In the speech ” What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” written by Frederick
Douglass what I believe that he is arguing is how white Americans are celebrating the birth of a nation but still seem to treat slaves less than humans. How although the nation’s fathers fought so hard for the independence of this country they still can’t separate what’s wrong from what is right and even if they do know how to separate it, they rather turn a blind eye.
Quote: “There are seventy-‐two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man, (no matter how ignorant he be,) subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment.”
Paraphrase : Just in the state of Virginia there are seventy-two crimes, if any of those crimes are committed by a black the consequence of the crime no matter how small will be death and to the white man only two of those crimes will result in death.
Response: This quote supports my interpretation of the text because it just comes to show how slaves wouldn’t even get a second chance, it’s like they know these men and women are replaceable so it doesn’t matter to them if they lose one or two of them because they know they could just get another one.
Quote: “What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may; I cannot. The time for such argument is past.”
Rephrase: Slavery isn’t divine and it’s not something god decided that should happen. These people are treating other people in inhumane ways which doesn’t make it divine. They can agrue that it’s divine but he will not.
Response: This second quote supports my interpretation of the text becasue at that time people relied heavily on God and made all there choices because they thought it’s what he wanted. The choice of slaverly was somehting that they thought was good but they are taking away the voice and freedom of people that they thought weren’t worthy enough of having simple rights. The idea of God was just an excuse for them to continue dehumanizing people just by the color of their skin.
Part 2
Quote: “What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters?”
This is one of the moments of Frederick Douglass’s writing that caught my attention. He seems to paint a clear picture of what the issue is but it also makes the audience rethink the choices they have made. It’s like he is persuading the audience to put themselves in the shoes of an American slaves. I found this useful because it’s like a very long question to the audience, it will definitely get them thinking.
Quote: “The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable—and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight.”
This is the second moment in Frederick Douglass’s writing that caught my attention because it was right in the beginning and when I first read it, it gave me a shock factor it’s almost like I could feel myself gasp but maybe for the auidence he was presenting for it didn’t feel the same. This was useful to me because it made me aware that I don’t have wait until the end to leave my audince in shock, maybe it will make them continue listening or reading what I have to say.
Excellent work here! You answered all part of the assignment and addressed exactly the questions I was asking!