Terry Kirby
History report on:
By Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was born around 1817 and born into slavery. Douglass was fortunate enough to have learned to read and write as a slave. While a young man, he escaped and fled to the North. Douglass became a writer and an abolitionist speaker. Frederick
Douglass published his autobiography in 1845, bringing him some amount of fame, both in
America and abroad. He eventually became the editor of the New York anti-slavery newspaper in Rochester, The North Star. Being one of the leading anti-slavery speakers of his time,
Douglass was asked to be the principle speaker at the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society’s
Fourth of July celebration.
The year is 1852. Not long after the Second Great Awakening (a profound religious revival in the United States, which reemphasized religion in many American lives, and in which many people reevaluated the way that the individual forms their relationship with their
Creator) Douglass, being a powerful speaker, invokes not only religion, but also the very core values that were being celebrated on that Independence Day to effect his anti-slavery message.
Religion was still strong in the United States at this time, as this Independence Day celebration was held on Monday, July 5 th , as July 4 th fell on a Sunday.
Douglass is a very effective orator, using his speaking skills to great effect in this speech.
He begins his Independence Day speech in a traditional manner. He begins by speaking of the plight of the American Colonies, the valiant Founding Fathers, and the tyranny of Great Britain.

Soon Douglass’ speech changes course and takes a very different direction and tone. He begins this change by alluding to the idea that the great deeds of our Founding Fathers and the
Revolutionary Patriots should be told by someone who is white, not colored (hinting at the racial inequality that permeated American society at this time). He then attempts to engage the audience in his speech by asking “why am I called upon to speak here to-day?” 1 . He emphasizes that the Constitution, its rights and freedoms, are not extended to either him, nor to those (slaves) he represents. He speaks of those celebrating the tyrannical British chains of bondage being cast off by the American Revolution; then he contrasts this with the American chains of bondage being suffered by the slaves in the South. He then mocks the celebration as nothing more than a double standard, using powerful language, such as, “This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join in your joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct.” 2 . He uses language like this to bring the audience into his speech in an attempt to have the audience see this event through his eyes.
He then invokes religion in a most powerful way. He is speaking to, and for a women’s anti-slavery group in the North, to whom slavery is evil and contrary to their deeply founded religious beliefs. He compares the United States to the fallen Zion, whose people are filled with woe and sorrow. He then alludes to America being the celebrating Babylon and the slaves being the Jews, the enslaved, yet also the chosen people in the Bible. Where Americans hear a joyous celebration of Independence, Douglass hears “the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them…I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July” 3 . He goes on to pronounce the hypocrisy of the American Constitution and the American People, both for allowing the practice of, or actively practicing, slavery while celebrating their freedoms and their enlightened and educated society. Douglass brings to light the contradictions in the

American Society of the time. He expounds on the fact that Americans are ready to go to war to fight for the injustices in Europe, mentioning France, Austria, and Ireland, yet they are willing to turn their head and forget that there are those in America that are being made to forcibly suffer and their suffering is at the hands of Americans. Here, I believe he is making the claim that race and color are a major factor in allowing the existence of slavery in America.
Douglass ends his speech, by coming around full circle and celebrating our Founding
Fathers and the Constitution. He believes that there is yet hope for the United States and that the dreams of the Founding Fathers might still be realized by all. He closes his speech with a poetic verse that is a strong religious rallying cry for equality for and peace between all men.
He leaves with a message of hope, by saying that he does not despair for America. “There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. “The arm of the Lord is not shortened,” and the doom of slavery is certain.” 4
I believe that Frederick Douglass, in this speech, was very much playing to his audience.
Douglass had lived in both the world of slavery and in the world of free men, and was therefore very knowledgeable about which he spoke. I also believe that, while he was playing to his audience, a women’s anti-slavery group, giving them both a moving speech to spur them on toward their goal, he was also praising them for their work to abolish slavery. I believe that the anger that shows through in this speech is due as much to the inaction of, and the apathy of the
North, as to the institution of slavery in the South. This man had a driving passion to end slavery, not just for him, for he had escaped and claimed freedom already, but for all of the slaves in the South. His passion and conviction helped to see his dream carried through, for he became an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. I think that Douglass was very bias, yet he was also very passionate about his cause. For all of his bias, I think that
Douglass, for the most part, told the truth. I think that he told only the truths that would aid him in his cause. For example, although most blacks wanted their freedom, there were many slaves that did not want to be freed by the North. Some of the slaves had kindly masters and

slavery was the only life that they had known. Many of these slaves did not want to change their lifestyle to that of a free person.
This speech has a great historical relevance for several reasons. First, the speaker is one of the leading abolitionist speakers of his time, and a man that would later be an advisor to
Abraham Lincoln. Second, this speech helps to bring to light the undercurrent of feelings about slavery in Northern society. Third, this speech was given to a woman’s organization at a time where women, their organizations and their money were shaping both policy and society in
America like never before. This speech would have had a lasting effect on these women and these women, as Frederick Douglass would have known, were in a position to affect change in both the views of society on slavery and on the government’s policies toward slavery. Frederick
Douglass was able to, through the use of his reputation, speaking skills, and powerful language; give a speech of lasting impression, not only for his audience, but for all Americans, enlightening them as to the plight of those enslaved on the day that Americans celebrate their freedoms. With such a rousing speech as this, made on the most revered holiday in the United
States, it makes one wonder what effect this speech had on its audience. A mere 9 years later, the United States was fighting its Civil War, affording those in power the opportunity to end slavery in the United States for all time.
1.
America’s History; Henretta, James A., Brody, David, and Dumenil, Lynn; p.288
2.
America’s History; Henretta, James A., Brody, David, and Dumenil, Lynn; p.288
3.
America’s History; Henretta, James A., Brody, David, and Dumenil, Lynn; p.289
4.
America’s History; Henretta, James A., Brody, David, and Dumenil, Lynn; p.289