In Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass gives a well written empathetic speech on the ignored truth and irony about the celebration of Independence Day. His descriptive and impactful retellings of the inhumane practices used in the slave trade gave listeners a revelation that slaves were more than items and laborers but were people just like them. His description of the slaves’ trials and tribulations as families, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters gave a relative point for listeners to second guess the trusted idea that slavery was only a business practice akin to selling cattle. He finally made slaves look like people in the eyes of the American citizen
Douglass’ history as a former slave further pushes his point of how terrible slavery can be. Being a part of it firsthand gives a sense of surrealism to the situation since Douglass is not only speaking of slavery from things he’s only seen but situations he has experienced. If he was a man that had never gone through slavery I doubt his words would have made as much as an impact. Being an ex-slave Douglass can give the ugly but necessary truth of what slavery does to people. Douglass’ overall tone of the essay, to me, does seem angry. He puts down the unjust celebration of freedom by the American citizens all the while recalling the atrocities of slavery that exist alongside it. It’s impossible for to see his speech come off as anything but angry.
To summarize, Frederick Douglass’ speech is a rhetorical and very serious take on the establishment of slavery at the time. He points out the hypocrisy of Americans and their celebration of their plights towards freedom while keeping thousands upon thousands of people enslaved. He lists off every contradiction and argument the country can put up to justify slavery and tears those ideas down with “logic and argumentation” (Douglass,