Fourth Of July Oration Rhetorical Analysis

Frederick Douglass’ purpose of writing “Fourth of July Oration” was to show the failure of America not living up to it’s core of liberty for all men. Douglass focuses on the aspect that the Fourth of July celebration not able to truly be celebrated by all citizens. Some stylistics choices made by Douglass, I believe, made his piece successful. However there were choices he made weakening his argument.
The speech organization helps focus on the important points, establishing the issues with the Fourth of July celebration. By choosing religion and the Constitution as topics of focus, it brings the ability to argue about subjects that American society finds important. In fact, religion had a great effect on Americans during this time. This helped Douglass show how the belief of “inalienable rights” (40) from religion has enough importance that it
Starting off with the question “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” (39), the audience is already having to think what differences are there. A typical American of European descent, during this time period, would only see the glory of their nation being free on that day. I believe this helps shock the audience because of his response. Though no one would expect praise of the country, no one would expect Douglass to say the nation has “…swelling vanity…[and] brass fronted impudence…” (39). His answer does go into depth of his feelings for the injustice that’s taken place. The paragraph goes on, making it seem as a rant. This part it can cause a lost of interest in the audience.
The message of “Fourth of July Oration” continues on into the twenty-first century due to it’s success in being able to use his writing skill to intrigue the audience. The techniques of Frederick Douglass make his voice heard, continuously though time, even though he’s part of a minority that’s looked down upon during his