January 23, 2026

Why did Douglass challenge the statement in the Declaration of Independence that promised Americans life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Purpose and Background:

The Fourth of July originated as a way to help create an American Identity by providing a national holiday to honor our country’s freedom from British rule. Unfortunately, this freedom was not granted to all Americans as slavery was still alive and well in many states. In 1852, Frederick Douglass was asked to deliver a Fourth of July speech in Rochester, New York. Douglass began his remarks to a white audience by stating that this holiday “is yours, not mine.” Douglass stated that the day represented “the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom.” He believed that for African Americans, July Fourth simply showed the contradiction between American ideals of liberty and equality and the grim reality of slavery.

Prompt:

First, read this excerpt from Douglas’ Fourth of July Speech:

“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.”

Source: Frederick Douglass, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” (July 5, 1852).

Second, look at the first part of the Declaration of Independence

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.”

Instructions:

In his speech, Douglass denounces the celebration of the Fourth of July as hypocrisy in a nation that allows slavery. After reading the two selections above, think about the following quotes attributed to Douglas: