User:Jaredscribe/Declarations of Independence

Declaration of Independence (wkpd article)

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech asking the question What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? (wkpd article) Douglass said that the fathers of the nation were great statesmen, and that the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence were "saving principles", and the "ringbolt of your nations destiny". Nevertheless, he maintained that slaves owed nothing to and had no positive feelings towards the founding of the United States. He faulted America for utter hypocrisy and betrayal of those values in maintaining the institution of slavery.