I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. Who can reason on such a proposition? And am I therefore called upon to bring our humble offering to the national alter and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? 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. 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. be warned! Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? By that act, Mason and Dixons line has been obliterated; New York has become as Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women, and children as slaves remains no longer a mere state institution, but is now an institution of the whole United States. Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. Translated on-screen subtitles for videos. They that can, may; I cannot. 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. The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. 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. Frederick Douglass: (10:31) They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. Its quite a remarkable speech as Douglass in a way reenacts his own journey in appreciation for the work that Lincoln did, not just for blacks, but for whites in this country. YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge for the fatherless; plead for the widow., The American church is guilty, when viewed in connection with what it is doing to uphold slavery; but it is superlatively guilty when viewed in connection with its ability to abolish slavery. 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. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers yourUnion. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and cyphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christians God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men! It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. Standing here identified with the American bondsmen, making his wrongs mine. 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. Is it not astonishing that while we are plowing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metal of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold, that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers that we are engaged in all the enterprises, common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planting, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all confessing and worshiping the Christian God and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. The anguish of my boyish heart was intense; and I was often consoled, when speaking to my mistress in the morning, to hear her say that the custom was very wicked; that she hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the heart-rending cries. But I admit, where all is plain, there is nothing to be argued. 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? Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! Go search where you will. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? 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. All Rights Reserved. For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. 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. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? It has been denounced with burning words, from the high places of the nation, as an execrable traffic. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their arrival, through the papers, and on flaming hand-bills, headed CASH FOR NEGROES. As the sheet anchor takes a firmer hold, when the ship is tossed by the storm, so did the cause of your fathers grow stronger, as it breasted the chilling blasts of kingly displeasure. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. And yet not one word shall escape me that any man whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice or who is not at heart, a slaveholder shall not confess to be right and just. 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! Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. What, then, remains to be argued? That, which is inhuman cannot be divine. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. 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. The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. They, that can, may. You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the meretoolsand body-guardsof the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina. Frederick Douglass: (00:26) 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. This, however, did not answer the purpose. WebAn excerpt from the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech given for the anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Frederick Douglass: (04:09) Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. 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. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Many of you understand them better than I do. I will show you a man-drover. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market. 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. Nobody doubts it. Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. Like our content? Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. This 4th of July is yours, not mine. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! I am not that man. Frederick Douglass: (05:02) It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. 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! All Rights Reserved. And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. 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 whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. 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. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. In the language of Isaiah, the American church might be well addressed, Bring no more vain ablations; incense is an abomination unto me: the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. 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. or is it in the temple? The document is in the form of a Google Docs so it has a translation tool, dictionary, and voice to text. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. 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. You live and must die, and you must do your work. Frederick Douglass: (07:35) 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, Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. Follow the drove to New Orleans. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to Liberty, that he is the rightful owner of his body? Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. 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. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. Fellow-citizens! 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? By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. 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. Web" was a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery 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. 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. Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. Is it that slavery is not divine, that God did not establish it, that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Frederick Douglass: (06:44) 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. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. 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. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. It is, however, a notable fact that, while so much execration is poured out by Americans upon those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass without condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 168 years ago. your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. It was a startling idea, much more so, than we, at this distance of time, regard it. Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. Do you mean citizens to mock me by asking me to speak today? Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. Your cause would be much more likely to succeed. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, iswrong? From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. There is blasphemy in the thought. Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. 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. The din of business, too, is hushed. Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? 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 WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass: (08:30) I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. I answer: a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. WebDescription. In order to put an end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and establish themselves on the western coast of Africa! 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 freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. 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. 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? 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. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slaves point of view. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? What then remains to be argued? This is a primary source reading analysis of Frederick Douglass' famous speech. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. The manhood of the slave is conceded. 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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. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! During I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. Transcripts & captions for a better media workflow. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. Travel through South America. 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. will be found by Americans. WebCelebrating 200 years of Frederick Douglass. In the solitude of my spirit, I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity, on the way to the slave markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the highest bidder. I have detained my audience entirely too long already. But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. 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. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. 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. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.. You will see one of these human flesh-jobbers, armed with pistol, whip and bowie-knife, driving a company of a hundred men, women, and children, from the Potomac to the slave market at New Orleans. 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. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? 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.. Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, andthugs. You are all on fire at the mention of liberty for France or for Ireland; but are as cold as an iceberg at the thought of liberty for the enslaved of America. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to those questions. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . WebIn the late 1860sat a moment of great hope for the promise of equality under the lawthe famed orator and once-enslaved abolitionist Frederick Douglass took his Our Composite Nation speech on the road to argue for a plural American democracy. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. Where these are, man is not sacred. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. One of the parts of the speech that resonates with me the most is when Douglass says: What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I cannot. 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. 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.. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. We need the storm. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. welcome atheism! If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. Youmay rejoice,Imust mourn.