TAA Passages Semester 2

As master and man stood before him, the black upholding the white, Captain Delano could not but bethink him of the beauty of that relationship which could present such a spectacle of fidelity on the one hand and confidence on the other.

Name: Benito Cereno Author: Herman Melville Passage: Captain Delano is admiring the relationship between Benito Cereno and Babo under the pretense that Babo is a loyal servant and Cereno his master. However, this is not true--Delano does not realize the true state of affairs. Story: This is important to the rest of the story because it is a little ironic that Captain Delano is thinking this. In reality Babo has enslaved Benito Cereno and Cereno and Babo do not have a nice, friendly relationship. In reality it is quite the opposite. This quote is important because it shows such a drastic change when the reader and Captain Delano find out what is really going on. 1855

The brain is wider than the sky, / For, put them side by side, / The one the other will include / With ease, and you beside. // The brain is deeper than the sea, / For, hold them, blue to blue, / The one the other will absorb, / As sponges, buckets do. // The brain is just the weight of God, / For, lift them, pound for pound, / And they will differ, if they do, / As syllable from sound.

Name: 126 (The brain - is wider than the sky) Author: Emily Dickinson Passage: This is the entire poem. The speaker is the speaker of the poem, who talks about conceptual knowledge as a theme. Literally talking about the brain and knowledge; the brain is a concept rather than an actual object. She is talking about how the brain holds so much and is so valuable. Story: The brain is the physical knowledge you have, which encompasses everything. The brain includes the sky (the brain is knowledge and knowledge is everything, therefore the brain is everything) because the sky is a concept, and knowledge encompasses all concepts. Similarly, the brain is deeper than the sea because it can 'absorb' all of the concepts and knowledge in it. Because the brain can comprehend God, it is a part of God (as a syllable is part of sound). published in 1896

And then a Plank in Reason, broke, / And I dropped down, and down - / And hit a World, at every plunge, / And Finished knowing - then -

Name: 340 (I Felt a Funeral, In my Brain) Author: Emily Dickinson Passage: Conclusion of the funeral (ending of the funeral), and the speaker is the speaker of the poem in past tense. Story:Loss of sanity as a plank in reason, and when it breaks she goes mad. The process of insanity as different worlds starting with the broken plank of reason and becoming more and more insane. The ending of this quote is ambiguous it could either end with loss of identity and complete insanity or it could end with and epiphany where she suddenly knows everything. published in 1896

Or rather - He passed us - The Dews drew quivering and chill - For only Gossamer, my Gown - My Tippet - only Tulle - / We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground - The Roff was scarcely visible - The Cornice - in the Ground - / Since then - 'tis Centuries - and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity -

Name: 479 (Because I could not stop for death) Author: Emily Dickinson Passage: This is the part of the poem where she reaches the house that is a swelling above the ground. This represents her grave. The speaker, possibly on a sort of "date" with death has exited the part if the poem where the world felt more real and gone into a sort of afterlife or death type of reality. Story: This poem walks through the entire process of death. First they go back in time and kind of her life "flashes before her eyes". Then she actually dies and this passage shows the part where she sees her grave. The speaker is dressed in light fabric, reminiscent of a wedding dress (reinforcing the idea of a courtship with death). After she "marries" death, she arrives at their house together (her grave, the "house that seemed a swelling of the ground." published after dickinson's death in 1890

Though I than He - may longer live / He longer must - than I - / For I have but the power to kill, / Without - the power to die -

Name: 764 (My Life had stood - a loaded gun) Author: Emily Dickinson Passage: The ambiguous ending to Dickinson's poem, which deals with anger and power. Story: does the owner of the gun or the gun have the power? or maybe its the victim's fault because they let death take them she was born in Amherst, Massachusetts

A Coffee-house is free to all Comers, so they have Humane shape, where a Liquor made of an Arabian Berry called Coffee is drunk. Six or seven years ago was it first brought into England, when the Palats of the English were as Fanatical, as their Brains. Like Apes, the English imitate all other people in their ridiculous Fashions. As Slaves they submit to the Customes even of Turky and India. Doth the French-man wear Feathers in his Hat, and Pantaloons to hide his stradling? Believe it, the English-man will be a la mode de France. With the Barbarous Indian he smoaks Tobacco. With the Turk he drinks Coffee.

Name: Athenian Mercury Author: The Athenian Society Passage: M.P. is making fun of England for mimicking other cultures. England appropriates too many cultures in this writer's opinion and coffee houses are the latest example of this. Story: M.P is afraid that english culture is losing what makes it distinctly english (though one may argue that cultural appropriation has grown to be part of it). --Afraid of a global culture, cultural diffusion --Afraid that the English will stop drinking Ale --People in coffee houses were reading the newspapers, debating about politics. It was a significant site for the new public sphere. --Radical, politicized spaces (he's not really worried about coffee as a drink; he's worried about what happens at a coffeehouse) --Nationalism, xenophobia John Dunton founded the Athenian Mercury periodical in 1691.

His attention had been drawn to a slumbering negress, partly disclosed through the lacework of some rigging, lying, with youthful limbs carelessly disposed, under the lee of the bulwarks, like a doe in the shade of a woodland rock. Sprawling at her lapped breasts, was her wide-awake fawn, stark naked, its black little body half lifted from the deck, crosswise with its dam's; its hands, like two paws, clambering upon her; its mouth and nose ineffectually rooting to get at the mark; and meantime giving a vexatious half-grunt, blending with the composed snore of the negress. The uncommon vigor of the child at length roused the mother. She started up, at a distance facing Captain Delano. But as if not at all concerned at the attitude in which she had been caught, delightedly she caught the child up, with maternal transports, covering it with kisses. There's naked nature, now; pure tenderness and love, thought Captain Delano, well pleased.

Name: Benito Cereno Author: Herman Melville Passage: Delano starts to see the slaves and understand them and he is put at ease by the innocence and tenderness of the slaves. Story: He does not see them as sophisticated and compares them to animals, primitive but non-threatening in an Uncle Tom sort of way. Delano is also sexist in that he expects male slaves to work and female slaves to be pure and love and raise children. 1855

There is something in the negro which, in a peculiar way, fits him for avocations about one's person. Most negroes are natural valets and hair-dressers; taking to the comb and brush congenially as to the castinets, and flourishing them apparently with almost equal satisfaction. There is, too, a smooth tact about them in this employment, with a marvelous, noiseless, gliding briskness, not ungraceful in its way, singularly pleasing to behold, and still more so to be the manipulated subject of. And above all is the great gift of good-humor. Not the mere grin or laugh is here meant. Those were unsuitable. But a certain easy cheerfulness, harmonious in every glance and gesture; as though God had set the whole negro to some pleasant tune.

Name: Benito Cereno Author: Herman Melville Passage: The acts and chores of the slave are being described in this passage. the slaves is usually a servant, and they are a very good one at that. Also they do it in such a joyful and harmonious way, almost like they are doing it to music. Story: blind racism, uncle tom stereotype (the blacks are perfect as being servants, they enjoy it, are good at it, meant to be servants) 1855

The body was burned to ashes; but for many days, the head, that hive of subtlety, fixed on a pole in the Plaza, met, unabashed, the gaze of the whites; and across the Plaza looked towards St. Bartholomew's church, in whose vaults slept then, as now, the recovered bones of Aranda: and across the Rimac bridge looked towards the monastery, on Mount Agonia without; where, three months after being dismissed by the court, Benito Cereno, borne on the bier, did, indeed, follow his leader.

Name: Benito Cereno Author: Herman Melville Passage: The last sentence of the novel. Babo has died and three months later Benito Cereno dies as well. The speaker is the narrator of the story. Story:Cereno ends up unable to escape the fate of continuing his leader, in this case, through death. In addition to this, Babo dies because he does not follow the original leader Aranda, as does Cereno when he does not follow Babo. Babo says "Follow your leader (me?)" or you will end up following your original leader, Aranda, in death. Essentially, you will die if you don't follow your leader. Babo dies because he didn't follow the original leader (Aranda, the slave owner), yet because he died he ends up following his leader (in death--both died). Benito Cereno didn't follow Babo (his leader), so he died, but in doing so he follows his leader in death (both died). This seems to be a set of paradoxes. Whether you believe that the "leader" that Benito followed by dying was Babo or Don Amasa, Melville uses this scene to ensure that the only outcome of slavery was death. 1855

[My] reason teaches me that land cannot be sold. The Great Spirit gave it to his children to live upon, and cultivate, as far as is necessary for their subsistence; and so long as they occupy and cultivate it, they have the right to the soil - but if they voluntarily leave it, then any other people have a right to settle upon it. Nothing can be sold, but such things as can be carried away.

Name: Black Hawk Author: Black Hawk Passage: This passage is talking about how Black Hawk does not believe in selling land. He thinks that the land was given to his people, the native americans, for cultivating and living and as long as the natives live there, the land is theirs. If the indians leave, then anyone has the right to settle there. But no matter what the land can not be sold. The land belongs to whoever is occupying it. Story: This story talks about how the europeans are taking the land of the native americans and how this is wrong. Black hawk is trying to get people to revolt or understand that this is wrong (?). This passage is making the point that no one has the right to take land from another people unless the person leaves the land voluntarily. He is using this as a point to show how wrong the europeans are. published 1833

But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.

Name: Common Sense Author: Thomas Paine Passage: This passage is saying that many people who are not convinced that they should leave England say that they should not leave because England is their parent country. Paine is saying that this is an unreasonable excuse because England has treated its people so horribly. Paine is saying that England is worse than brutes or savages. America is the place where people can go to be free and Paine believes that in reality Europe is the parent country and that England is the monster. The colonists are really just fleeing the monster. Story: This is significant to the rest of the passage because Common Sense is a document that explains how it is common sense to leave England and come to the new world. This passage is some of the evidence that Paine has to support his position. He is taking a complaint from people and showing them why they should not be concerned with this fact. This passage adds to the overall argument and makes Paine's point even more convincing. 1776

We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Name: Declaration of Independence Author: Thomas Jefferson Passage: In this passage, Jefferson is stating at all men are the same, or equal, and that they are free. Also he is saying that men were given certain rights, by god, and that these are the rights to freedom and happiness. Story: The Declaration of Independence is a document that declares the independence of the united states from England. This passage is important because the colonists believed that in England they were not free and were not given their rights. By stating this sentence, Jefferson is saying that America will be different from in England in the fact that they won't deny their citizens their god-given rights of freedom and happiness. 1776

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Name: Declaration of Independence Author: Thomas Jefferson Passage: This is saying that when a colony wants to become independent from their country of origin, they have the right to do so, but it is respectful to explain why they are doing so. In this case the colonies are declaring independence from England and they are going to the list the reasons for their actions. Story:The Declaration of Independence is filled with the colonists complaints of England and the reasons for their separation. This passage is a kind of introduction that sets the stage for the declaration. They are stating that they are going to list their reasons and then they proceed to list their reasons. 1776

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government.

Name: Declaration of Independence Author: Thomas Jefferson Passage: This passage is stating that the u.s. government will give its citizens their god-given rights and also that if the government refuses to give them their rights they have the right to over throw the government. When the government begins to abuse their power, the people have the right to abolish it or alter it. Story: The Declaration of Independence is a document that declares the independence of the united states from England. The colonists feel like that when they lived in England they began to think that the king was abusing his power, they were helpless and the only thing to do was leave. Jefferson wants to make sure that the colonists don't ever feel this way so he added this passage in to the declaration. The Declaration of Independence is filled with the colonists complaints of England, and this is just adds to the argument that the colonists have against England. 1776

Why does the slave ever love? Why allow the tendrils of the heard to twine around objects which may at any moment be wrenched away by the hand of violence? When separations come by the hand of death, the pious soul can bow in resignation, and say, "Not my will, but thine be done, O Lord!" But when the ruthless hand of man strikes the blow, regardless of the misery he causes, it is hard to be submissive.

Name: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Author: Harriet Jacobs Passage: she is saying that as a slave it is horrible to fall in love because your love can be ripped from you at any second. They can be killed or just forcefully made to stay away. It is horrible because some other white man can decide whether or not you are allowed to see or be with the love the of your life. Story: This story tells about all the horrible things that Jacobs went through as a slave. This fact about love just adds to the hardships of slavery and shows how cruel it is. 1861

The American man is a new man, who acts upon principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions. From involuntary idleness, servile dependence, penury, and useless labour, he has passed the toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence. This is an American.

Name: Letter 3 of Letters from an American Farmer Author: J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur Passage: This passage is saying that the American man is new and is able to create himself and forge his own path. In England they were forced to be dependent and idle and they were used as useless labor. In America it is much different and the Americans are independent and care for themselves. Story: This passage is very important to the rest of the story because Letters from an American Farmer is a document that states all of the bad things about England and all of the good things about America. This passage is reinforcing the point that America is much better than England because the people can be themselves and can be dependent. published in 1782

I was not allowed to visit her during any part of her long illness; nor did I see her for a long time before she was taken ill and died. The heartless and ghastly form of slavery rises between mother and child, even at the bed of death.

