1 Lopez-Peralta

Sergio Lopez-Peralta
ENGL-2010-040
Professor Doug Christensen
Rhetorical Analysis
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July
Fredrick Douglasss speech was delivered on July 5th, 1853 at
Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York before a large audience of proabolition members. Douglass seeks to persuade those of the abolition
movement to consider what was then thought of as the extreme
position of the abolition movement; that the white American was not
superior to the African American or more human and therefore entitled
to a specific set of rights. Douglass tries to persuade the reader
through an impressive display of evidence of knowledge of rhetoric,
history, literature, religion, economics, and law. He makes it clear to
the reader as it is stated in the summary of his speech that the
Fourth of July, though a day of celebration for white Americans, was
still a day of mourning for slaves and former slaves like himself,
because they were reminded of the unfulfilled promise of equal liberty
for all in the Declaration of Independence. In order for him to achieve
this he uses an impressive set of skills that create tension during his
speech. He lures the reader in and then flips what has been previously
thought of as his intentions throughout his speech. For the purposes of

2 Lopez-Peralta
this rhetorical analysis I will focus on how Douglass is able to clearly
create this tension only a few paragraphs into his speech.
In the first couple of paragraphs alone when Douglass is
introducing his speech he does a great job of creating tension. He sets
out to set himself up as a humbled individual when introducing himself
at the beginning of his speech. He praises their importance and claims
to be humbled by their importance, and the importance of the
occasion. He quails and shrinks before them. He goes so far as to
inform the audience that he distrusts his limited powers of speech.
This is in an effort to show his inability to deliver this speech before the
audience. But there is a contradiction in Douglasss presentation of
himself from the beginning, which creates tension. In the first
paragraph not only does Douglass describe his powers of speech as
limited, but he also maintains that he has limited experience in
exercising them. Yet interestingly enough in the next paragraph he
states:
for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this
beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their
presence. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I
think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from
embarrassment.
He states clearly now that he has delivered speeches many times to
many of the same people now sitting in the audience that day. The last

3 Lopez-Peralta
sentence in that statement But neither seeks to create tension by
establishing his authority as a speaker at this event but also integrate
himself with those of the audience using a sense of humility.
In the introduction alone he continues to create and establish
this tension between what was considered the level of intellect capable
by the African American by those in the room. His continues to play on
the notion that his powers of speech are limited by continuing to
assert this idea. He does so by stating that he has little experience
and less learning and yet uses the term exordium during his
introduction. This contradicts the very notion that he is uneducated or
has very little experience and learning as a term like this would require
rigorous study. This reveals with clarify the level of literacy and formal
vocabulary knowledge attainted by Douglass through rigorous study.
He goes on to continue to create tension by separating himself
from his audience members making it clear he has no association with
the celebration of the 4th of July. He states:
It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your
political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the
emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the
day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs,
and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. This
celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your

4 Lopez-Peralta
national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is
now 76 years old.
Did you catch what he was doing? By strategically emphasizing you
and your he places a distance between his audiences that cannot be
bridged. He makes it very clear that there is a gap between him and
the audience about how the audience feels when celebrating the fourth
of July, and how he feels and therefore how the African American feels
about I as well. The use of the word you vs we or I makes it clear
that he does not share the same views towards the Fourth of July and
cannot share the same attitudes and perspectives as those who are in
the room with him. He creates a gap of inequality. This is very
interesting as this contradicts the very first statement given by
Douglass when beginning this conversation when he uses the term
Fellow and Friends creating a sense of oneness and equality in
what he was about to talk about. Sharing that he in deed was an equal,
sharing a particular activity, quality, or condition with his audience.
This is a very interesting strategy that Douglass implements in order to
create tension.
In this very same section Douglass does a great job of creating
tension by likening the patriot (forefathers) to the reformer (antislavery supporter). He is able to use this strategy to create tension by
establishing a clear expectation for what this nation stands for or more

5 Lopez-Peralta
importantly what the patriots, as those in the audience would consider
themselves as such, stood for. He states:
The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashesbut his heart
may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and
that she [America] is still in the impressible stage of her
existence. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of
justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were
the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the
reformers brow heavier.
Douglass makes it very clear that that the patriots established a just
and wise nation built on truth. A nation who in his eyes would not
tolerate the bondage of the African American slave as those in the
audience currently do. He once again creates a distance between
himself and the audience as he did in the beginning and now more so
between the audience the fore fathers of the nation. By using the
metaphor of the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers
brow heavier, if the country were to be set in its ways, the reformer
who would want to change those ways, would be sad and so likewise
he infers that the patriot would be saddened for the very same reason.
When discussing the intended destiny of the nation he creates
tension in the idea that if American were to continue to allow slavery to
be a part of the nation it would in fact betray the ideals of the
Revolution and what the patriot stood for. He does this by

6 Lopez-Peralta
strategically using the word prophet in discussing the hope once
held by those who went before, making it clear that the forefathers had
a hope that would be shrouded in gloom and sorrow were the
nation be set in its ways.
He also makes it very clear in this statement that we should
rejoice in the idea that the nation is yet young and not older. He
uses this to point out to the audience that the nation is not set in its
ways and is susceptible to a reformers change. He creates tension by
making it clear that if the nation were to be older, it would be set in
its ways and thus not able to change. This creates a sense of urgency
in the matter, as he discuses the metaphor at the end of this section
using it to point out that the nation could be destroyed if nothing is
done to create this change.
This is but just the introduction to a very well written piece of
literature. Douglasss ability to create tension is outstanding. He
creates a distance between himself and his audience and once more in
the introduction he creates a distance between the audience and the
forefathers of the nation.
He is able to strategically create arguments and distance himself
from his audience in order to make it clear that he, or in other words
the African American Slave, does not share the same view towards the
Fourth of July as those of his audience. His command of the English
language makes it possible for him to deliver very powerfully the

7 Lopez-Peralta
injustice of what was going on during the time. He is able to create this
gap of inequality going on in the nation while still establishing a sense
of authority and presence with his audience throughout his speech.