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2. The Internal Slave Trade
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Liberty vs. Slavery
Christianity and the American Church
Ideals vs. Practice
America’s Past, Present, and Future
Summary
Analysis
Douglass calls the Fugitive Slave Act a violation of “Christian Liberty” and condemns church authorities for refusing to condemn it. He theorizes that, if the legislation outlawed any of the ceremonies of Christianity, the church would immediately advocate for its repeal, with riot and schism following if the law remained. Following this logic, Douglass argues that the church only cares about going through the motions of Christianity, rather than abiding by its ideals of mercy and judgement. He states that a church that can carry out worship without caring for the weak ultimately harms humanity.
Douglass continues to focus on American hypocrisy as he turns his attention to the church. His claim that the church would riot at the banning of ceremonies suggests that the church authorities are not truly Christian, since they have not internalized Christian ideals. Thus, Douglass suggests that American Christianity is nothing but a hollow façade posing as a real religion.
Themes
