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What To The Slave Is The Fourth Of July Essay

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The United States of America prides itself as being the Land of the Free, but Frederick Douglass blatantly challenges this in his speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”. On July 5, 1852, a mere two years after the infamous passing of the Fugitive Slave Act, Frederick Douglass delivers a scathing speech to his fellow neighbors in Rochester, New York. He establishes his credibility as a moral, honest, and educated man by alluding to his former life as a slave. Humbly standing before his audience, Douglass stuns them with his caustic words, quick wit, and biting retorts to convey his disdain for the Fourth of July celebration. Referencing America’s past fight for freedom, Douglass compares the past with the present to expose the hypocrisy …show more content…
The few times he does use satirical devices, his contempt is directed towards the British: “They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor.” The former slave sympathizes with the American colonists because he relates to their pain, and he criticizes the British’s resistance to change stemming from their desire for wealth. He celebrates the American triumph against the “lovers of ease, and the worshippers of property.” In his ridicule of the British oppressors, Douglass subtly prepares his audience for the biting words found later in the address. The analysis of the past lays the foundation for the bulk of Frederick’s speech - the irony behind the Fourth of July …show more content…
Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood…” The celebration is hypocritical because the Land of the Free is actually built on slavery. It is also ironic that Douglass, a former slave, has been asked to deliver the Independence Day address when the holiday holds no meaning to him or the people he represents. For the African Americans, it is not a day of jubilant celebration but a day of mourning. The corruption of American freedom becomes painfully apparent on Independence

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