The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. It is called (in contradistinction to the foreign slave-trade) the internal slave trade. It is, probably, called so, too, in order to divert from it the horror with which the foreign slave-trade is contemplated. He further says, the Constitution, in its words, is plain and intelligible, and is meant for the home-bred, unsophisticated understandings of our fellow-citizens. 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! 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. They form the staple of your national poetry and eloquence. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. Add English on-screen subtitles for videos. How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! I will show you a man-drover. On July 5, 1852, eminent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a brilliant speech to nearly six hundred people filling Rochester, New Yorks Corinthian Hall, as organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. I will not. Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. This, however, did not answer the purpose. 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. we wept when we remembered Zion. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. 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. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. 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. I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. Translated on-screen subtitles for videos. I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. As with rivers so with nations. Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. 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? And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. The drove moves tardily. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. 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. Space is comparatively annihilated. 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.. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide WebAn excerpt from the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech given for the anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. 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. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! 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! 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. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. Need I tell you that the Jews are not the only people who built the tombs of the prophets, and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous? 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. Would you persuade more and rebuke less? The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. 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. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, newspaper publisher, and respected abolitionist. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? As the champions of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appeared men, honored for their so-called piety, and their real learning. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. How unlike the politicians of an hour! R. R. Raymond) on the platform, are shining examples; and let me say further, that upon these men lies the duty to inspire our ranks with high religious faith and zeal, and to cheer us on in the great mission of the slaves redemption from his chains. Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. welcome anything! Roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world. Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. What? They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. I will not excuse. Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nations jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. This Fourth [of] July isyours, notmine. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. During 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? 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. The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. Towards the end of speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. That year will come, and freedoms reign. 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. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. 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. But, to proceed. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. 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. will be found by Americans. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. Frederick Douglass: (00:26) 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? They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. WebFrederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) O! For it is not light that is needed, but fire. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. Many of its most eloquent Divines. 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! who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. WebOn July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Douglass was a powerful Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? 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. Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. The document is in the form of a Google Docs so it has a translation tool, dictionary, and voice to text. What, then, remains to be argued? I have detained my audience entirely too long already. I am not that man. be warned! I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. Mark them! When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! In the solitude of my spirit, I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity, on the way to the slave markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the highest bidder. 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. You have already declared it. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to those questions. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. He can bring no witnesses for himself. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. All Rights Reserved. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? 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. 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? I take this law to be one of the grossest infringements of Christian Liberty, and, if the churches and ministers of our country were not stupidly blind, or most wickedly indifferent, they, too, would so regard it. 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. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! No! They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory. Speech-to-Text live streaming for live captions, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition API. 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. This is a primary source reading analysis of Frederick Douglass' famous speech. 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 To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, andthugs. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations history the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? O! You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. The propriety of the nation must be startled. Fellow-citizens! that it should be so; yet so it is. Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to Rob them of their Liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with ions, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters?
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