I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide This truth is not a doubtful one. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. be warned! The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. 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. The country was poor in the munitions of war. 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. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? I will not excuse. The style and title of your sovereign people (in which you now glory) was not then born. There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. The manhood of the slave is conceded. Not fewer than forty Americans have, within the past two years, been hunted down and, without a moments warning, hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery and excruciating torture. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. 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. The manhood of the slave is conceded. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. A John Knox would be seen at every church door, and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quarter than was shown by Knox, to the beautiful, but treacherous queen Mary of Scotland. My subject then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. They inhabit all our Southern States. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to Liberty, that he is the rightful owner of his body? Did this law concern the mint, anise, and cumin abridge the right to sing psalms, to partake of the sacrament, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. But, besides general considerations, there were peculiar circumstances which make the advent of this republic an event of special attractiveness. Without this right, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. Many of you understand them better than I do. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. The time for such argument is passed. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? His own testimony is nothing. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. I have detained my audience entirely too long already. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. 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. My spirit wearies of such blasphemy; and how such men can be supported, as the standing types and representatives of Jesus Christ, is a mystery which I leave others to penetrate. The drove moves tardily. Frederick Douglass: (09:38) That he is the rightful owner of his own body? It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, may my right hand forget her cunning and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by England; but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present ruler. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. Is it at the gateway? The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. 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 rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. Go search where you will. Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? You may rejoice. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! 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. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. 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. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. Speech-to-Text live streaming for live captions, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition API. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. At a time like this, scorching irony not convincing argument is needed. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. They form the staple of your national poetry and eloquence. Would you persuade more and rebuke less? 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.. 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. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. Discover why Rev is the #1 speech-to-text service in the world. They were great in their day and generation. There is blasphemy in the thought. The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. I am not included within the pales of this glorious anniversary. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. 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. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? 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. Your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless, your shouts of Liberty and equality, hallow mocked, your prayers and hymns your sermons and Thanksgivings with all your religious parade in solemnity are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, a thin veil to cover up crimes, which would disgrace a nation of savages. His death, according to Douglass was not only tragic, but also prevented recently freed slaves and African Americans from gaining the ear of wise and well-intentioned leader. that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. Copyright 2023 Interactive One, LLC. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. 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. The anti-slavery movementtherewas not an anti-church movement, for the reason that the church took its full share in prosecuting that movement: and the anti-slavery movement in this country will cease to be an anti-church movement, when the church of this country shall assume a favorable, instead of a hostile position towards that movement. Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. You may well cherish the memory of such men. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. Let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds; and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceive. They have all been taught in your common schools, narrated at your firesides, unfolded from your pulpits, and thundered from your legislative halls, and are as familiar to you as household words. The time for such argument is past. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. Space is comparatively annihilated. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, iswrong? It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation Babylon, whose crimes towering up to heaven with thrown down by the breadth of the almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin. WebOn January 9, 1894, at Washington, D.C.'s, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Frederick Douglass delivered his "The Lessons of the Hour" speech, which addressed the This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. As the champions of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appeared men, honored for their so-called piety, and their real learning. You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill. Oh! The message of Frederick Douglasss 1852 speech on the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures. had I the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. 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. By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. America is false to the past, false to the present and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. I was born amid such sights and scenes. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea with all the authority of national sanction. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. They are plain, common-sense rules, such as you and I, and all of us, can understand and apply, without having passed years in the study of law. But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. Create a better, more engaging experience for every student. They that can, may; I cannot. Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. It is called (in contradistinction to the foreign slave-trade) the internal slave trade. It is, probably, called so, too, in order to divert from it the horror with which the foreign slave-trade is contemplated. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth! To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. 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. They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. When a sufficient number have been collected here, a ship is chartered, for the purpose of conveying the forlorn crew to Mobile, or to New Orleans. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. WebOn December 3, 1860, Frederick Douglass and a group of fellow abolitionists met at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston for a discussion centered around the following Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. 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. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. Frederick Douglass: (10:31) That point is conceded already. In a very telling sign, the fateful words of Frederick Douglass from a speech he delivered 170 years ago still resonate very much in 2022 as Black people in America continue the fight for the same kind of equality that the legendary abolitionist was demanding back in the mid-19th century. The questions are designed to provoke thought and guide the students through the document. They were great men too great enough to give fame to a great age. Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. WebAn excerpt from the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech given for the anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. Speech Transcript 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. Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. There is blasphemy in the thought. Is that a question for Republicans? welcome atheism! And while slavery has long been abolished and outlawed, the sentiment behind the address still applies in many unfortunate ways when it comes to the overall Black experience in America. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. Frederick Douglass: (08:30) I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. Frederick Douglass: (00:26) Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. If any man in this assembly thinks differently from me in this matter, and feels able to disprove my statements, I will gladly confront him at any suitable time and place he may select. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? Frederick Douglass: (04:09) Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. You glory in your refinement and your universal education yet you maintain a system as barbarous and dreadful as ever stained the character of a nation a system begun in avarice, supported in pride, and perpetuated in cruelty. Web"The Lessons of the Hour" Speech by Frederick Douglass, January 9, 1894 Friends and Fellow Citizens : No man should come before an audience like the one by whose presence I am now honored, without a noble object and a fixed and earnest purpose. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! The propriety of the nation must be startled. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. 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. During WATCH VIDEO: Should Black Americans Celebrate Independence Day? We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? 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. For who is there so cold that a nation sympathy cannot warm him, who so adore it and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. I think that, in whatever else I may be deficient, I have had I the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. WebIn December 1860, the great American orator and former slave Frederick Douglass delivered one of his finest speeches, A Plea for Free Speech in Boston. In it, he boldly declared that liberty is meaningless where the right to utter ones thoughts and Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? 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 The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. My soul sickens at the sight. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Oppression makes a wise man mad. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, andthugs. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. Everywhere, in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign slave-trade, as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the laws of God and of man. At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. Translated on-screen subtitles for videos. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. There is not a nation of the earth, guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? It has been denounced with burning words, from the high places of the nation, as an execrable traffic. WebFrederick Douglass speech Historical Document "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" 1852 Resource Bank Contents Click here for the text of this historical document. WebCelebrating 200 years of Frederick Douglass. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. 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! These rules are well established. Standing here identified with the American bondsmen, making his wrongs mine. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. The Fugitive SlaveLawmakes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. But, to proceed.
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