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1852
Speech
Antebellum Reform
"What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"
Frederick Douglass, Rochester
"This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn..."
About this source
Delivered July 5, 1852, to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, this speech praises the founders' courage while scorning a nation that celebrated independence while holding four million people in bondage. One of the most powerful critiques ever delivered in the Declaration's shadow.
Why it matters for the project
Douglass turns the founders' words into a fierce indictment of a nation celebrating liberty while enslaving millions.