For the Fourth of July, I wrote a post on the Washington Post’s On Leadership blog about how some leaders (Frederick Douglass and FDR) have been willing to challenge their audiences on a day usually reserved for feel-good rhetoric. l Here are a couple ‘graphs, and you’ll find the rest online.

[G]iven the many challenges the nation faces at home and abroad, you might hear a very different kind of speech this year. Sometimes, a July 4th speaker decides that the times demand something out of the ordinary. He or she tries to lead listeners in a new direction by challenging, not reassuring, them.

One of the most famous examples is the 1852 fourth of July speech by the African American leader Frederick Douglass. He was invited to deliver the traditional address at Rochester N.Y. annual Independence Day celebration.