The contexts in which the two speeches were made help evaluate their merits. Frederick Douglass delivered his speech a decade before the onset of the Civil War – a time when blacks did not even have the nominal status of freedom. An overwhelming majority of the community is slaves and led a harsh and laborious life. For this reason, Douglass declares, the Fourth of July is a day of celebration for ‘you’ (White Americans) and not ‘us’ (Black Americans). The condition of the black community in America has not seen any improvement in the eight decades of independence that has preceded the date of his speech. Douglass is quite right in feeling about his community this way. There is no reason for rejoicing for his community till they win civil rights on par with that of white Americans. Though Douglass was addressing a predominantly white audience, there were no major disruptions during the delivery of his speech. This is in part attributable to the rhetorical technique he employed. He first wins over the trust and confidence of his audience by talking about their merits and achievements. This way, the audience is accepting and attentive to what he is saying. Then he takes the oration to a different path, namely that of the plight of black Americans in relation to the freedoms enjoyed by white Americans: “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.” (Douglass, 1852) One of the reasons why Douglass’ tone is inoffensive is because he places facts before the audience in a matter of fact way. He doesn’t extrapolate or exaggerate anything to antagonize the audience. Instead, Douglass adopts a rational/logical tone while not forsaking passion and emotion in the delivery of the speech. The speech can be described as rationale due to the fact Douglass offers detailed deductions behind each of his assertions. He rightly claims at the beginning of his speech that all fair-minded and unprejudiced men will agree with him. Hence, we see the speaker’s attempt to respect the intelligence and judgment of his gentlemen audience. While giving importance to rationality, Douglass doesn’t sacrifice on emotional affect. He accomplishes this through use of apt imagery and lyrical construction of his sentences, as the following passage testifies:
“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 denunciations 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. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.” (Douglass, 1852)