As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, not religion. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. 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. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! One is struck with the difference between the attitude of the American church towards the anti-slavery movement, and that occupied by the churches in England towards a similar movement in that country. There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. Add English on-screen subtitles for videos. What then remains to be argued? It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers yourUnion. Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? For it is not light that is needed, but fire. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! 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. To do so would be to make myself ridiculous and to offer an insult to your understanding. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. Fellows citizens, pardon me and allow me to ask, why am I called to speak here today? 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. Frederick Douglass: (00:26) Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. 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. 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. 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. With head, and heart, and hand Ill strive, 8 Times Obama Showed Trump How Presidents Are Supposed To Celebrate The Fourth Of July, Welcome To The Cookout: 10 Lit Movies To Watch During July Fourth Holiday Weekend, 'Dilbert' Comic Creator Calls Black People A 'Hate Group,' Urges Segregation So Whites Can 'Escape', Bernie Mac Show Star Camille Winbush Is Not Ashamed Of Joining OnlyFans, Kyle Rittenhouse Faces 2nd Civil Lawsuit, Continues To Beg For Money From His Supporters, Ben Stein's 'Aunt Jemima' Rant Is A Master Class On White Privilege, Why Did tWitch Kill Himself? I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. Follow the drove to New Orleans. The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? 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. "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. 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. 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. My business, if I have any here today, is with the present. 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. Is that a question for Republicans? The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. 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. Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. At the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, and for the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly worthless to a world lying in wickedness. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. As the champions of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appeared men, honored for their so-called piety, and their real learning. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. How unlike the politicians of an hour! Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. 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. You know what is a swine-drover? Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. But, such is not the state of the case. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. Frederick Douglass Read the full transcript here. 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. 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. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was a social reformer and advocate, abolitionist, orator, writer, minister, and statesman. 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. I shall not be charged with slandering Americans, if I say I think the American side of any question may be safely left in American hands. On July 5, 1852, eminent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a brilliant speech to nearly six hundred people filling Rochester, New Yorks Corinthian Hall, as organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. You could instruct me in regard to them. For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. Is slavery among them? Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. Who can reason on such a proposition? This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. We need the storm. WebAn excerpt from the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech given for the anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. I am not that man. What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. WebBoth anniversaries remind us that the fight for independence and equality did not end in the 18th century - a theme highlighted in Douglass speech. 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. Would you argue more and denounce less? If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. My soul sickens at the sight. You have already declared it. While I do not intend to argue this question on the present occasion, let me ask, if it be not somewhat singular that, if the Constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. 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! There is consolation in the thought that America is young. At a time like this, scorching irony not convincing argument is needed. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. Is that a question for Republicans? Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. Need I tell you that the Jews are not the only people who built the tombs of the prophets, and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous? 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. 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. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. be warned! It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. Industry-leading accurate legal transcription to ensure you dont miss a statement. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. Oppression makes a wise man mad. But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. Discover why Rev is the #1 speech-to-text service in the world. Born to an enslaved family in 1818, Frederick Douglass never knew his actual birthday, a fact not uncommon for those enslaved. 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. It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. The time for such argument is past. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nations Jubilee when the chains of servitude have been torn from his limbs? This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right and proper. 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 blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. Your President, your Secretary of State, ourlords,nobles, and ecclesiastics, enforce, as a duty you owe to your free and glorious country, and to your God, that you do this accursed thing. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slaves point of view. You shed tears over fallen Hungary, and make the sad story of her wrongs the theme of your poets, statesmen and orators, till your gallant sons are ready to fly to arms to vindicate her cause against her oppressors; but, in regard to the ten thousand wrongs of the American slave, you would enforce the strictest silence, and would hail him as an enemy of the nation who dares to make those wrongs the subject of public discourse! The document is in the form of a Google Docs so it has a translation tool, dictionary, and voice to text. I will not equivocate. 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. 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 The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. 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? My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. 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, 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: (04:09) Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. I will not excuse. 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. While drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. They were great in their day and generation. The manhood of the slave is conceded. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. 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. I leave, therefore, the great deeds of your fathers to other gentlemen whose claim to have been regularly descended will be less likely to be disputed than mine! 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. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. Frederick Douglass: (03:37) Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. 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. They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity. But now is the time, the important time. Frederick Douglass: (06:44) Frederick Douglass: (02:13) Where these are, man is not sacred. Prayers are made, hymns are sung, and sermons are preached in honor of this day; while the quick martial tramp of a great and multitudinous nation, echoed back by all the hills, valleys and mountains of a vast continent, bespeak the occasion one of thrilling and universal interest a nations jubilee. 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. Translated on-screen subtitles for videos. What, then, remains to be argued? This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a bye-word to a mocking earth. 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.. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. 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. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. 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. 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? What have I, or those I represent to do with your national independence. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. Frederick Douglass: (10:31) I cannot. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, thenwill I argue with you that the slave is a man! Would you have me argue that man is entitled to Liberty, that he is the rightful owner of his body? These rules are well established. 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. You have already declared it. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, lowering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! WebFrederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) O! They that can, may; I cannot. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market. 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, I must mourn.. 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. Transcripts & captions for a better media workflow. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. Copyright 2023 Interactive One, LLC. From police shootings to the wage gap to crippling stereotypes (and everything in between), there are too many parallels today with what Douglass described in his speech to white America, including this relevant line. 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. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! The text of Frederick Douglasss most famous speech, given in 1852, What, to a slave, is the Fourth of July? A chapter describing Douglasss early encounters with abolitionists, from his autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom, 1857. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. I was born amid such sights and scenes. 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.
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