Throughout the whole speech” What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass. He seems to be arguing about white Americans celebrating the birth of a nation but still does seem to treat slaves less than showing they have no worth. Even though the nation’s fathers fought so hard for the independence of this country they still do not want to separate what’s wrong from what is right, 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 : In the state of Virginia there are seventy-two crimes, when any of the crimes are committed by the black man, he will have the punishment if the death, no matter what. If a white man commits only two if those crimes the white man has the death penalty. 

Response: This quote supports my interpretation of the text because it shows that slaves wouldn’t even get a second chance, to them these slaves are replaceable so it doesn’t matter to them if they do die they can just get another salve.

Quote: “Were the nation older, the patriot’s heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in thought, that America is young-”.

Paraphrase: Douglass is comparing an older nation to the new one that has become, at this time period, America.

Response: In this time, America had only been put together for seventy six years, this was following the behavior of the British. Even though the British did not give them proper rights, they noticed how they had control over everything of the revolution. American leaders would adapt to this plan. The Americans wanted to use it to control and manipulate the slaves. Douglass had hope in the people that there can still be a change, America needed time to grow for an equal democracy.

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?”

Effectiveness:This is one of the quote’s throughout the speech that caught my eye only because he paints a clear picture of what the issue is in my mind. It also makes the audience rethink the choices they made during it. He is persuading the audience to put themselves in the shoes of an American slaves and try to understand what they went through. It is like a very long question to the audience and it made me think harder about this.

Quote: “Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms” 

Effectiveness: In this strategy it is effective because it places the readers mind in a world where this is going on around them, and it allows the reader to fully understand his argument towards this.