A profoundly magnificent passage that speaks directly to the grandeur and gravity of the American experiment comes from Frederick Douglass’s famous 1852 oration, usually titled "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"
"Fellow-citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too—great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men.
The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were "supreme;" and the solid basework of your national superstructure was wise.
...Theers of the Declaration of Independence were wise men, brave men, and patriotic men. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes; and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.
They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concede that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it ought to command respect. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they surrendered all desire for profit.
...Say what you will, argue as you will, there is a right, a bare right, a solid right, a great principle, in that Declaration. It is the very soul of the American experiment; the sheet-anchor of your safety, the primary law of your national existence."
-Frederick Douglass, 1852