Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. . 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 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. [20]:344. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. 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. Douglass' speech came just 11 years before Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation hitting a poignant point in American history through his targeting of the slave as a crucial figure in desperate need of independence. He became a leader in the abolitionist movement, which sought to end the practice of slavery, before and during the Civil War. In this collection, students will review the life of Frederick Douglass and learn about one of his most famous speeches, "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro" (it is also commonly referred to as "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July). Great Britain, and many other countries of that time, had already abolished slavery from its territories. Is that a question for Republicans? 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. In a Fourth of July holiday special, we begin with the words of Frederick Douglass. Douglass addressed a part of the population for which the day had huge significance the true independence, he argues, is not for the American people, but for the American slave. Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. Must we allow symbols of racism on public land? So its important that our city and our society are outraged by the recent murders of unarmed black people. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. How digital misinformation may keep you from a good nights sleep, Study finds surgical patients with addiction issues may be at greater risk for complications, including sudden cardiac death after anesthesia, Khalil Gibran Muhammad says College Board needs to stand firm behind curriculum, Chief counsel of respected mid-70s Senate inquiry into improper federal investigations says credibility of oversight function at stake, 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, By Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite Harvard Staff Writer, 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. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. Frederick Douglass, a well-known Black writer, orator, and abolitionist was asked to address an anti-slavery group on the July 4 holiday in 1852. In that speech, he cast the abolitionist movement as being engaged in a "War" against defenders of slavery. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? The speech 'What to the Slaves is the Fourth of July' projected the American Day of Independence from a slave's point of view and brought to light the horrific experiences of slavery. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. If any man in this assembly thinks differently from me in this matter, and feels able to disprove my statements, I will gladly confront him at any suitable time and place he may select.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.At the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, and for the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly worthless to a world lying in wickedness. The founding fathers left black people and women out of these rights for "everyone." The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear but one side; and that side, is the side of the oppressor. Space is comparatively annihilated. But its quite another to change the way you see yourself and to grow into a person deeply committed to long-term interracial coalition building. The right of the hunter to his prey stands superior to the right of marriage, and to all rights in this republic, the rights of God included! nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, the slave plantation, from which I escaped, and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you, This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. The audience must fulfill what the founders of the country advocated. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. That is a question Frederick Douglass posed 169 Julys ago in a speech to a group of abolitionists, one that's become perhaps his most famous. GAZETTE: What is the historical setting for this speech, and why did Douglass focus on the Fourth of July? that he is the rightful owner of his own body? What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented. 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. In an 1868 speech, he said, No man should be excluded from the government on the basis of his color, no woman on account of her sex. Students also viewed 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. Douglass argues that religion is the center of the problem but also the main solution to it. I lived on Philpot Street, Fells Point, Baltimore, and have watched from the wharves, the slave ships in the Basin, anchored from the shore, with their cargoes of human flesh, waiting for favorable winds to waft them down the Chesapeake. Advertisement for the pamphlet of Douglass' speech from the July 12, 1852 edition of Frederick Douglass' Paper (formerly The North Star), Douglass begins by saying that the fathers of the nation were great statesmen, and that the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence were "saving principles", and the "ringbolt of your nation's destiny", stating, "stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost." You may rejoice, I must mourn. The fiat of the Almighty, Let there be Light, has not yet spent its force. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, and Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropy. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. You will see one of these human flesh-jobbers, armed with pistol, whip and bowie-knife, driving a company of a hundred men, women, and children, from the Potomac to the slave market at New Orleans. Douglass was a former slave of the 19th century and soon became a leader during the Abolitionist Movement. He celebrates the efforts of the founding fathers of America for fighting back against the tyranny of England.[18]. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. While drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. I am not that man. 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? in preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines! I will show you a man-drover. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? [28][29] The head of the organization responsible for the memorial speculated that it was vandalized in response to the removal of Confederate monuments in the wake of the George Floyd protests.[30]. Your President, your Secretary of State, your lords, nobles, and ecclesiastics, enforce, as a duty you owe to your free and glorious country, and to your God, that you do this accursed thing. 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. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. The anguish of my boyish heart was intense; and I was often consoled, when speaking to my mistress in the morning, to hear her say that the custom was very wicked; that she hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the heart-rending cries. [8] Frederick Douglass had moved to Rochester in 1847 in order to publish his newspaper The North Star. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Follow the drove to New Orleans. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? be warned! we wept when we remembered Zion. [13] Although the import of people directly from Africa had been banned in 1807,[14] the domestic slave trade, still legal, was thriving. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? What is now known as the "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. Not fewer than forty Americans have, within the past two years, been hunted down and, without a moments warning, hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery and excruciating torture. 