There is blasphemy in the thought. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. From the slave prison to the ship, they are usually driven in the darkness of night; for since the antislavery agitation, a certain caution is observed. 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. Oration by Frederick Douglass, delivered on the occasion of the 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! Calculate how much it costs to transcribe, caption, or subtitle your content. Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. 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. 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, Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to those questions. I am not that man. 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, . Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. 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. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. 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. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. 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. 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. 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. 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. Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. Would you argue more and denounce less? I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. The time for such argument is past. I will use the severest language I can command. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! Where these are, man is not sacred. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. That, which is inhuman cannot be divine. 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. I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! will be found by Americans. 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. 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? Without this right, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. 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. But, to proceed. They have all been taught in your common schools, narrated at your firesides, unfolded from your pulpits, and thundered from your legislative halls, and are as familiar to you as household words. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.. I will not equivocate. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. 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. Is that a question for Republicans? Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. His own testimony is nothing. 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. 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? Frederick Douglass Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. 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 have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The Fugitive SlaveLawmakes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. Though a biting My subject then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. That point is conceded already. What, then, remains to be argued? 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? Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. 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 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. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. This Fourth [of] July isyours, notmine. They are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them; and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. 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 and question and to denounce with all the emphasis I can command everything that serves to perpetuate slavery, the great sin and shame of America. I think that, in whatever else I may be deficient, I have I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. You may rejoice. Frederick Douglass July Fourth Speech Full Text: Read WebIn this speech, Frederick Douglass reflected on how the outpouring of joy at the conclusion of the Civil War turned to mourning with Lincolns assassination. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. welcome anything! Would you persuade more and rebuke less? Create a better, more engaging experience for every student. 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. 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. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. 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. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. But I admit, where all is plain, there is nothing to be argued. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. 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 and write. They were not the men to look back. O! What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. 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! The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. 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. 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. Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. Fellows citizens, pardon me and allow me to ask, why am I called to speak here today? Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. 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? Your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless, your shouts of Liberty and equality, hallow mocked, your prayers and hymns your sermons and Thanksgivings with all your religious parade in solemnity are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, a thin veil to cover up crimes, which would disgrace a nation of savages. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. Who can reason on such a proposition? 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. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. Douglass views the monument and the day's ceremonies as reflecting honor upon African 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. Speech be warned! All Rights Reserved. Community Reading: Frederick Douglass's "What 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. Speech The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. 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. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? 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. Who can reason on such a proposition? Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. 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. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. WebFrederick Douglass speech What to a Slave is the Fourth of July effectively argues against slavery. We are called upon to prove that we are men. I cannot. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! A Nation's Story: What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? You know what is a swine-drover? Discover why Rev is the #1 speech-to-text service in the world. 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. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? 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! That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. I am not that man. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen. Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. I will not excuse. 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. 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. Go search where you will. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear butoneside; andthatside, is the side of the oppressor. Full transcript of the famous speech What to the Slave is the 4th of July? by Frederick Douglass. These rules are well established. Oh! 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. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Copyright 2023 Interactive One, LLC. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. Space is comparatively annihilated. Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. 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.. Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. WebAn excerpt from the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech given for the anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. Mark them! Heat and sorrow have nearly consumed their strength; suddenly you hear a quick snap, like the discharge of a rifle; the fetters clank, and the chain rattles simultaneously; your ears are saluted with a scream, that seems to have torn its way to the center of your soul! Many of you understand them better than I do. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. Speech-to-Text live streaming for live captions, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition API. 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! "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has "The Lessons of the Hour" Speech by Frederick Douglass I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. The manhood of the slave is conceded. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? 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. Our Composite Nation: Frederick Douglass America They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity. 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! They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. Frederick Douglass 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! Oh, had I, the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would today pour out a fiery steam of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. 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. There, the church, true to its mission of ameliorating, elevating, and improving the condition of mankind, came forward promptly, bound up the wounds of the West Indian slave, and restored him to his liberty. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. Frederick Douglass: (09:38) But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers yourUnion. Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. The country was poor in the munitions of war. Frederick Douglass' Descendants Read His Famous The din of business, too, is hushed. 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. Fellow-citizens! By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass The most accurate AI-powered transcription on the market. Even Mammon seems to have quitted his grasp on this day. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. As the sheet anchor takes a firmer hold, when the ship is tossed by the storm, so did the cause of your fathers grow stronger, as it breasted the chilling blasts of kingly displeasure. They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! Frederick Douglass: (05:02) 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. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! 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. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. 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. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. 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. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains!