So, who do you think made the biggest impact in American history, speech wise, as we talk about Independence Day known as the Fourth of July? Some may say that “The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson was a very important and effective speech, which it was, but I personally believe that “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” by Frederick Douglass were more effectual. My reasons for stating this is because for one, Douglass had a stronger argument, he not only talked about slavery from experience because he was a former slave but he also praised the founding fathers with no doubt. Mr. Douglass looked at both sides. The audience payed a lot of attention to him due to diction as the main rhetorical device used in his speech. Douglass very strong vocabulary and him fighting for what he wanted lead to a huge impact and a great outcome in American history. Mr. Douglass being a former slave, with barely any privileges granted to him, didn’t really get to have the opportunity …show more content…
Douglass was speaking from experience and what he knew and been through so this is also what might have made the argument even stronger and everything he said more important. You wouldn’t know what’s going on unless you been through it and that’s a fact. The main argument in his speech is “To the American slave, the 4th of July is a cruel sham”, to make that argument stronger he stated that “The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted” and this here shows that laws support his argument that they are all humans and deserve to live as humans. He does not share in America’s blessing and he stated that by basically saying that the rich inheritance of justice and liberty is shared by everyone else except for him and his
Moreover, Frederick Douglass never ever in his entire life did he get to see his White father. Well he only knew that his father was but, nothing else. But he believed that’s his White father was his master. His master’s name was Aaron Anthony. So when Frederick Douglass was left abounded he had to leave with his grandmother to a plantation in Maryland. When Douglass the age of seven he started to witness slavery and racism. He witnessed firsthand brutal painful whippings to his fellow friends.
Frederick Douglass wrote in his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, about the devastation associated with slavery and the destruction from which comes desperation. Douglass intends to summon upon the guilt and empathy of his white audience by giving an account from which the reader is able to coax up a new perspective on the dreadful oppression. Seen especially in the third paragraph where Douglass provides a series of rhetorical devices including: apostrophe, anaphora, personification, exemplum, and epithet in his sorrowful bellowing to passing ships.
Frederick Douglass made the most of his years after escaping from slavery in 1852. Douglass spread his words against slavery through being a well-known writer. Douglass was one of the most prominent reform leaders of his era (Foner, 481). A popular document written by Frederick Douglass on July 5th, 1852, spread some powerful words among the nation. Douglass’s speech was titled “What to the slave is the Fourth of July”. When his speech was published, his intended audience was his “fellow citizens” and those unaware that the Fourth of July was a day of mourning for slaves; unlike white Americans celebrating the day of freedom. The reason Douglass’s speech was published was to bring attention to the separation on the Fourth of July between white and black Americans. Even though Frederick Douglass was free he could not celebrate but mourn the day for horror of the past and presence of slave cruelty.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass written by Frederick Douglass himself is a brutally honest portrayal of slavery's dehumanizing capabilities. The style of this famous autobiography can be best described as personal, emotional, and compelling. By writing this narrative, Douglass wants his audience to understand him. He does this by speaking informally like a person would when writing a letter or telling a story to a friend. By clearly establishing his credibility and connecting with his audience, Douglass uses numerous rhetorical devices to argue for the immorality of slavery.
In conclusion, Frederick Douglass was a huge influence on the United States of America in 1852. He opened the eyes of those who heard what he had to say. Whether those individuals agreed with him or not, his speech continues to be popular and important. He mentioned facts that were disturbing, but at the same time, demonstrated amazing thoughts. If people in 1852 thought the same way as Frederick Douglass did, the country would have been better off. Americans’ independence, slavery, the Revolution, and his own life experience helped caused his speech to come out the way that it did. The “Fourth of July Oration” will forever be a commendable model that explained someone’s affection and engagement towards the freedom of individuals.
Frederick Douglass's "Fourth of July" Speech is the most famous speech delivered by the abolitionist and civil rights advocate Frederick Douglass. It attracted a crowd of between five hundred and six hundred. Douglass’s speech to the slaves on the Fourth of July served to show the slaves that there is nothing for them to celebrate. They were not free and the independence that the rest of the country celebrated did not apply to them.
Frederick Douglass was an incredibly influential part of the abolitionist movement. He has seen the harshest acts induced by slavery, even in the kindest of people. Douglass worked his entire life to get away from slavery and secure his freedom. With this new found freedom, he chose to speak out against the institution of slavery and inform the public of the evil truths that lay within slavery. He used wit, humor, pathos, ridicule, satire, mimicry, intellectual and emotional appeal to reach out to his audience in hopes of enlightening them (Douglass, July 146). On July 5th, 1852, he gave a speech to whites in New York about the injustices of slavery and how inhumane it was. He did this to open the eyes of Americans who had not been fully exposed
The effectiveness and excellent structure of Frederick Douglass’ Fourth of July speech is apparent. His rhetorical arguments served as powerful rebuts to opposing contentions and forced his audience to consider the undeniable error in their nation’s policy and approach regarding slavery. Douglass also compelled his audience to take his words seriously by establishing his credibility, recognizing his audience, and skillfully constructing and executing his speech. The end product of his efforts became a provocative speech at the time and a historical delivery in the future. Douglass succeeded in giving a speech that clearly and effectively argued the absurdity of the institution of slavery in America, leaving it up to his audience to consider his position and decide for themselves how to act in the future.
