In his speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Frederick Douglass passionately argues that to the slave, and even to the freed African American, the Fourth of July is no more than a mockery of the grossest kind. Douglas uses many rhetorical strategies to convey his powerful emotions on the subject, and the end result is a very effectively argued point. <Tab/>Douglass begins by asking a series …showed first 75 words of 1103 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1103 total…to put a veil over with this mockery. While the blind rejoice, the oppressed are driven further into sadness. His speech is a calling, a calling for change. Change is all that America has to hope for, Douglass argues, for the obscenities of the past can not be undone, and the horror of the present must not go on. He calls for a cease to the damage, and for the exposure of the perpetrator: America.