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The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
A ring bolt is a small metal fixture on a ship that is used for hooking heavy loads. Within the context of his speech, Douglass focuses on the ring bolt as the solid foundation for the “chain” of American history.
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Ring Bolt Term Timeline in What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
The timeline below shows where the term Ring Bolt appears in What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Introduction
...Americans have benefited from this independence, and that the Fourth of July is “the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny.”
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Douglass encourages Americans to hold tightly onto their “ring-bolt” at whatever cost, as its principles will allow them to endure the coming storm, which...
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