Frederick Douglass: July 5, 1852: "Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I representdo with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions!"
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