The Fourth of July is Yours, not Mine free essay sample

An analysis of Frederick Douglass address to the Americans, commemorating the fourth of July. This paper discusses the speech made by Frederick Douglass regarding black Americans and the fourth of July. The writer examines the arguments presented by Douglass as to why black Americans should not celebrate the 4th of July. When Douglass proclaimed that the Fourth of July is not a commemoration of independence for the slaves, but a commemoration of American slaverys injustices and inequality, he supported this argument by saying that the American nations high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. He also questions his audience if the great principles of political freedom embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Douglass poses these statements to his audience because the American nations are the ones who tolerated American slavery, a contrast to what the principles of their Constitution holds.