I hold that every American citizen has a right to form an opinion of the constitution, and to propagate that opinion, and to use all honorable means to make his opinion the prevailing one. 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. How unlike the politicians of an hour! 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. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. 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. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. 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. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. Is it that slavery is not divine, that God did not establish it, that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. 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. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. Even Mammon seems to have quitted his grasp on this day. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. 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. 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. Fellow-citizens! 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. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. No, I will not. Where these are, man is not sacred. They form the staple of your national poetry and eloquence. I am not included within the pales of this glorious anniversary. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. 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. The fate of many a slave has depended upon the turn of a single card; and many a child has been snatched from the arms of its mother by bargains arranged in a state of brutal drunkenness. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. Nobody doubts it. As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent 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! The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. The Lords of Buffalo, the Springs of New York, the Lathrops of Auburn, the Coxes and Spencers of Brooklyn, the Gannets and Sharps of Boston, the Deweys of Washington, and other great religious lights of the land have, in utter denial of the authority ofHimby whom they professed to be called to the ministry, deliberately taught us, against the example or the Hebrews and against the remonstrance of the Apostles, they teachthat we ought to obey mans law before the law of God. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. 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. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. WATCH VIDEO: Should Black Americans Celebrate Independence Day? That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. Though a biting What, then, remains to be argued? There is consolation in the thought that America is young. 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. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? 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 manhood of the slave is conceded. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. 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. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. Fellow citizens, above your national tumultuous joy I hear the mournful wail of millions whose chains heavy and grievous yesterday are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. 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. The message of Frederick Douglasss 1852 speech on the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures. 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. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. 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.
Frederick Douglass delivered 'best Fourth of July speech in He can bring no witnesses for himself. 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. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. You have already declared it. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. 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. What have I, or those I represent to do with your national independence. Is that a question for Republicans?
The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass 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? You know what is a swine-drover? And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. 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 I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. 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 far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. 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 Oppression makes a wise man mad. 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 Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. 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. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. 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? 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.
Frederick Douglass That, which is inhuman cannot be divine. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. 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. Do you mean citizens to mock me by asking me to speak today? 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. 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 blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. That year will come, and freedoms reign. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? Travel through South America. 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. You could instruct me in regard to them. WebA speech celebrating both Lincoln and African Americans freedom wrought by Lincoln. Frederick Douglass Read the full transcript here. There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. I cannot. No! 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. Frederick Douglass: (00:26) 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 flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore.
Speech WebFrederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) O! No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. 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. 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? 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. His own testimony is nothing. 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. Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved.. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation? Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. Who can reason on such a proposition? 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? that it should be so; yet so it is. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The Fugitive SlaveLawmakes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. 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. 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? Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. All Rights Reserved. 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. I will not. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. This, however, did not answer the purpose. Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. 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 we wept when we remembered Zion. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was a social reformer and advocate, abolitionist, orator, writer, minister, and statesman. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! In the text it states, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave- we are called upon to prove that we are men? (Douglas 763). Douglass views the monument and the day's ceremonies as reflecting honor upon African Roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world. You may rejoice. 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. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. 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. I take this law to be one of the grossest infringements of Christian Liberty, and, if the churches and ministers of our country were not stupidly blind, or most wickedly indifferent, they, too, would so regard it. That point is conceded already. But now is the time, the important time. This certainly sounds large, and out of the common way, for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. 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! The country was poor in the munitions of war. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. 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. 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. 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. What? WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. The manhood of the slave is conceded. You were under the British Crown. 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. 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! Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has Frederick Douglass: (02:57)
speech Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. Frederick Douglass: (09:38) That point is conceded already. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. Towards the end of The propriety of the nation must be startled. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. 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. The questions are designed to provoke thought and guide the students through the document. 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? 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. 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. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. 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. He further says, the Constitution, in its words, is plain and intelligible, and is meant for the home-bred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow-citizens. Go search where you will. 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. Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. 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.