blessings; rejoice; rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence; The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. -- Douglass laces his address liberally with pathos. He chooses words to feed the emotional fervor of his audience. They have gathered to celebrate their independence and he identifies that liberty as a blessing and a "rich inheritance." Since that freedom is the very reason they have gathered, they cannot deny its desirability.

He then contrasts that emotional high with the despairing lows suffered by the slaves. Their experiences are diametrically opposed. Where sunlight brings "life and healing" to white citizens, it brings "Stripes and death" to black slaves. The list of opposites continues. The Fourth of July is theirs, not his. His audience may rejoice, he must mourn.

Douglass brings the audience to an emotional celebration only to immediately strip them of that exuberance as he constructs and places them within the world of the slave. While the white citizenry may never know the physical abuse endured by the oppressed, Douglass attempts to recreate for them the crushed spirit of the black slave.