Abolition and Women’s Rights Movements, Part 1 – Flashcards

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?" Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Which best describes why this is an example of inductive reasoning?

What was most likely the author's immediate purpose in writing "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"

How does the speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" relate to American life during Douglass's time?

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?

Which group in nineteenth-century America would likely be the most receptive audience for "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?" When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man! What effect does the repetition of the word "when" have?

Which statement best explains why "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" is an example of inductive reasoning, as a whole?

Read the excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men! Based on the excerpt above, what was most likely true about this time in the nation's history?

Which line from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" supports Douglass's claim that the Fourth of July is not a cause worthy of celebration by all?

Read the excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? How does this rhetorical question contribute to the passage's central idea?

Read the excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? What do the rhetorical questions in the excerpt suggest?

Read the excerpt from "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. What is the effect of the repetition of "your"?

Which best describes the effect of the repetition of the word "I" throughout "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"

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?

What is the chief claim of "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"

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?