The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro (1852)
This is a great speech. Douglass' biographies are on my to-read list.<p>The Declaration of Independence was an important and powerful document. An oft-overlooked part is that it set the stage for the end of slavery, a world-wide phenomenon that encompasses known human history, around the world.<p>At the time of writing, it was more important to keep the country together than to end slavery, but just ~40 years after independence America ended the slave trade, and it was the new nation of the United States of America that freed all slaves less than 100 years after it's founding.<p>The founders of America truly had a great vision, and created the foundation of a radically new kind of country that beget the end of slavery in the developed world.