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. The Bible addresses all such persons as scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. GAZETTE: This is your second year as host of Reading Frederick Douglass Together in Somerville. You can bare your bosom to the storm of British artillery to throw off a threepenny tax on tea; and yet wring the last hard-earned farthing from the grasp of the black laborers of your country. ARI . When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. 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. 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. 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! [10] Douglass had spoken at Corinthian Hall in the past. Easel Activity. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? The time for such argument is passed.At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. 2003. 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? Genius is the ultimate source of music knowledge, created by scholars like you who share facts and insight about the songs and artists they love. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? If youre not a person of color, its one thing to go to a couple of events or protests, or to read a few articles and move on. 5.0. Assignment in book chapter School Alief Early College High School Course English language and literature (ELL2002) Uploaded by God Academic year2021/2022 Helpful? sanction. I repeat, I am glad this is so. Douglass believed that slavery could be eliminated with the support of the church, and also with the reexamination of what the Bible was actually saying. What will this years event be like? Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. The 4th of July Address, delivered in Corinthian Hall, by Frederick Douglass, is published on good paper, and makes a neat pamphlet of forty pages. 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! This act forced citizens to report people who had escaped their enslavement and escaped to a free state, under punishment of a fine or imprisonment. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! During the 1850's, the Fourth of July served as a reminder of the many horrors and injustices in the world. Youll never experience a black hole, but Avi Loeb can help you imagine one, We need individual events like reading Douglass, but we also need to be thinking about ways to extend this conversation over the long term., Level of cannabis use could determine post-op outcomes, Historian says Fla. dispute shows why AP class in African American studies is needed, Why Church Committee alums urged new House panel to avoid partisanship, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Rewriting history to include all of it this time. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! You know what is a swine-drover? 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. He argues that the Constitution does not permit slavery, contrary to the claims of contemporary defenders of the institution. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? Is it at the gateway? 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. Building off of this, Douglass criticizes the Fugitive Slave Act, holding that in this act, "slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form." [20]:346 To prove evidence of these inconsistencies, as one historian noted, during the speech Douglass claims that the United States Constitution is an abolitionist document and not a pro-slavery document.[22][23][24]. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. On July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass-- a former American slave, abolitionist leader and adroit speaker-- spoke in Rochester, New York about the affectation of celebrating independence. The4th of July is the first great fact in your nation's history the very ringbolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destinyPride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetualremembrance. Sydney Smith tells us that men seldom eulogize the wisdom and virtues of their fathers, but to excuse some folly or wickedness of their own. By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, Mason and Dixons line has been obliterated, Did this law concern the mint, anise, and cumin. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. Summary of Part 1:In part one of the speech "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July", Fredrick Douglass. 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, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. 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 which is inhuman, cannot be divine! On 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 orator, often traveling six months out of the year to give lectures on abolition. 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. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. 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.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.Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. 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. Not everyone. 2. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. However, if slavery were abolished and equal rights given to all, that would no longer be the case. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! [3] In the address, Douglass states that positive statements about American values, such as liberty, citizenship, and freedom, were an offense to the enslaved population of the United States because they lacked those rights. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. or is it in the temple? In spite of his praise of the Founding Fathers, he maintains that slaves owe nothing to and have no positive feelings towards the founding of the United States. To the slave, Douglass tells the audience, "your 4th of July is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license [for enslaving blacks] . But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. 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. The speech notes the contradiction of the national ethos of United States and the way enslaved persons are treated. Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. But we also need to invest as a city and as a society into reading and learning more about the present realities of oppressed peoples. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our DOCTORS OF DIVINITY. I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. He argues that though the international slave trade is correctly decried as abhorrent, the people of the United States are far less vocal in their opposition to domestic slave trade. It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago, for the children of Jacob to boast, we have Abraham to our father, when they had long lost Abrahams faith and spirit. We need individual events like reading Douglass, but we also need to be thinking about ways to extend this conversation over the long term. 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. A major theme of the speech is how America is not living up to its proclaimed beliefs. Panel on dispossession of African Americans says burying truth keeps Black Americans dispossessed, Legal scholar and historian puts the push to remove Confederate statues in context, Members of the community share memories, plans, hopes for the holiday, Quantum computing simulation reveals possible wormhole-like dynamics. In the end, Douglass wants to keep his hope and faith in humanity high. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. 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. He is a bird for the sportsmans gun. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! 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 arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. 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 of Him by whom the professed to he called to the ministry, deliberately taught us, against the example or the Hebrews and against the remonstrance of the Apostles, they teach that we ought to obey mans law before the law of God.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. To all, that would no longer be the case child, my soul was often pierced a! 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