What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?Speech by Frederick Douglass

Introducing the Speechwith

Literary Analysis: Speech

Reading Skill: Evaluate Evidence

Vocabulary in Context

VIDEO TRAILER

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

INTRODUCING THE SPEECH

What does INDEPENDENCE mean to you?

In the United States, we celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July every year.

The holiday commemorates our independence from England and the birth of our nation.

But what does independence mean to you?

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Make a list of the things you can do or the ideas you can hold as an independent person.

What does INDEPENDENCE mean to you?INTRODUCING THE SPEECH

LIST IT

With a group, discuss what being independent means to students your age.

For example, perhaps to you independence means being able to choose your own friends or listen to music your parents might not enjoy.

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Maybe it means conquering a skill all on your own.

What does INDEPENDENCE mean to you?INTRODUCING THE SPEECH

Then consider what independence means in the larger sense—what does it mean to be free?

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Click on the title to play the trailer.

What to the Slave Is the

Fourth of July?

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? —Frederick Douglass

Speech

A speech is a talk or public address in which the speaker presents proposals, beliefs, or ideas.

In speeches, you will often encounter rhetorical questions—questions that do not require a reply.

Speech writers use these to prompt listeners to think about an issue or to suggest that the answer is obvious.

The blessings in which you this day rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. —Frederick Douglass

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Speech

As you read the following speech, notice how Frederick Douglass uses rhetorical questions and other rhetorical devices to stress his ideas.

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

CLAIM: The Fugitive Slave Law makes mercy to [escaped slaves] a crime and bribes the judge who tries them.

EVIDENCE: An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery . . . —Frederick Douglass

Evaluate Evidence

Distinguishing between a factual claim and a commonplace assertion will help you determine whether the evidence is adequate.

To evaluate an argument, you need to understand the writer’s claim and the evidence that supports it.

Fugitives on the Underground RR

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Evaluate Evidence

Students who clean their own school are less likely to litter or to vandalize school property.

• Factual claims are statements that can be proved by observation, an expert, or other reliable sources. They should not be accepted without evidence to back them up.

It’s wrong to make students clean the school.

• Opinions are statements of personal belief, feeling, or thoughts, which do not require proof.

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

Evaluate Evidence

• Commonplace assertions are statements that many people assume to be true but are not necessarily so. Generalizations about life or human nature often fall into this category.

One bad apple can spoil the bunch.

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

As you read Douglass’s speech, note examples of factual claims, commonplace assertions, and opinions. Then decide whether he provides enough evidence to be convincing.

Evaluate Evidence

Slaves are men.

OpinionsFactual Claims CommonplaceAssertions

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

disparity

entitled

fraud

grievous

prosperity

sham

In your Reader/Writer Notebook, write a sentence for each of the vocabulary words in the box on the right. Use a dictionary or the definitions on the following slide to help you.

1. Douglass gives examples of the disparity between the rights of enslaved and free Americans.

Sample sentence:

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

prosperity n. the condition of having success; flourishing

disparity n. the condition or fact of being unequal; difference

entitled v. given the right to have or do something

fraud n. a deception deliberately practiced to secure unfair or unlawful gain; a trick

grievous adj. causing grief, pain, or anguish

sham n. something false or empty that is presented as genuine; fake