Test - Douglass - What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

In his Fourth of July speech, why does Douglass say to his audience that “The Fourth of July is yours, not mine”?

• He believes that, too often, African Americans such as himself are excluded from celebrations of public holidays.

• He believes that enslaved persons should not celebrate the Fourth until they have earned their freedom.

• He and others like him do not believe in some of the key values represented by the holiday.

• He contends that the liberty affirmed by the holiday has been denied to African Americans such as himself.

In his Fourth of July speech, Douglass says that “above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the wail of millions.” To what is he referring?

• the angry protest of African Americans against slavery

• the extensive sufferings of enslaved African Americans

• the anger of slaveholders opposed to slaves’ freedom

• the outrage of Northerners opposed to slavery

Which of the following best summarizes Douglass’s judgment of the “conduct of this nation” in his Fourth of July speech?

• By engaging in slavery, the United States commits a crime, revealing the evil principles on which it was founded.

• By engaging in slavery, the United States disgraces itself, violating the principles of independence it celebrates.

• By celebrating liberty, the United States offers hope, showing that it will free the slaves despite its mistreatment of them.

• By celebrating liberty, the United States redeems itself, showing that despite slavery, it still has good intentions.

A synonym is a word that means nearly the same as another word. Which of the following words is a synonym of stolid?

• unemotional

• unfriendly

• frightened

• narrow-minded

Part A: In his Fourth of July speech, Douglass asks, “Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man?” Why does he reject the idea that he must give this proof?

• He believes that if anyone should prove or disprove this claim, it is the slaveholders.

• He believes that the nation refuses to see the contradictions between its ideals and the practice of slavery.

• He believes that the rights of enslaved people are clearly supported by the Bible and the Constitution.

• He believes that even those who support slavery already admit that slaves are people.

Part B: In which quotation from the speech does Douglass offer evidence to support his point in Part A?

• To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.

• … I will, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce … everything that serves to perpetuate slavery.…

• The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding … the teaching of the slave to read or to write.

• … [A]m I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men … ?

Part A: Read the following quotation from Douglass’s Fourth of July speech.

- 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. …[However,] I do not despair … “The arm of the Lord is not shortened,” and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from “the Declaration of Independence,” the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age.

- Which answer choice best summarizes the view of the future expressed in the quotation?

• Slavery will end because slaveholders cannot afford to fight their opponents.

• Slavery will end because slaveholders will be punished due to their violations of religious principles.

• Slavery will eventually come to an end due to public awareness of its gruesome practices.

• Slavery will eventually come to an end due to the nation’s principles and the antislavery movement.

Part B: Which section of the passage best supports the answer to Part A?

• [D]rawing encouragement from “the Declaration of Independence,” … [and] American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age.

• 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. … [However,] I do not despair ….

• “The arm of the Lord is not shortened,” and the doom of slavery is certain.

• I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope.

Part A: Which of the following is a main or central claim that Douglass argues in his Fourth of July speech?

• Slavery is an evil that causes great suffering.

• Slavery is an evil that causes him to become outraged.

• Slavery is an evil that goes against American values.

• Slavery is an evil that is doomed to end in the near future.

Part B: In which quotation from the speech does Douglass most clearly present the claim identified in Part A?

• I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us.

• Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them.

• … I will, … in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce … everything that serves to perpetuate slavery.…

• … I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.