Question

Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?
Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs?

What effect is achieved by using a series of questions in this speech?

A. It conveys a sense of wonderment about the tenets of the Declaration of Independence.


B. It gets the audience to start thinking about whether the Declaration of Independence was beneficial for the slaves.


C. It makes the audience begin to resent the policies and practices of the US government.


D. It creates a parallel structure intended to urge the audience to protest against the Declaration of Independence.

Answer 1

Hey. 10th Grader speaking here. The last time I took an SAT Practice Test, I saw this passage of Frederick Douglass, and this exact question.
Personally speaking, I put 2., but I believe that it's between 2. and 3. You make the choice.
2. because a portion of slavery was removed from the Declaration of Independence, and the Declaration says that all men are "equal"
3. because the U.S Government did not take care of African Americans, and did not pay too much attention to the issue of slavery. Slavery is unethical, so some politicians where trying to say that, while some just ignored it.

Answer 2

Answer:

B. It gets the audience to start thinking about whether the Declaration of Independence was beneficial for the slaves.

Explanation:

The 1852 speech of Frederick Douglass's "What to the slave is the Fourth of July" is a criticism of the American people's incapability to acknowledge the real issue at home. They protested against the British's presence in American soil, got freedom and now they are celebrating it. But they also failed to accept the real situation within it's own people where the blacks are being kept under the slavery system. The very oppression that they are fighting against is what they are doing to the blacks, and that is the real issue they need to deal with.

From the excerpt of the speech he gave on the 5th of July, 1852, right after America's celebration of Independence, Douglass emphasized the issue of oppression and bondage that his people are still under. Though America may claim to be free, she also has to ensure the freedom of each and every individual, not just some parts of the society. He puts forward a series of questions in his argument to make the people see the real issue, but not from him. They will make the people question the motives and real basis of the Declaration of Independence.