How does Douglass's perspective change over My Bondage and My Freedom in chapter 17 (XVII: The Last Flogging)? How does this perspective carry over to "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"

In chapter 17 of Frederick Douglass's memoir, he describes an incident wherein, feeling bolstered by a "magic root" given to him by a kind friend, Sandy, he meets in the woods, he returns to Covey, a man who has abused him in the past. Douglass does not really believe in the power of the root, but his time in the woods with Sandy and his wife has made him feel connected to his other "brother in bondage," and it is in this spirit that he decides to resist when Covey, a white man, attempts to hurt him again. Where previously, a word from Covey could have made Douglass "tremble like a leaf in a storm," now he feels suddenly imbued with spirit, forgetting that he is black and Covey is white and experiencing the two of them, for the first time, as simply two men. It is evident, too, that Covey is afraid that he will not be able to win the battle, as he calls to various others for help and, ultimately, Douglass is able to overcome him. This has the effect of breaking Covey's hold over Douglass, but more importantly,


this battle with Mr. Covey,—undignified as it was, and as I fear my narration of it is—was the turning point in my "life as a slave." It rekindled in my breast the smouldering embers of liberty; it brought up my Baltimore dreams, and revived a sense of my own manhood. I was a changed being after that fight. I was nothing before; I WAS A MAN NOW. It recalled to life my crushed self-respect and my self-confidence, and inspired me with a renewed determination to be A FREEMAN.


Douglass is reminded that he is, indeed, a man and not a piece of property, and moreover, a man as strong as any white man. After this fight, Covey does not take Douglass to the authorities, which Douglass infers is because of embarrassment on Covey's part—he does not want others to know that he has been unable to control a black youth, who most would think "inferior." But to Douglass, this fight serves as a reminder that those who want their freedom must strike the first blow.

In "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" we see Douglass continue to use this understanding to power his rhetoric. First, he discusses the fact that, in order to gain their freedom, white Americans were forced to strike a blow against the home country, because "oppression makes a wise man mad." Douglass appreciates and approves of the behavior of the Founding Fathers, but questions why those in the audience would "drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty." Now with a strong belief in his own worthiness as a man, and in the right of the oppressed to seek liberty, Douglass feels it is hypocritical to expect "the negro" to feel in any way part of the Fourth of July celebrations. On the contrary, he feels that it is pure hypocrisy to celebrate a free nation and yet continue to oppress a significant black population within that nation.

Douglass argues that, in the way slaves are punished for severe crimes, there is already an acknowledgement that slaves are men, rather than animals or property:


There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man, (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!


In affirming "the equal manhood of the Negro race," Douglass enumerates the many ordinary pursuits a slave takes on in his or her lifetime as an example of how ridiculous it is to expect slaves to "prove that we are men." And yet, America has already declared that to enslave a man is wrong, yet maintains slavery on the pretense that black slaves are not men. Douglass's position points out the inherent hypocrisy in the system. His rhetoric—"it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder"—emphasizes his strength of conviction and the spirit of self-belief which first dawned upon Douglass on the day he fought with Covey, as detailed in his memoir.