LAD #16: "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?"

On the 4th of July, 1852, former slave turned abolitionist Frederick Douglass presented a speech titled "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?"  In it he describes how he can not celebrate Independence Day alongside the rest of the country because he's not included in it.  Douglass says he cannot celebrate the liberty, justice and prosperity because he does not have these things.  This day only exemplifies how much of a difference there is between blacks and whites.  Therefore, he mourns on this day.  He then goes on to declare that the nation is hypocritical and wrong for celebrating this day as millions of people in America are enslaved.  He is disgusted by this, and is blunt and to the point in saying that Americans are going against the Declaration of Independence and the Bible in not treating all equal.  He is ashamed that blacks have to prove they too are men, as they do all of the same things in expanding the nation as whites do.  Through the eyes of a slave, he describes this day as unjust and cruel, looking down on whites for rejoicing in festivities.