Summary
Douglass declares that America is a nation of inconsistencies and incongruities, exemplified by the Church. He then turns his attention to the Constitution, imagining his critics who would argue that the Constitution upholds and endorses slavery in the United States. Douglass alludes to other scholars who have written at length on the subject before asking why, if the Constitution is meant to uphold slavery, the word "slavery" never actually appears in the document. The Constitution, Douglass says, is nothing if not a "glorious liberty document" (88).
Announcing that he already spoken too long, Douglass tells his audience that despite the state of things in America, he is hopeful for the future. He asserts that the abolition of slavery is imminent and inevitable, in part because the world is becoming increasingly more connected. Those who seek to perpetuate evil, Douglass says, will more easily be held accountable.
Douglass concludes his speech with a poem by William Lloyd Garrison. In the poem, the speaker imagines a world in which tyrants have been deposed and true liberty reigns. The speaker ends the poem by saying that they will never be deterred from their post and will continue to fight for this prospective world.
Analysis
The end of Douglass's speech addresses the last and likely most prominent argument for proponents of slavery: that the Constitution itself endorses the institution of slavery when interpreted a particular way. Douglass recognizes he must approach this subject delicately, as he does not (and indeed cannot) argue for only one interpretation of the Constitution. Instead, Douglass celebrates the fact that the Constitution allows for multiple interpretations; he sees this as another element of the founding fathers' commitments to liberty. Here, Douglass relies on another simple and straightforward argument: "Read its preamble," he says, "consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? or is it in the temple? It is neither" (88). Douglass's assertion that the Constitution cannot possibly be a license for slavery hinges on the fact that the words "slave," "slavery," and "slave-holder" do not appear anywhere within it. As such, Douglass addresses the most nuanced pro-slavery argument with the most straightforward rebuttal: the Constitution cannot endorse slavery without ever actually identifying it by name.
As the speech concludes, Douglass acknowledges that the state of America is bleak so long as slavery persists. But he makes a point to end on a message of hope. Douglass's hopeful conclusion is not, however, a blind or aspirational counter to the rest of his speech. Rather, Douglass's version of hope is much more pointed, and even possesses a threatening element to its realization. Douglass argues that the abolition of slavery is not only inevitable, but imminent, and largely because of increased globalization around the world. He associates slavery and its evils with an old way, with empires that have since "become unfashionable" (90). He also notes that evils like slavery can no longer persist in secret, as the increasing interconnectivity among nations means that those committing atrocities will be held accountable. Thus, when Douglass concludes his speech with the poem by William Lloyd Garrison, he is not only announcing that he, too, shares a vision of a liberated world, but that that liberated world—and thus the demise of tyranny, despotism, and slave-owners—has already begun to take shape.
