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This Fourth Of July Is Yours Not Mine Analysis

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Back in late 1840s and the early 1850s they were two major social movements in America with both slaves and women fighting against suffrage and advocating for equal rights. One of the crucial parts of one of these movements was in 1852 when Frederick Douglass a former fugitive slave gave a critical speech about the hypocrisy of America during independence day at a Rochester abolitionist meeting. During this speech he critically panned the very idea that Independence day has claiming it to be nothing but a hypocritical holiday meant only for the white men, he states “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 …show more content…

Right away they used such ideas of truths that would be self evident in the American ideology, “that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” but explain that even though these ideas are the general consensus in America they still and have been undergoing many constraints and limitations to their rights. Furthermore, describe their futile efforts in making a change declaring it nearly impossible to impose any change ”Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government.” For them men have deprived them of their rights by denying them education, creating false public sentiment with a code of morals, and closed “all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself.” As we can see, both movements relied heavily on using America's political ideas and imagery to point out hypocrisy and

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