Question

"What, To a Slave, is the Fourth of July?"
by Frederick Douglass

This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!



What, to a Slave, is the Fourth of July?

Use the passage to answer the question.

Which theme does Douglass address through his reference to the Fourth of July?

(1 point)

the hypocrisy of slavery in a country built on freedom

the exceptionalism of America on the world stage

the moral necessity of the impending Civil War

the need to forgive those with whom you disagree

Answer 1

the hypocrisy of slavery in a country built on freedom

Douglass contrasts the nation's celebration of liberty with the continued bondage and suffering of enslaved people, calling the Fourth a "mockery" and "sacrilegious irony."