Douglass Reading Reaction

Douglass' speech on the Fourth of July used the past of our country to shame the state that our nation was presently in. Douglass discussed the struggle our founding fathers went through to free themselves, and thus us, from oppression. Douglass discussed this in great length to remind the audience of the reasons why their fathers seeked liberty and freedom. This remembrance of the creation of our nation allowed the audience to grow increasingly proud of our history.

Douglass then took on the voice of a slave in our nation. Douglass discussed the fact that the Fourth of July to a slave is a mockery. The fact that the nation prides themselves on how they were able to free themselves from slavery, while they continue to enslave people in their own country is hypocritical. Douglass called slavery the cruelest practice existing in the world at that time.

Douglass argued that there was no need to prove to the audience that slaves deserved freedom just as much as slave owners did. Douglass used pieces of our nations Constitution and practices to show how hypocritical slavery was.

Douglass attempted to draw a link between both the past and the present. Douglass wanted the audience to remember what they're fathers went through to get their freedom from oppression, and now our own country is oppressing people in the same way sense that they freed themselves from. This connection between the past and present allows Douglass to make his audience feel shame from being so ignorant.

Reading this speech from Douglass is incredible. I think it is impressive that a person would make such a controversial speech on the Fourth of July. With slavery being such a prominent and accepted aspect of our nation at the time, it seems daring to express such a dissenting opinion on the day our nation gained our freedom.