Slave/July 4th

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

• African Americans are excluded from public holidays.

• African Americans should not celebrate Independence Day until they have independence.

• He doesn't believe in the values of freedom and equality.

• The liberty that is celebrated has been denied to African Americans

When Douglass says he hears the "wails of millions," what is the "wail of millions" referring to?

• angry protest of African Americans

• suffering of enslaved people

• anger of slaveholders

• outrage of Northerners

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 U.S. participates in the evil crime upon which the nation was built.

• By engaging in slavery, the U.S. violates its original principles of equality and freedom.

• By celebrating freedom, the U.S. promises hope and an end to slavery.

• By celebrating freedom, the U.S. redeems itself despite slavery.

Which of the following best summarizes this quote:

"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."

• There is no argument that a slave is a man. The law proves it.

• The Bible supports that slavery is wrong.

• Only slaveholders can prove this.

• The nation does not see the contradiction of its values and its practices.

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

"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,”

• Slavery will end because slaveholders will lose their money.

• Slavery will end because slaveholders will be punished.

• Public awareness will lead to the end of slavery.

• Slavery will end because of the nation's principles and the abolitionist movement.

Which of the following supports the claim that slavery is an evil that goes against American values and principles?

• "I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary!"

• above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable

• 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

In which of the following quotations from Douglass’s Fourth of July speech does Douglass offer evidence to support his claim that enslaved persons are human beings who work and live, not brutes?

• To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty

• Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools...

• What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty...?

• To [the slave], your celebration [of the Fourth of July] is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license

Which of the following is a counterclaim (an argument that Douglass rebuts) addressed by Douglass in his Fourth of July speech? Refer to this passage for help.

That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition?

• The Fourth of July “belongs to” the free.

• Slavery is clearly an inexcusable practice.

• Slavery was established by religious law and is condoned by God.

• The Fourth of July is a holiday doomed to end.

Which of these best describes Douglass's purpose in delivering this speech?

• To inform the audience of the horrors of slavery by teling his story

• To entertain the audience with tales of folklore and mythology

• To persuade the audience to act more radically to end slavery by showing the toll that the national holiday takes on enslaved people.

According to Douglass, what is the Fourth of July a reminder to the slave?

• A reminder of what they can't have

• A holiday to celebrate freely

• A day full of fireworks and parties