Douglass begins his speech by addressing the white American citizens and asking them what their national independence has to do with him and what his and other black Americans' independence has to do with the white Americans. In using this rhetoric, he is trying to get the audience to start thinking about these questions and the answers to them. He goes on to say that their freedom, rights and independence further divides the two races. This makes sense to "white America" because the white people are generally better off then many of the African-American people in the United States, especially slaves. Douglas gives the audience a type of guilt trip because he really makes them think about the way other people, such as slaves, are being treated. He concludes his speech by stating that "... we are called upon to prove that we are men!" and this goes on to highlight the mistreatment and oppression that slaves have to deal with every single day.
Another group that was overlooked during a lot of the same times as African-Americans were overlooked, and even after that, were women. This picture shows a fight for equality that was similar to that of slaves, and then later on oppressed African-Americans. Both groups fought for their rights, rights that were supposedly the simplest rights of all that they were supposed to have as American citizens.
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