Compare Frederick Douglass, “Fourth of July” with either Henry Highland Garnet, “An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America” or Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (excerpt) in terms of their treatment of the question of slavery and freedom in the United States: How do the writers define slavery? How do they define freedom? What is the relationship between the two?

During the nineteen century, many people have participated in the abolition of slavery. These figures of history have earned the title of heroes. They are not only because they succeeded in their protests, but also because they were among the first black people to stand up courageously and send a call to all slaves to claim their freedom and denounce the system in place. Henry Highland Garnet and Frederick Douglass are two examples, among many, of leaders in the abolitionist movements. These two personalities are both significant because they have lived the pre and post slave period. They knew what it was to be slave and also what it was to be free. In this paper, we will focus on a comparison of their speeches: “An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America” and “Fourth of July”. We will analyze how the two writers approach the system of slavery, freedom and the relationship between them.

From a first reading of Henry Garnet’s speech an as we can obviously guess from the title, “An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America,” the author here is speaking directly to the slaves. He starts his address by setting up a link between him and the slaves, this in order to have their trust and their attention. He calls them “Brethren and fellow citizens,” then he emphasizes the relationship between them by saying “many of you are bound to us, not only by the ties of common humanity, but we are connected by the more tender relations of parents, wives, husbands and sisters and friends.” This conjures up a feeling of a shared background and origin.