“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” is a speech created and given by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, to denounce the hypocrisy behind the celebrations of one’s freedom when others still don’t have it. Frederick Douglass was a well-known abolitionist and former slave that challenges the implication of slavery through his knowledge, the manipulation of human emotion, and logical reasoning. His use of Pathos and Logos in the speech were able to reveal those unforeseen consequences of his audience’s actions. The Ethos used in his speech is then able to reinforce his claim and reasons. Pathos allows Douglass to paint pictures of the effect of the torment from slave owners on the slave population. The Fourth of July, a day of freedom and liberty for free whites all around the nation but, also a day of mockery for the slave community. Douglass clearly tells us the Fourth of July is “mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages” to the slaves. These words project the perceptions of slaves. While many other people are celebrating their freedoms, the slaves are fed up by the bombast those people are using to allow for the celebration. This builds up a level of guilt in the audience through the visualization of the audience's treatment of slaves. Pathos, in this speech, pushed the image of cruelty within slavery toward oblivious members of the white community. The facts that were hidden
