Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through south america, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, america reigns without a rival. refer to explorations in literature for a complete version of this speech. which statement best describes douglass's purpose in this excerpt? to communicate america’s uniqueness in the world to provide evidence in support of his claim that freedom is essential to happiness to reinforce his main argument that slavery opposes the ideals of america to prove that abuses are common in all parts of the world