On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass, an African American former slave and abolitionist, delivered a speech in Rochester, New York, during the city's annual Fourth of July celebration, to the citizens of Rochester. Giving the people of Rochester just one day to immerse themselves in the "patriotic" Fourth of July festivities, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" challenges American ideals such as freedom, equality, and justice, providing arguments that examine the religious, moral, and constitutional principles that the American people claim to respect and glorify. Through rhetorical strategies such as repetition, pathos, and logos, Douglass exposes the paradoxical nature of the Fourth of July. To begin, Frederick Douglass uses repetition to place emphasis on his ideas. At the beginning of the speech, Douglass repeats the word “thine” to convey to the audience that African Americans do not have national independence and political freedom, and therefore cannot celebrate the Fourth of July. The repetition of “your” conveys his ideas to the audience by connecting his perspective of the holiday with their experience, depersonalizing the Fourth of July from African-American society. For example, Douglass states: “It is the birthday of your [emphasis mine] national Independence and your [emphasis mine] political freedom. This is for you what Easter was for the emancipated people of God. Cast your mind [emphasis mine] back to the day and act of your [emphasis mine] great deliverance...” By dissociating the nation's independence from itself, Douglass connotes the meaninglessness of the Fourth of July with the African American people, to let the public know that African-Americans are not...... middle of paper ......and to the public that the Bible adheres to the deserved emancipation and support of African-Americans, rather than slavery and oppression. For example, Douglass preaches: “A worship which may be conducted by persons who refuse to shelter the homeless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enforce obedience to a law which forbids these acts of mercy , is a curse, not a blessing for humanity. The Bible addresses all such people as 'scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, tithes of mint, anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of law, judgment, mercy, and faith.' Using Matthew 23:23 to assert that American Christians are rightly outraged, Douglass infers that if white Americans are truly Christians, they will obey the doctrines of the Bible and deny their duplicity by showing love and mercy toward blacks..