Name: My Bondage and My Freedom Author: Frederick Douglass Passage: He only saw his mother very rarely and did not see her at all during her illness. then she died. Slavery took away his relationship with his mother. Story: This story is talking about how slavery is horrible and how it denies people the rights to do things, like have a real family. this is emphasizing this fact because it shows how he never got to see his mother before she died or even try to get to know her. published 1855

Brothers and sisters were by blood; but slavery had made us strangers. I heard the words brother and sisters, and knew they must mean something; but slavery had robbed these terms of their true meaning.

Name: My Bondage and My Freedom Author: Frederick Douglass Passage: slaves don't even know their siblings or what it means to have a sibling because of slavery. Story: he is saying that slavery is a horrible thing and denies them of so many parts of life. Never knowing their siblings is the after math of slavery and is another one of the horrible effects of slavery. 1855

But it has been left to the courts of justice, so-called—to the Supreme Court of the land—and, as you all know, recognizing no authority but the Constitution

Name: Slavery in Massachusetts Author: Henry Thoreau Passage: Since all branches of government has failed to end slavery, even the courts, which are meant to provide justice, the government is not reliable. Story: Thoreau argues that the each of the branches of government have failed to end slavery. Even the courts, which are supposed to uphold justice, have not ended the unjust slavery. The people cannot rely on the government to end slavery; they must take action. ("The law will never make men free, it is men who must make men free.") delivered in 1854

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes, / I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it, / The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it. / The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless, / It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it, / I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked, / I am mad for it to be in contact with me.

Name: Song of Myself Stanza 2 Author: Walt Whitman Passage: Whitman's ideas of going into nature instead of being inside of a perfumed, artificial room, whereas nature is real. Story: As a metaphor for life, perfume of artificial while nature is clean and real. Perfume is not necessarily unlikable but is tempting (similar to coffeehouses in terms of gossip). Whitman is stuck in an artificial world of civilization while all he wants to do is be in nature. There are several parallels with this passage and other texts in the course: Walden, nature is reality, and a craving for simplicity is associated with it. In terms of the artificial world, this could parallel with coffeehouses because of the temptation to participate in the gossip and juicy news that each day in civilization holds. published in 1855

How can you hope, encumbered as you are, to succeed in your design? Go down to the foot of the mountain, throw away your gun, your ammunition, your provisions, and your clothing; wash yourself in the stream which flows there, and you will then be prepared to stand before the Master of Life.'

Name: Speech at Detroit Author: Pontiac Passage: He should rid himself of his guns and european goods so he can make it up the mountain and meet the master of life. Story: The speech is trying to convince the indians to rid themselves the Europeans, especially the English, and their goods. this passage is making the point that he needs to remove them in order to see the master of life and that until they rid themselves of the europeans the master of life won't be proud of them and happy with them. This convinces the indians of pontiac's overall argument that they will be better off without the europeans. given in 1763

In this Piece, it was my Design to explain and enforce this Doctrine, that vicious Actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but forbidden because they are hurtful, the Nature of Man alone consider'd: That it was therefore every one's Interest to be virtuous, who wish'd to be happy even in this World.

Name: The Autobiography Author: Benjamin Franklin Passage: He is talking about how it is important to follow the rules and you should follow rules because they are rules Story: In his autobiography Franklin talks about how it is important to be a good person and how this will make society better. part of being a good person is following the rules and the laws and when people adhere to rules and laws society is happy and peaceful. published in 1791

It could never be more truly said than of the first remedy, that it is worse then the disease. Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly to abolish liberty which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.

Name: The Federalist No. 10 Author: James Madison Passage: He is using an analogy to say that one cannot prevent factions from occurring. Story: -This is an "in-between" part of his argument, leading to his eventual idea that we need to ratify the Constitution and form a large republic (which will help to limit the effects of factions) --Here he is showing that factions (although bad) are still necessary (because they are an inevitable consequence of human nature + freedom) --You need liberty even though it creates factions --Liberty is to factions as air is to fire; liberty/air "feed" the fire and allow it to grow. Fire/factions can be destructive and dangerous if they go unchecked. --Could include a definition of "faction" here to bolster one's answer. Factions: a group that acts according to its own interests (even if they sometimes can work against the interests or rights of other groups) --Factions can act as tyrants tyranny of the minority tyranny of the majority --Putting factions to work against each other --Have a large republic Date and Special Information: His essays originally appeared anonymously in New York newspapers in 1787 and 1788 under the pen name "Publius."

