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5. Religion in England and Religion in America
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 turns to refuting the argument that slavery is sanctioned by the U.S. Constitution. He claims that this belief turns the Founding Fathers into hypocrites and refuses to abide by it. While he does not wish to get into the specific constitutional arguments around slavery, he cites multiple scholars who he claims have completely disproven the argument that the Constitution supports slavery. He calls the Constitution a “glorious freedom document” and points out that the words “slavery,” “slaveholding,” and “slave” do not appear in the Constitution’s preamble.
Although Douglass does not delve too deeply into the constitutional arguments regarding slavery, he makes a few simple points in order to sway the audience away from viewing the Constitution as a pro-slavery document. He points out that the Constitution does not mention slavery—an observation that is meant to appeal to the audience’s common sense by suggesting that any attempt to paint the Constitution as pro-slavery is inherently twisting its words.
Themes
Douglass also asserts that the Constitution is a plain language document meant to be accessible to the average citizen without legal training, and therefore rejects the idea that the constitutional question of slavery should not be debated by the public. He states that all Americans have a right to form an opinion about the Constitution and that doing so empowers them as citizens. Within this framework, Douglass challenges the audience to find a pro-slavery clause in the Constitution that is based off of a common-sense reading of it.
Douglass continues with his common-sense approach to the Constitution. Rather than giving into complicated semantic arguments surrounding the Constitution’s language, Douglass encourages the audience to form their own opinions of the Constitution. The implication is that he is confident that, if the audience members assess the Constitution for themselves, they will come to agree with him.
Themes
In concluding his speech, Douglass tells his audience that, despite the negative tone of his speech, he has hope for America. His two main reasons for this hope are the strong principles of liberty the country was founded on, as well as the world’s increasing globalization, which he believes will unite the oppressed of the world and allow them to prevail. In closing, he recites William Lloyd Garrison’s poem “The Triumph of Freedom.”
Although Douglass’s tone has been scathing throughout the speech, he chooses to close by instilling hope in his audience. The poem he recites, by fellow abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, envisions a future in which nobody is oppressed and everyone is equal. By ending on this optimistic note, Douglass empowers the audience to look towards the future themselves and fight for abolition, even in spite of the dire state of present-day America.
Themes
