Its the news, without the news. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 168 years ago. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. The most accurate AI-powered transcription on the market. Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery the great sin and shame of America! As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent African-American professional men in celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.After the toast provided by former Senator Blanche K. Bruce, Mark them! To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. The Bible addresses all such persons as scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe ofmint, anise,andcumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. It was, Milloy continued, a critique of a nation that claimed to hold dear the principles of freedom, justice and equality even as it enslaved black people.. Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood, and the traders in the bodies and souls of men shout We have Washington toour father. Alas! I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. be warned! The testimony of Senator Breese, Lewis Cass, and many others that might be named, who are everywhere esteemed as sound lawyers, so regard the constitution. WebOn July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Douglass was a powerful I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slaves point of view. I doubt if there be another nation on the globe, having the brass and the baseness to put such a law on the statute-book. Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. Born to an enslaved family in 1818, Frederick Douglass never knew his actual birthday, a fact not uncommon for those enslaved. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to Rob them of their Liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with ions, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. The fact that the church of our country, (with fractional exceptions), does not esteem the Fugitive Slave Law as a declaration of war against religious liberty, implies that that church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, andnota vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love and good will towards man. Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. 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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. Yet this is but a glance at the American slave-trade, as it exists, at this moment, in the ruling part of the United States. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. WATCH VIDEO: Should Black Americans Celebrate Independence Day? But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. The questions are designed to provoke thought and guide the students through the document. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. They that can, may; I cannot. What would be thought of an instrument, drawn up, legally drawn up, for the purpose of entitling the city of Rochester to a track of land, in which no mention of land was made? Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. From the slave prison to the ship, they are usually driven in the darkness of night; for since the antislavery agitation, a certain caution is observed. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. Industry-leading accurate legal transcription to ensure you dont miss a statement. The din of business, too, is hushed. I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year, by dealers in this horrid traffic. Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Fromwhat quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. a horrible reptile is coiled up in your nations bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic;for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, andlet the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever! Sydney Smith tells us that men seldom eulogize the wisdom and virtues of their fathers, but to excuse some folly or wickedness of their own. They, that can, may. There, the church, true to its mission of ameliorating, elevating, and improving the condition of mankind, came forward promptly, bound up the wounds of the West Indian slave, and restored him to his liberty. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. WebBoth anniversaries remind us that the fight for independence and equality did not end in the 18th century - a theme highlighted in Douglass speech. speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglasss life and the evolution of his thought in this period. Short bio of Frederick Douglass The Frederick Douglass Papers Library of Congress Frederick Douglass Read the full transcript here. You declare, before the world, and are understood by the world to declare, that you hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and yet, you hold securely, in a bondage which, according to your own Thomas Jefferson, is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose, aseventh partof the inhabitants of your country. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. How should I look today in the presence of Americans dividing and subdividing, a discourse to show that men have a natural right to freedom speaking of it, relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? 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. The manhood of the slave is conceded. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. or is it in the temple? Further, if this demand were not complied with, another Scotland would be added to the history of religious liberty, and the stern old Covenanters would be thrown into the shade. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. It is neither. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. When Douglass delivered his famous The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro address before an audience at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, on July 5, The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. Heat and sorrow have nearly consumed their strength; suddenly you hear a quick snap, like the discharge of a rifle; the fetters clank, and the chain rattles simultaneously; your ears are saluted with a scream, that seems to have torn its way to the center of your soul! They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. welcome atheism! The drove moves tardily. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. Where these are, man is not sacred. I lived on Philpot Street, Fells Point, Baltimore, and have watched from the wharves, the slave ships in the Basin, anchored from the shore, with their cargoes of human flesh, waiting for favorable winds to waft them down the Chesapeake. The Fugitive SlaveLawmakes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, newspaper publisher, and respected abolitionist. For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, not religion. For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. Oppression makes a wise man mad. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. These rules are well established. Speech Transcript The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. Juneteenth Reading List: 10 Books To Learn More About Black Independence Day, Your email will be shared with newsone.com and subject to its, The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro address before an audience, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, he was issuing , a scathing indictment of American hypocrisy, Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy, . Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. I will use the severest language I can command. 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. WebIn this speech, Frederick Douglass reflected on how the outpouring of joy at the conclusion of the Civil War turned to mourning with Lincolns assassination. