Frederick Douglass: (06:03) 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. The message of Frederick Douglasss 1852 speech on the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! This truth is not a doubtful one. your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. 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? 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! WebOn December 3, 1860, Frederick Douglass and a group of fellow abolitionists met at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston for a discussion centered around the following There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. You were under the British Crown. 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. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. Yea! 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. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has 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. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. As the champions of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appeared men, honored for their so-called piety, and their real learning. 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? 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. 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. This, however, did not answer the purpose. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. WebDescription. I will not equivocate. Web"The Lessons of the Hour" Speech by Frederick Douglass, January 9, 1894 Friends and Fellow Citizens : No man should come before an audience like the one by whose presence I am now honored, without a noble object and a fixed and earnest purpose. Fellow-citizens! For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! Create a better, more engaging experience for every student. The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. But I fancy, I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression upon the public mind. My business, if I have any here today, is with the present. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. 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. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. 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 hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! 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. That year will come, and freedoms reign. 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. The slave holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) In speaking of the American church, however, let it be distinctly understood that I mean the great mass of the religious organizations of our land. Fellow-citizens! What? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? I think that, in whatever else I may be deficient, I have 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. 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 form the staple of your national poetry and eloquence. Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! 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. He is a bird for the sportsmans gun. Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. 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. Go search where you will. Born to an enslaved family in 1818, Frederick Douglass never knew his actual birthday, a fact not uncommon for those enslaved. Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor. 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. 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. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the meretoolsand body-guardsof the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina. We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. 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 arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. 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. There is not a nation of the earth, guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour. Frederick Douglass: (06:44) Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation? Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. They were great in their day and generation. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. Many of its most eloquent Divines. here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. 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. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. One is struck with the difference between the attitude of the American church towards the anti-slavery movement, and that occupied by the churches in England towards a similar movement in that country. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. 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. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. 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. You know what is a swine-drover? 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. Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market. 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! To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. You can bare your bosom to the storm of British artillery to throw off a threepenny tax on tea; and yet wring the last hard-earned farthing from the grasp of the black laborers of your country. It is not that pure and undefiled religion which is from above, and which is first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,without partiality, and without hypocrisy. But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains,stay there; and to the oppressor,oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man. President John F. Kennedy On July 4, 1962 President John F. Kennedy delivered this speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglasss life and the evolution of his thought in this period. Short bio of Frederick Douglass The Frederick Douglass Papers Library of Congress 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! Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and cyphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christians God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men! 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! we wept when we remembered Zion. Without this right, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. Fellows citizens, pardon me and allow me to ask, why am I called to speak here today? Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! The document is in the form of a Google Docs so it has a translation tool, dictionary, and voice to text. Would you persuade more and rebuke less? I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. 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. Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. 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! Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice embodied in that Declaration of Independence extended to us? Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? The manhood of the slave is conceded. welcome atheism! Frederick Douglass: (00:26) Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. 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. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. Travel through South America. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. 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.
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