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: (00:26) Speech-to-Text live streaming for live captions, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition API. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. That he is the rightful owner of his own body? I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. Such people lived then, had lived before, and will, probably, ever have a place on this planet; and their course, in respect to any great change, (no matter how great the good to be attained, or the wrong to be redressed by it), may be calculated with as much precision as can be the course of the stars. How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. That point is conceded already. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! Yet they persevered. Oh! I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor. 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! See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! The din of business, too, is hushed. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who But, to proceed. welcome atheism! For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. At some future period I will gladly avail myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion. There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. What, then, remains to be argued? 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. 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. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. 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.. Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. Would you argue more and denounce less? Yea! They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. President John F. Kennedy On July 4, 1962 President John F. Kennedy delivered this speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. 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, Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. 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. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was a social reformer and advocate, abolitionist, orator, writer, minister, and statesman. 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. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? Frederick Douglass: (06:03) What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. 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 slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. 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! You declare, before the world, and are understood by the world to declare, that you hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and yet, you hold securely, in a bondage which, according to your own Thomas Jefferson, is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose, aseventh partof the inhabitants of your country. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. Roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world. 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. Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. 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. Transcript Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 168 years ago. who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this Fugitive Slave Law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. 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. With head, and heart, and hand Ill strive, 8 Times Obama Showed Trump How Presidents Are Supposed To Celebrate The Fourth Of July, Welcome To The Cookout: 10 Lit Movies To Watch During July Fourth Holiday Weekend, 'Dilbert' Comic Creator Calls Black People A 'Hate Group,' Urges Segregation So Whites Can 'Escape', Bernie Mac Show Star Camille Winbush Is Not Ashamed Of Joining OnlyFans, Kyle Rittenhouse Faces 2nd Civil Lawsuit, Continues To Beg For Money From His Supporters, Ben Stein's 'Aunt Jemima' Rant Is A Master Class On White Privilege, Why Did tWitch Kill Himself? The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. They that can, may; I cannot. 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. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. The Fugitive SlaveLawmakes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? 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. When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. Read the full text below of the sage words from one of the greatest orators of all time. They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? Read its preamble, consider its purposes. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. It has been denounced with burning words, from the high places of the nation, as an execrable traffic. The text of Frederick Douglasss most famous speech, given in 1852, What, to a slave, is the Fourth of July? A chapter describing Douglasss early encounters with abolitionists, from his autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom, 1857. 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. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. 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. The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. During To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. I will show you a man-drover. 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! There is blasphemy in the thought. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide 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. Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. WATCH VIDEO: Should Black Americans Celebrate Independence Day? Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! The fiat of the Almighty, Let there be Light, has not yet spent its force. The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. It was, Milloy continued, a critique of a nation that claimed to hold dear the principles of freedom, justice and equality even as it enslaved black people.. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. 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 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. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. Space is comparatively annihilated. 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. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. I was born amid such sights and scenes. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. You shed tears over fallen Hungary, and make the sad story of her wrongs the theme of your poets, statesmen and orators, till your gallant sons are ready to fly to arms to vindicate her cause against her oppressors; but, in regard to the ten thousand wrongs of the American slave, you would enforce the strictest silence, and would hail him as an enemy of the nation who dares to make those wrongs the subject of public discourse! Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! Is that a question for Republicans? Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. 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! 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. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. Americans! 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 neither. 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 or to write. 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. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. Frederick Douglass: (06:44) These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. They were great in their day and generation. 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. Frederick Douglass: (01:08) Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. 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. 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. 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. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. 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? Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The style and title of your sovereign people (in which you now glory) was not then born. Oppression makes a wise man mad. 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. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. 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. But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented. or is it in the temple? 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. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? Did this law concern the mint, anise, and cumin abridge the right to sing psalms, to partake of the sacrament, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. America is false to the past, false to the present and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Your cause would be much more likely to succeed. What then remains to be argued? Let it be thundered around the world, that, in tyrant-killing, king-hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats of justice are filled with judges, who hold their offices under an open and palpablebribe, and are bound, in deciding in the case of a mans liberty,hear only his accusers! We need the storm. 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. I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. Is it that slavery is not divine, that God did not establish it, that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Descendants of Frederick Douglass read excerpts from one of his most famous speeches: What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Frederick Douglass: (10:31) They were not the men to look back. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. We are called upon to prove that we are men. The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, and Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropy. He is a bird for the sportsmans gun. How unlike the politicians of an hour! Frederick Douglass: (07:35) Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. 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. He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, 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. 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. 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. The time for such argument is passed. To do so would be to make myself ridiculous and to offer an insult to your understanding. The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. Frederick Douglass: (04:09) Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. be warned! Full transcript of the famous speech What to the Slave is the 4th of July? by Frederick Douglass. Fellow-citizens! Mark them! Frederick Douglass: (02:13) We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. The most accurate AI-powered transcription on the market. 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! Let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds; and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceive.
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