Rich Lowry

Frederick Douglass gave one of the great July Fourth orations in American history. Speaking in Rochester, N.Y., in 1852, he hailed the accomplishments and ideals of the Founders, before denouncing the nation’s departures from the faith of the Declaration of Independence with the righteousness and fury of an Old Testament prophet.

Douglass is one of the nation’s greatest champions of freedom. The former slave fought for it for himself and for others, and in his speeches and writings left a record of devotion to liberty that will echo through all time.

In his youth as a slave on the Eastern Shor...