How does "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" relate to the Declaration of Independence?

In "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Douglass contradicts the Declaration of Independence. He tells us that the declaration states that the United States is a free country, and this is what people celebrate on the Fourth of July. He also tells us that the declaration states that all men are born equal in the country, and that they have the same rights and privileges. However, he states that all of this is false when you look at the existence of slavery in the country, and how enslaved people have no rights and no privileges.

Douglass's speech proclaims that the treatment of African Americans directly contradicts the Declaration of Independence.

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