Oppression makes a wise man mad. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. 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. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. There is blasphemy in the thought. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. WebCelebrating 200 years of Frederick Douglass. 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.
Frederick Douglass 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. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. Is that a question for Republicans? 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! Your broad republican domain is hunting ground formen. Web"The Lessons of the Hour" Speech by Frederick Douglass, January 9, 1894 Friends and Fellow Citizens : No man should come before an audience like the one by whose presence I am now honored, without a noble object and a fixed and earnest purpose. The propriety of the nation must be startled. Nobody doubts it. The drove moves tardily. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. Fellow-citizens! 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. Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of You could instruct me in regard to them. 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. 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. The manhood of the slave is conceded. 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. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. 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. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. There is blasphemy in the thought. 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.
A Plea for Free Speech in Boston (1860) | Constitution Center They were not the men to look back. Let this damning fact be perpetually told.
Frederick Douglass' Descendants Read His Famous The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Yea! If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. 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. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. My spirit wearies of such blasphemy; and how such men can be supported, as the standing types and representatives of Jesus Christ, is a mystery which I leave others to penetrate. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. They inhabit all our Southern States. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! The most accurate AI-powered transcription on the market. That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You were under the British Crown. Mark them! They, that can, may. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . What?
speech 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. These rules are well established. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. 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.
Frederick Douglass WebOn December 3, 1860, Frederick Douglass and a group of fellow abolitionists met at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston for a discussion centered around the following Yet they persevered. 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. 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. 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. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. 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.
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass: (04:09) But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and 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. They did so in the form of a resolution; and as we seldom hit upon resolutions, drawn up in our day whose transparency is at all equal to this, it may refresh your minds and help my story if I read it. 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 No, I will not. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. During On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea with all the authority of national sanction. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor!
Frederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) 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? The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, and Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropy. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery the great sin and shame of America! Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. The style and title of your sovereign people (in which you now glory) was not then born. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? 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. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. You live and must die, and you must do your work. I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.
VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' 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. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. 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. For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? 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! 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. Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. WebA speech celebrating both Lincoln and African Americans freedom wrought by Lincoln. I do not hesitate to declare with all my soul that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? 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! I am not that man. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion.
Frederick Douglass July Fourth Speech Full Text: Read 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. 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. Frederick Douglass: (09:38) And yet not one word shall escape me that any man whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice or who is not at heart, a slaveholder shall not confess to be right and just. 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. 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? There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. But, besides general considerations, there were peculiar circumstances which make the advent of this republic an event of special attractiveness. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. 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. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. His death, according to Douglass was not only tragic, but also prevented recently freed slaves and African Americans from gaining the ear of wise and well-intentioned leader. Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. 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. Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. The time for such argument is past. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July!
A Nation's Story: What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. Frederick Douglass: (05:02) I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor. be warned! Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. 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. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. Its the news, without the news. Under Title 17 U.S.C. But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. It is neither. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. 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? 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.