Which Douglass Refuses to Make
- Here's an interesting rhetorical trick: Douglass spends about two-thirds of the speech making arguments he says he's not making because the conclusions are so obvious. He's saying his listeners are real dummies if they can't see that he's right without his having to explain it.
- However, in the process of declaring all the reasons why he's not going to make those arguments, he ends up making those arguments.
- But before he starts not making arguments, says Douglass, he knows he's talking to abolitionists. He gets that he's preaching to the choir, but said choir is not getting the job done.
- First, Douglass asks if people have a hard time understanding that slaves are human. Douglass doesn't think that can be the case because all the laws show that people do understand that slaves are human.
- Then, Douglass wonders if he's supposed to argue that freedom is a right. He hopes his listeners can understand why it would be nuts for him to argue that at a Fourth of July party.
- Do you want him to talk about how badly slaves are treated? Well, he feels like everyone already knows that.
- Oh, wait, maybe he should argue that God doesn't like slavery. Well, obviously.