I am not that man. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. 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.. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. Oppression makes a wise man mad. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. Towards the end of Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. He is a bird for the sportsmans gun. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. Fellows citizens, pardon me and allow me to ask, why am I called to speak here today? They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. And yet not one word shall escape me that any man whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice or who is not at heart, a slaveholder shall not confess to be right and just. They that can, may; I cannot. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. 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. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. That year will come, and freedoms reign. Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. 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. Speech Transcript Oh! 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. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. This, however, did not answer the purpose. I repeat, I am glad this is so. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion. Frederick Douglass: (06:03) What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. 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. WebDescription. Frederick Douglass: (04:09) Fromwhat quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented. This truth is not a doubtful one. On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea with all the authority of national sanction. They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. WebCelebrating 200 years of Frederick Douglass. 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 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.. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. Frederick Douglass: (10:31) Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. I am not that man. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. The style and title of your sovereign people (in which you now glory) was not then born. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market. Where these are, man is not sacred. 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. 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! 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, It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. This is a primary source reading analysis of Frederick Douglass' famous speech. For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. 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. To do so would be to make myself ridiculous and to offer an insult to your understanding. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. Is a matter, the set with great difficulty involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will use the severest language I can command; 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. Would you argue more and denounce less? Speech-to-Text live streaming for live captions, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition API. 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. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. 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. 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? The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year, by dealers in this horrid traffic. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. 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. But I admit, where all is plain, there is nothing to be argued. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. Travel through South America. 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. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. 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.. For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. 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. These people were called Tories in the days of your fathers; and the appellation, probably, conveyed the same idea that is meant by a more modern, though a somewhat less euphonious term, which we often find in our papers, applied to some of our old politicians. America is false to the past, false to the present and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. 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? In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. You were under the British Crown. They were great men too great enough to give fame to a great age. 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. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has What? Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 168 years ago. 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. Your broad republican domain is hunting ground formen. 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 in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery the great sin and shame of America! He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a bye-word to a mocking earth. What then remains to be argued? Youmay rejoice,Imust mourn. But, such is not the state of the case. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. 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. Yea! A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. That point is conceded already. 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. Is it that slavery is not divine, that God did not establish it, that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? 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. Many of you understand them better than I do. This is esteemed by some as a national trait perhaps a national weakness. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? 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. 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? Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. 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! You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill. One of the parts of the speech that resonates with me the most is when Douglass says: What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. Create a better, more engaging experience for every student. Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. 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. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. 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. 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? Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. 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. And the conscience of the nation must be roused. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. Discover why Rev is the #1 speech-to-text service in the world. 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. or is it in the temple? There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. They were not the men to look back. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Space is comparatively annihilated. 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. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. The drove moves tardily. 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. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Yet they persevered. Without this right, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. WebBoth anniversaries remind us that the fight for independence and equality did not end in the 18th century - a theme highlighted in Douglass speech. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. The time was when such could be done. Frederick Douglass: (05:02) 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. They, that can, may. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who 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. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. I was born amid such sights and scenes. 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. The manhood of the slave is conceded. 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. We thank you for taking the time to watch this community reading of Frederick Douglasss What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Source: Blight, David. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. Would you persuade more and rebuke less? You could instruct me in regard to them. Fellow-citizens! The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. be warned! There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. Who can reason on such a proposition? That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. 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? Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood, and the traders in the bodies and souls of men shout We have Washington toour father. Alas! Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, and Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropy. I will use the severest language I can command. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. 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. will be found by Americans. 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! On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) Transcripts & captions for a better media workflow. 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. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. 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. The propriety of the nation must be startled. Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. Did this law concern the mint, anise, and cumin abridge the right to sing psalms, to partake of the sacrament, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. This 4th of July is yours, not mine. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. 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. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view.