The thirteenth amendment freed African American people from slavery, and the nineteenth amendment gave women the right to vote; but that doesn’t mean these people still have the same amount of freedom as others. However free some may seem, every race and gender is still restrained by the same discriminatory shackles that held back their ancestors many years ago. Contrary to popular belief, the civil liberties of the United States have not been solved; and although some citizens would disagree, the act of forgetting previous experiences on how the nation was built, misusing the rights people are given, and treating other ethnicities or genders as inferiors, would prove otherwise.
Although America has highly improved on civil liberties by imposing amendments such as the 13th and the 19th;
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He explains how within this celebration, the American people assume that everyone should celebrate, but they forget the harsh nature that caused the celebration to occur. “To pass lightly over [the] wrongs” the white population did to the blacks “would be treason” and would “make [him] reproach before God” (Source C). Douglas predicts that most of the American population had forgotten the struggle of slavery, and thrown that piece of history to the side in order to celebrate their hopes becoming truth. Yet, throughout his speech, Douglas reminds the people of the harsh punishments the African American people had to endure, and how in order to make happiness rise, America simply pushed the truth to the side. Within modern society, the population is forgetting the past that they so dearly praise. They only remember the good, the faith, and the winning of wars. They forget the punishments, death, and hardships that came with slavery; and with this forgetfulness, the population has begun to make the same