Free Speech Is Rooted in Equality

Abstract

This chapter places Frederick Douglass in the pantheon of America’s Founding Fathers because the orator, statesman, and former slave exercised his natural right to free speech without waiting for the courts or legislator to grant this right to him. Douglass argues that disputing the humanity of an interlocutor does not qualify as speech as intended by the First Amendment. The chapter shifts the focus from free speech as American democracy’s bedrock principle to the equally critical and inalienable principle of equality. The discussion includes the concept that free speech must be rooted in equality, poses the question of whether free speech depends on one’s legal status, and reaffirms that inherent humanity is not up for debate.