In spite of all the learned have said, I still my old opinion keep; The posture, that we give the dead, Points out the soul's eternal sleep. Not so the ancients of these lands— The Indian, when from life released, Again is seated with his friends, And shares again the joyous feast.

Name: The Indian Burying Ground Author: Phillip Freneau Passage: This is from the beginning of Freneau's poem, where he continues to compare and contrast the English burial customs to those of the Native Americans. He goes on to elaborate about what happens to the Indians after burial. (haunting) Story: This shows that when someone is buried laying down, it symbolizes that they are done with their life, and therefore, are in an eternal sleep. The way in which someone is buried denotes each culture's belief in what happens to them after they pass away. This emphasizes how the Indian burial customs are different from those of the English. Here, Freneau shows that when the Indians end their lives, they actually continue on, and are reunited in a different kind of world. Part of what is so significant about this is the way Freneau compliments the natives customs but still makes sure to state his preference for the way that Europeans bury their dead. This passage implies the idea that the Indians' history is buried in the landscape. published in 1788

That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

Name: Virginia Declaration of Rights Author: George Mason Passage: The opening lines describe the rights and protection of rights of Virginians. Story: - Connects Indian ideas of land and natural rights along with the social contract in addition to the role of property in these rights. - It is a reinstatement of the Declaration of Independence adopted in 1776

That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants and at all times amenable to them.

Name: Virginia Declaration of Rights Author: George Mason Passage: shows the purpose of the government as being a servant and not a master of the people. Story: Drawing on Locke's concept of social contract in terms of safety. Government should protect its people, and when the contract is broken it requires a new government (such as in the Declaration of Independence). The Declaration of Independence draws from the ideas of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Especially this point where the government should be a servant for its people and in the Declaration of Independence it is shown and said that the people have become a servant for the government which is the main reason they state for breaking off from the king. 1776

The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face? We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.

Name: Walden, or Life in the Woods Author: Henry Thoreau Passage: Thoreau is saying that all men are mentally awake enough to do labor, but very, very few are mentally awake enough to think intellectually or to have a poetic or divine life. He believes that to be awake is to be alive and almost everyone is basically sleeping through their lives without really thinking. He thinks that we need to be awakened and keep ourselves awake by things like waiting for the sun to rise, an event which will never fail to disappoint, and not by machines or other mechanical tools. Story: In Walden, Thoreau discusses his complaints about the rest of the society and the people that live in the town. They are boring and are obsessed with frivolous things. He believes that none of them are really awake to an intellectual manner of thinking. Thoreau believes that he is open to more intellectual thinking because he lives alone in the woods. This passage just adds to Thoreau's point that society is practically mentally dead, but doing natural things, like watching the sun rise and learning from the woods can awaken us. published in 1854

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary... For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

Name: Walden, or Life in the Woods Author: Henry Thoreau Passage: Thoreau is saying that living life in the woods is the only way to live life in a real and natural way. he wanted the woods to teach him everything that he could about life and he believes that the people that live in town are not truly living life. Story: Walden is a passage that Thoreau wrote to show that the way that he lives, naturally and alone in the woods, is the best way to live. The fact that living in the town is a fake existence and that living in the woods teaches one the true essential facts of life, fuels Thoreau's argument that living in the woods is the best and only real way to live. 1854

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. 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 understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

Name: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July Author: Frederick Douglass Passage: He is asking if they want him to argue that man is entitled to freedom and celebrate this holiday. He thinks that this would be ridiculous because he was and many men still are not entitled to their own freedom and bodies because they are enslaved. Then he says that all men know that slavery is wrong. Story: he is saying that how the can the slave celebrate the fourth of July, a holiday of freedom and independence, when the slaves are not free and the new land of the free is not really free because they have enslaved so many people. He is showing how it would be absurd for him to argue that this a holiday of freedom because he was for many years and many people still are enslaved and not free. speech given in 1852 in rochester to the ladies' anti-slavery society

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation (Babylon) whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin.

Name: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July Author: Frederick Douglass Passage: because now the americans are so free it shows so much of a gap between them and the slaves. the freedom of the americans has just brought slavery and death to the african americans. This holiday is really only for the colonists, not all of the residents of america. he thinks it is rude and mockery that they asked him to speak. Story: he is saying that how the can the slave celebrate the fourth of July, a holiday of freedom and independence, when the slaves are not free and the new land of the free is not really free because they have enslaved so many people. He is saying all of these points to show the americans that the fourth of July is not entirely a holiday of freedom and is not a holiday at all for africans. speech given in 1852 in rochester to the ladies' anti-slavery society