America was founded on freedom and equality. Americans were given rights that they were entitled to. Many people argue whether freedom is actually granted to everyone. Frederick Douglass argues that slaves are not free or given the rights that everyone else has as Americans. In his speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” he claims that the United States cannot consider itself a free country if all its people are not actually free. Similarly, Elizabeth Cady Stanton argues the point of women’s equality in part of her speech from the Declaration of Sentiments of the Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention. Women were not treated as equally as the men were. By comparing and contrasting Douglass’s and Stanton’s speeches it is clear that …show more content…
He is talking from the point of view of the slaves, and he starts his speech by saying, “It is the birthday of your National Independence, and your political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God” (Douglass 1). By saying your instead of our shows that he does not think slaves have national independence or political freedom. He also appeals to the audience by using religious examples because many people at that time in history were religious. An example of this is when he says, “To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world” (Douglass 3). He uses the word God to get the audience's attention since they are religious people and would then listen more to what Douglass has to say. He makes another point about slaves that were not granted freedom. He states, “The rich …show more content…
In her speech, she gives many examples of how they are treated unequally. She is talking about marriage inequality when she says, “He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead” (Stanton 113). Women were compelled to promise obedience to her husband and give him the power to deprive her of liberty. This is similar to what Douglass said about the slaves. Even though they lived in the United States where liberty and freedom were promised, they were not granted the same rights. Stanton also talks about how women were not allowed to go to college and further their education. She says, “He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed against her” (Stanton 113). This is different than the points that Douglass makes. Stanton obviously thinks this is an important issue and wants education equality. However, Douglass mainly argues the points of freedom and liberty. One of Stanton’s last points is about women’s self image. “He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and object life” (Stanton 113). Women were treated in a way that destroyed their self worth and wanted to make them feel alone and hopeless. This is comparable to the way slaves were treated. People wanted them to feel worthless and like their