Frederick Douglass was previously a slave who broke free from the chains of his masters before becoming a well known advocate against slavery. Conceived and taken from a slave mother when only a newborn child, against his will received much harsh treatments, for example, experiencing hunger, and abuse. Frederick was one of the few slaves that received any education although to a limited degree by the wife of a slave owner. In the age of twenty, Frederick got away from his slave life and went to the north where he spread his abolitionist views about slavery through lectures and newspapers. On the fourth of July 1872, he got one of solicitations to an Anti-Slavery meeting amid, a festival of Fourth of July in Rochester. He was depended on to talk about how important the Fourth of July was to the African Americans. Although, he could have applauded the festivals like other diverse speakers did, the abolitionist rather uncovered the bad faith of the Americans with respect to their festivals of majority rule government, balance, and opportunity. In his speech about the Fourth of July, Douglass utilizes rhetorical themes to show his theme to the group of onlookers that were listening. All to pass on his incredible feelings regarding the matter, and the final product is an all around successfully contended point.
Frederick Douglass' didn’t have to express his feelings about the Fourth of July, but did anyway. Frederick Douglass started, 'The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common” (The Meaning of July Fourth to a Negro, Frederick Douglass). It set the tone for whatever remains of the portion, observing that The Fourth of July, while being an exceptional event to to white men, is definitely not a cheerful event for all men. Douglass made it extraordinarily sure that in light of the way that the African Americans were enslaved, they were not seen as subjects of the United States and did not feel as vigorously about the Fourth of July. Douglass productively utilizes the expressions 'you' and 'me,” 'us' and 'them,” to push the way that the Fourth of July is of a hypocritical, and for his kin it is multi-day of grieving, while for whatever remains of them, it is multi day of visually impaired satisfaction. In the content, such words are emphasized, implying that while he gave the speech, he tried to put accentuation on these words in a way that would be equivalent to crushing the weight purposes of his gathering of onlookers.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Douglass perceived how a slave sees the Fourth of July as he was a slave himself in the past. He said that it is seen as “What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man?” Douglass, a past slave, knew the hardships that the slaves went up against, and was offended that the slave owners could applaud their business which was considered to him as 'slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government.” Douglass' speech to all of the slaves on the Fourth of July served to demonstrate the slaves that there is nothing for them to celebrate. The slaves were not free and the autonomy that whatever is left of the nation celebrated did not have any significant bearing to them.
Douglass addresses the immoral subjugation of the slaves is and how the Declaration of Independence is inconsistent. Which means it says a certain something and everyone is doing the direct opposite and not holding to these words. The Declaration of Independence expresses that all men are made equivalent, and what’s more have certain unalienable rights and that it fuses life, opportunity, and the journey for happiness. However, and still that isn't having any significant bearing to everybody, for example, the slaves. Alone with him raising realities about the rights that slaves must have. It feels as though there is somewhat snide and as he is making explanatory inquiries alluding to the Declaration of Independence and addressing those that are keen on observing his point, that all men paying little mind to race ought to be qualified for freedom. Douglass proceeds onward to discuss the wrongs submitted by America, and how they have heaped out of this world to the final turning point. He expresses that any simply man who isn't bias will see that his words are of truth. He discusses the Constitution, he talks about the Bible, and he discusses God.
A battle for American democracy for the slaves just as also as chance and correspondence, which helps prop the point up. His tone is forceful yet straightforward in his speech. Douglas scrutinizes the American belief system as being conflicting and agrees with activists who trust that the establishing founding fathers truly meant to kill subjection and that the Constitution is a reflecting of this. He states, “Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation?”. He, in fact presents on each unique part of why African Americans have indistinguishable constitutional rights to opportunity like other people.
Douglass closes the astonishing speech with the explanation that he has been attempting to demonstrate up and down: The Fourth of July is a disturbing holiday to him, and his kin of the progressing brutality that America endeavors to put a cloak over with this joke. While the visually impaired celebrate, the abused are driven further into trouble. His speech is a calling, a calling for change. Change is all that America needs to seek after, Douglass contends, for the obscenities of the past cannot be fixed, and the awfulness of the present must not go on. He requires a stop to the harm, and for the introduction of the culprit: America.
MLA Citation
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Frederick Douglass.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 Feb. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Douglass.
- “Frederick Douglass.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/frdo/learn/historyculture/frederickdouglass.htm.
- https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/15/the-prophetic-pragmatism-of-frederick-douglass
Stuck on your essay?
