What To A Slave Is The Fourth Of July Analysis

“Fellow-citizens; above your nation's tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions!...” (Aufses, et al. 260). Frederick Douglas used this to open his “What, to a Slave, is the Fourth of July?” speech in an effort to describe the terror facing many slaves living in the United States. Eleven years prior, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his collection of essays, “Self-Reliance”, to teach others how to become self-reliant and further improve society. Just as Emerson had done fourteen years earlier and Douglas had done three years prior, Walt Whitman wrote and published his famous poetry, “Song of Myself”, to describe the wrongs with the individual person. Within the three works a common theme and idea is recurring, ways to self and communal improvement. Paragraph after paragraph and sonnet after sonnet the three works discuss the wrongs in society, the best course for improvement, and the reasons behind why the improvement is needed.
July 5th, 1851, Frederick Douglass delivered his four minute speech, “What, to a Slave, is the Fourth of July?” to a crowd in Rochester, New York. Included in this speech was Douglass’ opinions on the “hideous and revolting” (Aufses, et al. 260) conducts of the nation. Although Douglass does not directly state what needs to be done in order to fix a nation so reliant
The concept of bettering oneself and one’s society. Frederick Douglass explained why slavery was a horrid concept and no man should have to prove a man was man. Ralph Waldo Emerson elaborates on the need for self-reliance, to trust yourself more than anyone else. Walt Whitman describes the journey one takes to become your true self that will allow you to understand questions you previously were asking yourself. Within three different works, three different people were able to communicate the need to improve on yourself with something that would outlast