What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” is a famous speech because of its strong arguments for the abolition of slavery and for its thoughtful rhetorical approach to convincing a wealthy White audience that the institution of slavery goes against the values they hold dear. The crux of the speech and its most cited section is an interrogative passage in which Douglass demands answers from his audience. This is the source of the oft-used title “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” In the passage, Douglass points sharply at the hypocritical nature of the request to have a formerly enslaved person speak about the “national independence” (6) that is “yours, not mine” (7). Douglass adopts a sarcastic tone before distinctly declaring his central point for speaking: “I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us” (7). Just as the titular question expresses, Douglass describes the ironic position of a person who is enslaved in a country that celebrates liberty and independence. Throughout the rest of the speech, Douglass masterfully weaves a larger, more complex argument around this central issue; much of the language in this passage reflects the other thematic elements in his speech.