Blog #16/ Frederick Douglas "5th of July"

"5th of July" Speech

    In 1852, Frederick Douglas, a former slave made this speech in Rochester, NY. Frederick Douglas is responding to the celebration of Independence day, or Fourth of July. Prior to the Civil war, Independence day was taken differently by Blacks than Whites. Douglas felt this celebration was very hypocritical of the government, because America wasn't truly a free country. Although it was free from Britain and any other power, there was a major population who were not free, these people were the slaves. Douglas goes on to explain how the every day lives of the slaves, for lack of a better word, sucked. They were poorly treated by their owners and were really abused by them. Douglas's speech is significant because of his idea of a "5th of July", a new freedom for blacks, a time where blacks and whites can both be free. Douglas ends his speech by saying "There is not a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour." Abolitionist, along with other slaves, realized that America treated slavery differently, Americans based slavery on Race.