frederick douglass speech transcript

I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, newspaper publisher, and respected abolitionist. 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. 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. You may rejoice. But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. They that can, may; I cannot. I will not excuse. Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. 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. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. 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, I think that, in whatever else I may be deficient, I have What have I, or those I represent to do with your national independence. 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. 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! that it should be so; yet so it is. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. 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. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! WebDescription. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. Frederick Douglass: (10:31) Is a matter, the set with great difficulty involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? At the time of the delivery of this speech, Douglass had been living in Rochester, New York for several years editing a weekly abolitionist newspaper. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. In the early 1850s, tensions over slavery were high across the county. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! There is blasphemy in the thought. To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most sacrilegious and shocking and would make me a reproach before God and the world. Is that a question for Republicans? Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. be warned! Juneteenth Reading List: 10 Books To Learn More About Black Independence Day, Your email will be shared with newsone.com and subject to its, The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro address before an audience, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, he was issuing , a scathing indictment of American hypocrisy, Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy, . Frederick Douglass: (01:08) 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. YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge for the fatherless; plead for the widow., The American church is guilty, when viewed in connection with what it is doing to uphold slavery; but it is superlatively guilty when viewed in connection with its ability to abolish slavery. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. Fellow-citizens! 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. We need the storm. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? Yea! 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. Follow the drove to New Orleans. 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. Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. They, that can, may. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time for such argument is passed. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. Who can reason on such a proposition? We are called upon to prove that we are men. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Travel through South America. 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. 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. 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. The questions are designed to provoke thought and guide the students through the document. I am not that man. 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. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! welcome atheism! There are 72 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 these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment. 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. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. Would you argue more and denounce less? Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. Frederick Douglass: (08:30) 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 drove moves tardily. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. Without this right, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. WebOn January 9, 1894, at Washington, D.C.'s, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Frederick Douglass delivered his "The Lessons of the Hour" speech, which addressed the If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 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. America is false to the past, false to the present and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. They were great in their day and generation. Frederick Douglass: (02:57) I will show you a man-drover. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. Add English on-screen subtitles for videos. I will not equivocate. Full transcript of the famous speech What to the Slave is the 4th of July? by Frederick Douglass. That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. Is that a question for Republicans? And the conscience of the nation must be roused. 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. That he is the rightful owner of his own body? WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. This is esteemed by some as a national trait perhaps a national weakness. 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. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. 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, 1852, he was issuing a scathing indictment of American hypocrisy, Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy reminded readers. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who I am not that man. From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. 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 This is a primary source reading analysis of Frederick Douglass' famous speech. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? He can bring no witnesses for himself. He is a bird for the sportsmans gun. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. WebFrederick Douglass speech What to a Slave is the Fourth of July effectively argues against slavery. But, such is not the state of the case. Frederick Douglass: (03:37) The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. 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. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. WATCH VIDEO: Should Black Americans Celebrate Independence Day? 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. All Rights Reserved. It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. 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. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. 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. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to those questions. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. 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. Like our content? 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. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. 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? Standing here identified with the American bondsmen, making his wrongs mine. They were not the men to look back. His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their arrival, through the papers, and on flaming hand-bills, headed CASH FOR NEGROES. 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. Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. 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. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? 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. 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. The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice embodied in that Declaration of Independence extended to us? Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! The time was when such could be done. Youmay rejoice,Imust mourn. 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. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. 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.. 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. The time for such argument is past. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . 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. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. Its deeply moving to hear Douglass defend the honor of Black soldiers in his 1863 speech, The Proclamation And a Negro Army, read by Colman Domingo, while his final speech, 1894s Lessons of the Hour, lays out the crucial steps toward achieving equality that have yet to be followed today.The actor selected to read these words is You may rejoice, I must mourn.. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. You have already declared it. Everywhere, in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign slave-trade, as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the laws of God and of man. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. Under Title 17 U.S.C. Born to an enslaved family in 1818, Frederick Douglass never knew his actual birthday, a fact not uncommon for those enslaved. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" 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 rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The right of the hunter to his prey stands superior to the right of marriage, and toallrights in this republic, the rights of God included! By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Further, if this demand were not complied with, another Scotland would be added to the history of religious liberty, and the stern old Covenanters would be thrown into the shade. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. 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. 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. 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? 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. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. 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. Its the news, without the news. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! 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? 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. 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! What? 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. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment. whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. 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. They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. Roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. They inhabit all our Southern States. Speech Transcript The oath of any two villains is sufficient, under this hell-black enactment, to send the most pious and exemplary black man into the remorseless jaws of slavery! WebFrederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) O! Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. Is slavery among them? Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. The slave holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. The Fugitive SlaveLawmakes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them.

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