What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Throughout Douglass’s speech, irony is used as a rhetorical device to emphasize his central arguments. In almost every section of the text, Douglass says that Americans’ beliefs about themselves and their politics or religion directly contradict their actions and actual values. He names this outright towards the beginning of the speech, contending, “Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor” (5). Immediately after, he argues that “this is esteemed by some as a national trait-perhaps a national weakness” (5). The subtle criticism intended by the final phrase which names this “a national weakness” shows the irony Douglass intends to highlight. Later in the speech, Douglass illustrates this point about American irony in another way, interrogating his audience with sarcasm: “Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?” (6). This is a critical moment of irony, as Douglass uses solicitous phrases like “fellow-citizens” and “pardon me” while addressing the fact that these same citizens would deny him independence.

Later in the speech, Douglass continues to assert that American society and values are inherently ironic.