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Freedom Isn't Free


"There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.” – Frederick Douglass

Seventy-six years after the very first July 4th had passed, Douglass gave a speech in Rochester New York at a period the country was ridden with tensions of abolitionists, and the slaveholding south.  He states, “To him, your celebration is a sham” for his people that are not free.  America was being incredibly hypocritical considering white men are busy celebrating their “freedom” while slaves are held captive in the same country that values the idea of freedom so greatly.  Douglass conveys this idea of realism while delivering his speech, as he is an African American man in front of white males.  Either if they are no longer in chains, or still are, they are not treated as citizens or human beings.  Frederick Douglass condemns the “scorching irony” of America for not being true to their principles.  In the fifth paragraph, he talks about the bible which is disregarded and trampled upon.  The bible condemns slavery, yet slaveowners wholeheartedly believe that is their God-given right to own slaves.  This proves Douglass’ point that freedom is not free, at least not for African Americans.

“The birth of the United States was unique because it was a nation founded not on blood or ethnicity, but ideas.”  It is extremely ironic, how the quote above completely erases and dismisses the founders’ own opinions on race, and how the founders of this country stole territories from others in such a savage and vile manner.

 Frederick Douglass talks mainly about slavery in his speech, but he gives out a point freedom is not free.  He employs many emotional factors in his speech that effectively gets his points across; such as guilt by making his audience see the hypocrisy of their 4th of July, but somehow the African Americans don’t deserve such freedom.     

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