Far from simply invoking the ideals of the American Revolution, African Americans emerged as its most stringent and vocal critics. Indeed, they developed a powerful counternarrative to the history of revolutionary republicanism in the United States that highlighted slavery rather than freedom and independence as its central legacy.” Explore and explain this comment by Manisha Sinha, linking it to a reading and analysis of Fredrick Douglass’ famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”