Thesis:
In order to ignite awareness and passionately expose the Nation’s unfair treatment and lack of respect for blacks in Antebellum America, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass-- in his speech to the President on the Fourth of July-- condemns the deceit permeated throughout the shallowly misconceived and hypocritical American virtues of freedom and liberty as to illuminate the natural rights peremptorily denied to his race.
Paragraph: In order to reveal the hypocrisy that underlies the perceived American value of freedom, Frederick Douglass, in his speech to the President and the American people, utilizes negative words as well as disheartening descriptions that condemn the fallacies behind the declared liberty. To describe this, he …show more content…
Therefore, Douglass is blaming many Americans for hypocritically denying slaves the right to the liberty and freedom regarded by these free whites as so virtuous. Furthermore, the implementation of the word “future” specifically seems to dwindle the hope of reform if people are unwilling to faithfully and fully adhere to the Founding Fathers promised rights. “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” ‘Gross’, ‘injustice’, ‘cruelty’, and ‘victim’ are all negatively defined terms that aid in further reiterating the unreasonable and contradictory values of freedom and liberty that are documented in the Declaration of Independence. ‘Gross’ is defined as unacceptable, and modifies ‘injustice’, which means unfair. By describing the unfair treatment of slaves as unacceptable, Frederick Douglass is chasticizing the fallacious promises made to Americans by the Founding Fathers. The Declaration of Independence states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, they are endowed [...] Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. However, Douglass exposes the inconsistencies behind this statement as they do not
In order to ignite awareness and passionately expose the Nation’s unfair treatment and lack of respect for blacks in Antebellum America, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass-- in his speech to the President on the Fourth of July-- condemns the deceit permeated throughout the shallowly misconceived and hypocritical American virtues of freedom and liberty as to illuminate the natural rights peremptorily denied to his race.
Paragraph: In order to reveal the hypocrisy that underlies the perceived American value of freedom, Frederick Douglass, in his speech to the President and the American people, utilizes negative words as well as disheartening descriptions that condemn the fallacies behind the declared liberty. To describe this, he …show more content…
Therefore, Douglass is blaming many Americans for hypocritically denying slaves the right to the liberty and freedom regarded by these free whites as so virtuous. Furthermore, the implementation of the word “future” specifically seems to dwindle the hope of reform if people are unwilling to faithfully and fully adhere to the Founding Fathers promised rights. “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” ‘Gross’, ‘injustice’, ‘cruelty’, and ‘victim’ are all negatively defined terms that aid in further reiterating the unreasonable and contradictory values of freedom and liberty that are documented in the Declaration of Independence. ‘Gross’ is defined as unacceptable, and modifies ‘injustice’, which means unfair. By describing the unfair treatment of slaves as unacceptable, Frederick Douglass is chasticizing the fallacious promises made to Americans by the Founding Fathers. The Declaration of Independence states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, they are endowed [...] Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. However, Douglass exposes the inconsistencies behind this statement as they do not