Do you mean citizens to mock me by asking me to speak today? Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. That he is the rightful owner of his own body? Fully appreciating the hardship to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutiny of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attest their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible odds against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers yourUnion. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? 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. 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 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. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.. Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. I will not excuse. Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. 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. 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. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. Then would my task be light and my burden easy and delightful? You were under the British Crown. I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. You profess to believe that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth, and hath commanded all men, everywhere to love one another; yet you notoriously hate, (and glory in your hatred), all men whose skins are not colored like your own. You could instruct me in regard to them. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. When Douglass delivered his famous The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro address before an audience at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, on July 5, They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. Frederick Douglass: (01:08) I cannot. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. During 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 iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. That point is conceded already. Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. 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. 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 But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. Born to an enslaved family in 1818, Frederick Douglass never knew his actual birthday, a fact not uncommon for those enslaved. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. 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. 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. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. I must mourn. I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. 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? The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. 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. 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? The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our DOCTORS OF DIVINITY. Who can reason on such a proposition? When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. 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. An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. 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. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. 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. 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. 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? They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. Is it that slavery is not divine, that God did not establish it, that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! 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. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. 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! See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. I am not included within the pales of this glorious anniversary. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . You have already declared it. 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 have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. 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. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. 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. Frederick Douglass: (00:26) 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. There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. 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. It was a startling idea, much more so, than we, at this distance of time, regard it. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. 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 population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. You may rejoice. 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. Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. be warned! Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. 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! 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! Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. I think that, in whatever else I may be deficient, I have 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. Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. 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. 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. 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. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. 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. 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.. 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. Is that a question for Republicans? Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. Towards the end of Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. What have I, or those I represent to do with your national independence. 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. Roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world. Frederick Douglass: (08:30) 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. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. Translated on-screen subtitles for videos. Douglass views the monument and the day's ceremonies as reflecting honor upon African In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry; buthow, we ask, could such a thing be done? Albert Barnes but uttered what the common sense of every man at all observant of the actual state of the case will receive as truth, when he declared that There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it.. Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. The questions are designed to provoke thought and guide the students through the document. Go search where you will. 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. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. Ex-Vice-President Dallas tells us that the Constitution is an object to which no American mind can be too attentive, and no American heart too devoted. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Frederick Douglass: (07:35) 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. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. 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. The style and title of your sovereign people (in which you now glory) was not then born. The most accurate AI-powered transcription on the market. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. 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. How unlike the politicians of an hour! It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. 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. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to Liberty, that he is the rightful owner of his body? 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. welcome anything! We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Copyright 2023 Interactive One, LLC. The time for such argument is passed. What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. 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. A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. 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. 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. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. Fellow-citizens! 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. Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen.
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