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What to the American imprisoned is the Fourth of July?

By Douglas A. Berman

Upon Randy Barnett's astute suggestion, I celebrated the Fourth of July this morning by reading Frederick Douglass's famed Independence Day oration from 1852, which was titled "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?".  The speech is remarkable for many reasons; it is not only a wonderful reminder of the forceful antebellum moral arguments against slavery, but it is also a fitting condemnation of those who failed to condemn slavery as inconsistent with the ideals of liberty and freedom expressed in the Declaration of Independence and in the US Constitution. As Randy notes, historian Jonathan Bean in this piece at the National Review Online advocates for Douglass's themes to resonate through modern American politics.  As Bean puts it: [T]he words of the Sage of Anacostia remain not only relevant, but essential...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on July 04, 2009 (boomark / email).