They were great in their day and generation. 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? 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. At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. 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, Follow the drove to New Orleans. 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. Prayers are made, hymns are sung, and sermons are preached in honor of this day; while the quick martial tramp of a great and multitudinous nation, echoed back by all the hills, valleys and mountains of a vast continent, bespeak the occasion one of thrilling and universal interest a nations jubilee. What, then, remains to be argued? From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. 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. Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. That point is conceded already. They were great men too great enough to give fame to a great age. 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.. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? With them, nothing was settled that was not right. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man, (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has 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. 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 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. Many of you understand them better than I do. To do so would be to make myself ridiculous and to offer an insult to your understanding. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. 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. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. Space is comparatively annihilated. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. You know what is a swine-drover? 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 and sacrilegious irony. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. Its the news, without the news. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. Would you persuade more and rebuke less? Is it at the gateway? It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. 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 future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. But, besides general considerations, there were peculiar circumstances which make the advent of this republic an event of special attractiveness. 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. 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. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. 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! Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 168 years ago. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. 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. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? 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 They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! 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. 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. The text of Frederick Douglasss most famous speech, given in 1852, What, to a slave, is the Fourth of July? A chapter describing Douglasss early encounters with abolitionists, from his autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom, 1857. 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 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. The time for such argument is past. You have already declared it. 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. 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 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. 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. What then remains to be argued? They were not the men to look back. Your broad republican domain is hunting ground formen. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. 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. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms. 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. Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. Americans! What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. The Best Speech-to-Text Solution for Your Business Learn how Rev fits into your businesses workflow. 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! I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. No, I will not. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. 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 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. Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. Frederick Douglass: (03:37) They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation? It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried mens souls. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? At a time like this, scorching irony not convincing argument is needed. 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. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? But, your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. WebBoth anniversaries remind us that the fight for independence and equality did not end in the 18th century - a theme highlighted in Douglass speech. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. 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. Oppression makes a wise man mad. The country was poor in the munitions of war. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. 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. It is a fact, that whatever makes for the wealth or for the reputation of Americans, and can be had cheap! 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. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. His own testimony is nothing. 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. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. I will use the severest language I can command. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. A John Knox would be seen at every church door, and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quarter than was shown by Knox, to the beautiful, but treacherous queen Mary of Scotland. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. These rules are well established. There is not time now to argue the constitutional question at length nor have I the ability to discuss it as it ought to be discussed. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. Fellow-citizens! By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. I cannot. There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. The time for such argument is passed. I was born amid such sights and scenes. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. WebAn excerpt from the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech given for the anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. 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. 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. That year will come, and freedoms reign. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. They, that can, may. Who can reason on such a proposition? Industry-leading accurate legal transcription to ensure you dont miss a statement. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! 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? Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. or is it in the temple? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? 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. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. We need the storm. Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. 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! 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.