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers yourUnion. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. They did so in the form of a resolution; and as we seldom hit upon resolutions, drawn up in our day whose transparency is at all equal to this, it may refresh your minds and help my story if I read it. The document is in the form of a Google Docs so it has a translation tool, dictionary, and voice to text. What then remains to be argued? R. R. Raymond) on the platform, are shining examples; and let me say further, that upon these men lies the duty to inspire our ranks with high religious faith and zeal, and to cheer us on in the great mission of the slaves redemption from his chains. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. Is a matter, the set with great difficulty involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God. In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: Th oppressd shall vilely bend the knee. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? At the time of the delivery of this speech, Douglass had been living in Rochester, New York for several years editing a weekly abolitionist newspaper. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. In the early 1850s, tensions over slavery were high across the county. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to those questions. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. But I fancy, I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression upon the public mind. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried mens souls. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Frederick Douglass: (07:35) That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. that it should be so; yet so it is. Many of you understand them better than I do. Oh! O! Its deeply moving to hear Douglass defend the honor of Black soldiers in his 1863 speech, The Proclamation And a Negro Army, read by Colman Domingo, while his final speech, 1894s Lessons of the Hour, lays out the crucial steps toward achieving equality that have yet to be followed today.The actor selected to read these words is We thank you for taking the time to watch this community reading of Frederick Douglasss What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Source: Blight, David. I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. Their opposition to the then dangerous thought was earnest and powerful; but, amid all their terror and affrighted vociferations against it, the alarming and revolutionary idea moved on, and the country with it. Such people lived then, had lived before, and will, probably, ever have a place on this planet; and their course, in respect to any great change, (no matter how great the good to be attained, or the wrong to be redressed by it), may be calculated with as much precision as can be the course of the stars. By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations history the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. That point is conceded already. Yea! Speech-to-Text live streaming for live captions, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition API. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. I cannot. Frederick Douglass, circa 1879. Difference between Rittenhouse and McMichael-Bryan verdicts? Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? in 1852, drawing parallels between the Revolutionary War and the fight to abolish slavery. Frederick Douglass: (01:08) Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. There is not time now to argue the constitutional question at length nor have I the ability to discuss it as it ought to be discussed. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. This, however, did not answer the purpose. Your cause would be much more likely to succeed. This truth is not a doubtful one. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of Liberty and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems were inhuman mockery in sacrilegious irony. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. Go search where you will. To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most sacrilegious and shocking and would make me a reproach before God and the world. America is false to the past, false to the present and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. Would you argue more and denounce less? Is that a question for Republicans? Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, andthugs. For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. Frederick Douglass: (06:03) That point is conceded already. Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. This is a primary source reading analysis of Frederick Douglass' famous speech. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation? Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. The message of Frederick Douglasss 1852 speech on the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. There is blasphemy in the thought. But, with that blindness which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea, the British Government persisted in the exactions complained of. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will in the name of humanity, which is outraged in the name of Liberty, which is fettered in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon dare to call and question and to denounce with all the emphasis I can command everything that serves to perpetuate slavery, the great sin and shame of America. And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to Liberty, that he is the rightful owner of his body? Under Title 17 U.S.C. Follow the drove to New Orleans. They are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them; and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. Fully appreciating the hardship to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutiny of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attest their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible odds against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you. Ex-Vice-President Dallas tells us that the Constitution is an object to which no American mind can be too attentive, and no American heart too devoted. Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. Standing here identified with the American bondsmen, making his wrongs mine. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. WebFrederick Douglass speech What to a Slave is the Fourth of July effectively argues against slavery. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The country was poor in the munitions of war. Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. All this we affirm to be true of the popular church, and the popular worship of our land and nation a religion, a church, and a worship which, on the authority of inspired wisdom, we pronounce to be an abomination in the sight of God. At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. You live and must die, and you must do your work. It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago, for the children of Jacob to boast, we have Abraham to our father, when they had long lost Abrahams faith and spirit. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. Let it be thundered around the world, that, in tyrant-killing, king-hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats of justice are filled with judges, who hold their offices under an open and palpablebribe, and are bound, in deciding in the case of a mans liberty,hear only his accusers! who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. It is a fact, that whatever makes for the wealth or for the reputation of Americans, and can be had cheap! Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. What? In speaking of the American church, however, let it be distinctly understood that I mean the great mass of the religious organizations of our land.
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