July 4th: From Your Nation to Our Nation

“This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the Fourth of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852

This Fourth of July, Americans will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. On July 4, 1776, the American colonies declared their independence from King George III and the British Empire through the Declaration of Independence. Along with a detailed list of grievances justifying their separation from Britain, the founders penned words that would become the moral foundation of the American experiment:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

These words have inspired countless movements for freedom around the world. They are also why Frederick Douglass referred to the Declaration of Independence as a “GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT.” Contrary to the modern caricature that portrays the Founding Fathers as little more than hypocrites, Douglass openly admired their courage, wisdom, and willingness to sacrifice everything for the cause of liberty.

He said:

“The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too, great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.”

Those are not the words of a man who despised America. They are the words of a man who deeply believed in America’s founding principles and wanted the nation to live up to them.

One detail in Douglass’ famous speech has always stood out to me. Throughout his address, he repeatedly referred to America’s founders as “your fathers” and America as “your nation,” not “our fathers” or “our nation.”

That distinction was intentional.

Douglass had been born into slavery in Maryland around 1818. After escaping to freedom, he became one of America’s greatest orators, abolitionists, and moral voices. In 1852, he was invited to address the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York, during an Independence Day celebration.

Rather than offering a patriotic speech filled with celebration, Douglass confronted his audience with a painful question that became the title by which the speech is remembered:

“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?”

His answer was devastating.

He declared that Independence Day was “a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which many are the constant victims.” He continued by saying, “To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless... your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery.”

Douglass went even further, condemning America’s hypocrisy in some of the strongest language ever spoken by an American patriot:

“Your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy, a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”

Those are difficult words to read, but they were deserved. In 1852, America proclaimed liberty while nearly four million men, women, and children remained enslaved. Families were bought and sold. Human beings were treated as property. The same nation that declared all men were created equal continued to deny those rights to millions of people because of the color of their skin.

It is understandable why Douglass spoke of “your nation” rather than “our nation.” The promises so eloquently articulated in the Declaration of Independence had not yet been extended to everyone. The ideals were magnificent, but the nation had not fully lived up to them.

Yet Douglass never abandoned those ideals. Instead of rejecting the Declaration, he appealed to it. Instead of condemning the Constitution as irredeemable, he argued that Americans should finally apply their founding principles consistently. His criticism was not rooted in hatred for America but in hope for America.

History proved him right.

Eleven years after Douglass delivered that speech, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in the rebelling states to be free. The Civil War ultimately destroyed the institution of slavery, and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments laid the constitutional foundation for equal citizenship under the law. The struggle for civil rights would continue for another century, but America had begun the difficult process of bringing its practices into closer alignment with its principles.

Less than one hundred years after its founding, the nation took decisive steps toward fulfilling the promise that “all men are created equal.” It has not been a perfect journey, and no nation ever is. But it has been a remarkable one.

As a descendant of African slaves in America, I no longer speak of “your nation” or “your forefathers.” I proudly say “our nation” and “our forefathers.” Their triumphs are part of my inheritance, and so are their failures. The Declaration of Independence belongs to me just as much as it belongs to any other American because its principles have become the shared inheritance of every citizen.

This Independence Day, as we celebrate 250 years of American history, let us remember both the founders who boldly declared the self-evident truths of human equality and the generations of Americans who fought to ensure those truths applied to everyone. We honor the soldiers who defeated the British, the abolitionists who challenged slavery, the statesmen who preserved the Union, and the many who continued the work of perfecting our republic.

Most of all, let us give thanks to God for His providence over this nation. America’s greatness has never rested on the claim that we were perfect from the beginning. Our greatness lies in the enduring truths upon which we were founded and in the generations of Americans who have been willing to sacrifice so that the nation might more faithfully live according to them.

That is why, 250 years later, I celebrate not your nation, but my nation.