“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe”( Douglass). This famous quote epitomizes the philosophies of Frederick Douglass, in which he wanted everyone to be treated with dignity; if everyone was not treated with equality, no one person or property would be safe harm. His experience as a house slave, field slave and ship builder gave him the knowledge to develop into a persuasive speaker and abolitionist. In his narrative, he makes key arguments to white abolitionist and Christians on why slavery should be abolished. The key arguments that Frederick Douglass tries to vindicate are that slavery denies slaves of their identity, slavery is also detrimental for the slave owner, and slavery is ungodly.
Douglass as both the author and narrator in his novel took readers through his escape from slavery. Specifically mentioned in chapter seven of the book, the author expressed his new skill of reading and how that inspired his freedom. Douglass utilized rhetorical devices in chapter seven, such as pathos and personification to illustrate to his audience how his education motivated him to achieve liberation. Douglass’ effective use of emotion throughout the chapter made his experiences appeal to readers. Also, the first and last sentences of chapter seven served as bookends to show how education influenced Douglass’ freedom because within those two phrases there was a portion of Douglass’ journey told on how he escaped salvation. Lastly, Douglass’
Frederick Douglass asserts that he, as an adolescent "understood the pathway from slavery to freedom" upon his comprehension of English reading. To contemporary audiences, this may be a hard concept to grasp, an individual reared from birth as a slave understanding the significance of literacy and equating such with freedom. His cognition of this enormous concept can be explained as such: by breaking the literacy barrier, Douglass raised his status (symbolically) from a subhuman, slave status, to human, a White equal. Because all humans are entitled to certain rights, his symbolic progression from slave to human affords those rights, in particular the right to freedom.
This makes people disgusted and upset about slavery, and this is what he was trying to do. Frederick Douglass had experience as a slave, and as a free man.
1.) Fredrick Douglass’s purpose in this speech was to explain the wrongfulness of slavery in America. Fredrick Douglass states in his speech “Are the great principles of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” and “The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me.” These prove that the freedom and independence Americans have aren’t shared with the Africans when it should be that Africans have those rights as well. Frederick Douglass then talked about how badly whites treat blacks and how wrong it is. “There are 72 crimes in Virginia which, if committed by a black man, subject him to a punishment of death, while
America in the mid to early nineteenth century saw the torture of many African Americans in slavery. Plantation owners did not care whether they were young or old, girl or boy, to them all slaves were there to work. One slave in particular, Frederick Douglass, documented his journey through slavery in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Through the use of various rhetorical devices and strategies, Douglass conveys the dehumanizing and corrupting effect of slavery, in order to show the overall need for American abolition. His use of devices such as parallelism, asyndeton, simile, antithesis, juxtaposition and use of irony, not only establish ethos but also show the negative effects of slavery on slaves, masters and
His main argument in the speech is that it 's unjust and hypocritical for a country to celebrate its freedom while it still has slaves. Now that in itself is a morally viable argument, and it has never been more relevant than today in our racially hate fueled world where every situation is turned into a hate crime. However, back in those days majority of slaves were sold into slavery by their own people. Most slaves were sold by rival tribes as prisoners of war, or trouble makers of the tribe, thus giving us the “bottom of the barrel” of the groups. Another counter to Douglass was that even though slaves were people, they were still considered property. A hard working farmer could have used his last penny in order to purchase that slave because he was unable to tend his farm and provide for his family. One common misconception was that all slaves were beaten and treated lower than swine, while to the contrary some were treated well being given a bed and meals every day in exchange for their hard work. While Douglass may have had a bad time under the ownership of Auld, most northern states did not treat their slaves in this manner. This is one of the main reasons Douglass learned how to read, yet no credit is given to his former owner. Most slaves developed a relationship with their owners, in which their owners taught them useful skills such as reading, writing, simple math and farming skills. Another argument brought into Douglass’ speech was that most churches were segregated, and in turn perpetuated the racism that helped keep slavery alive in well. He proposed that a God that wouldn’t allow such evil and disservice in this world would contradict everything the bible proposes and teaches. He praises the writers of the constitution, considering them his equal and thanking the signers of the Declaration of Independence, calling