Douglass's Presence
Douglass perceives his very presence as ironic, as he was invited to speak to a large group of people about the Fourth of July. Douglass, a former slave, questions why his audience would think he could celebrate American independence with them at all, suggesting that he finds the invitation a mockery of freedom altogether.
The Fourth of July
Douglass is adamant that the celebration of American independence on the Fourth of July is the epitome of irony, especially for the American slave. At the same time American citizens celebrate the work their founding fathers did to secure their liberty, they allow and enable the existence of slavery in the present.
Slaves as Men
Douglass highlights the irony inherent to the argument that slaves are not men and can therefore be bought and sold as property. He explains that slaves must be considered men because there are too many laws in place to keep them from reading, writing, and participating in society like their white counterparts. Animals and objects, Douglass shows, are not beholden to such laws, and therefore the argument that slaves are not men is ironically dismantled by slave-owners' treatment of slaves.
The Church
Douglass finds deep-seated irony in the Christian Church, which he sees as the primary reason for the continued existence of slavery in America. Douglass argues that the Church's behavior in enabling slavery is fundamentally at odds with what the Church should be teaching—the words of Jesus Christ and the Christian concept of kindness for one's neighbor.
The Constitution
In addressing the pro-slavery argument about the Constitution—that it is a document meant to support and consecrate the existence of slavery in America—Douglass shows the irony of such an interpretation. He asks his audience how the Constitution can possibly be a pro-slavery document if the words "slave," "slave-owner," and "slavery" never actually appear in it. Here, Douglass asks his audience to think with common sense about a question that has become obscured by pro-slavery perceptions of government.
