What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Much of Douglass’ speech focuses on the ways that history relates to his present moment; he indicts Americans who cling to their “rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence” (7) while still supporting the evils of slavery. Though at first Douglass uses the past as a rhetorical tool to engender emotional and philosophical investment from his listeners, he soon shifts the meaning to push his argument that “America is false to the past” (7).

Douglass praises the forefathers of the country while arguing that current injustices are a blatant form of hypocrisy, challenging people who say they value the liberty that was a core value of the past while not valuing liberty in the present. In one particularly explicit moment, Douglass asks, “Is this the land your Fathers loved, The freedom which they toiled to win… Are these the graves they slumber in?” (11). By continuing to poetically reference the strong values of U.S. historical figures, Douglass pushes the listener to see the pretense of saying that they value equality without believing that all people should be free.

To a large extent, Douglass’ focus on U.S. history and historical figures is itself a critique of American society. He references this in his more strident conclusion when he describes that instead of the forefathers “being the honest men [he had] before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind” (16).