What is the chief claim of what to the slave is the fourth of july?” black people deserve equal treatment and status in the united states. slavery is unconstitutional, and it should be abolished. black people are deserving of more respect. the tradition of slavery in the united states has harmed the black population.

Question: What is the chief claim of what to the slave is the fourth of july?” black people deserve equal treatment and status in the united states. slavery is unconstitutional, and it should be abolished. black people are deserving of more respect. the tradition of slavery in the united states has harmed the black population. 

The chief claim of "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" is that the tradition of slavery in the United States has harmed the black population. The author, Frederick Douglass, argues that the Declaration of Independence's promise of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is meaningless to slaves, who are denied these basic rights. He also argues that the Constitution, which was written to uphold the principles of the Declaration, is a sham as long as it allows slavery to exist.

Douglass's essay was a powerful indictment of slavery and a call for its abolition. It helped to galvanize the abolitionist movement and contributed to the eventual end of slavery in the United States.

Here are some specific passages from the essay that support this claim:

• "What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is subjected."
• "Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and joy to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn."
• "The Constitution is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell."

Douglass's essay is a powerful reminder of the evils of slavery and the importance of fighting for freedom and equality for all people. It is a classic of American literature and an important historical document.