LAD/Blog #17: Fredrick Douglass's "5 of July" speech

Douglass starts by saying that that slaves and Americans are the same, and that they had ancestors fighting the same war earlier that Americans have. He says that slaves are men, and therefor should be treated that way and it is not right for Christians to watch while people are being mistreated. He speaks of how he believes that the church has in its own way, stood behind the issue of slavery and how the church doesn't take responsibility. He then goes on to say that the country does have the potential to change. He claims that the driving force behind the change would have to be the church. He says that the willingness of the country to accept the abolishing of slavery, it would have to be backed by the church before the country can change. Even though the religion is a problem, it can also be a solution. He then talks about as Americans they should be happy about their liberty and freedom, but millions of Americans can not share in that same joy. Also he claims that the U.S. was built on inconsistencies that people decided to overlook or mistook them at a glance to be true. In the end Douglas still seems to believe that their will come an end to this nightmare. He believes that people are smart and will realize what was happening and find a way to move the country forward.

The 5th of July is important to the speech because it was Douglass's way of showing how July 4th was independence for only some of America and how many others did not have the same feeling about that day because they were not independent.


Both Fredrick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were outspoken on the issue of slavery and played important roles in the abolitionist movement.

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