What to the Catholic is the Fourth of July?

On July 5, 1852, famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a speech in Rochester, New York, titled “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” In his address, Douglass praised the political philosophy at the heart of American assertions of individual liberty and possessive rights. He called these political theories “saving principles,” which Americans should celebrate as “the great first fact” in American history. As such, he admonished Americans to “stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.” The men who signed the Declaration of Independence “were statesmen, patriots and heroes,” he continued. “[A]nd for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.”