"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim...."See in text(Text of Douglass's Speech)
Having earlier stated the subject of his speech and his perspective on it, Douglass now answers his own rhetorical question. For freed blacks and slaves, the fourth of July is not a day of independence; rather, it is a day that highlights the hypocrisy, injustices, and cruelty of a nation that claims that “all men are created equal.” This serves as Douglass’s main argument in the essay, and the sections that follow all provide supporting evidence.
