What is the chief claim of "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Which group in nineteenth-century America would likely be the most receptive audience for "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
In "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”, Douglass refers to the Declaration of Independence. Which of the following best describes the historical significance of this reference?
Read the excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.How does the repetition of the word “must” affect the tone of the piece?
Read the excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?".But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, “It is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, and denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed.” But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it.Which statement best explains why this is an example of a counterclaim by Douglass?
Which best describes the effect of the repetition of the word “I” throughout "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
How does the speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” relate to life in the United States during Douglass’s time?
What was most likely the author’s immediate purpose in writing "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Which excerpt is a counterclaim in "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Read the excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation’s sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation’s jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the “lame man leap as an hart.”Which statement best describes why this excerpt contains an example of deductive reasoning?
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