Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. I have detained my audience entirely too long already. 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. For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. Is it that slavery is not divine, that God did not establish it, that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" 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. 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. You have already declared it. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. Roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Is that a question for Republicans? 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 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. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. All Rights Reserved. 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. They were great in their day and generation. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. 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. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. 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. 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? 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. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 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. Frederick Douglass: (04:09) In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? 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. 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. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, iswrong? There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor. 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 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. Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. I was born amid such sights and scenes. Youmay rejoice,Imust mourn. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. WebIn this speech, Frederick Douglass reflected on how the outpouring of joy at the conclusion of the Civil War turned to mourning with Lincolns assassination. It is neither. 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? Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. 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. They that can, may; I cannot. 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. During You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. 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. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. 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. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. 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. Then would my task be light and my burden easy and delightful? This, however, did not answer the purpose. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? 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. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. 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. Industry-leading accurate legal transcription to ensure you dont miss a statement. 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. Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, 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! See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. 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. In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this Fugitive Slave Law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation. A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! 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. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. Born to an enslaved family in 1818, Frederick Douglass never knew his actual birthday, a fact not uncommon for those enslaved. Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. Is slavery among them? 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. 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, In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. 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. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! 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. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. 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. Speech Transcript The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. 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 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. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. 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. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. 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. 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. But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented. Americans! Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! Frederick Douglass: (01:08) Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? I will not equivocate. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. 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. 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? I am not included within the pales of this glorious anniversary. That point is conceded already. Frederick Douglass: (08:30) The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. The time for such argument is past. Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. 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.. 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. 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. Yet they persevered. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. 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: This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. When the dogs in your street, 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, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. 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. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. 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? 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. welcome atheism! There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. This is esteemed by some as a national trait perhaps a national weakness. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. 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. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! 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.

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