Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. WebIn December 1860, the great American orator and former slave Frederick Douglass delivered one of his finest speeches, A Plea for Free Speech in Boston. In it, he boldly declared that liberty is meaningless where the right to utter ones thoughts and Frederick Douglass' Descendants Read His Famous 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 argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? 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. be warned! It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. 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, There is blasphemy in the thought. 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. Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved.. Celebrating Frederick Douglass through Transcription Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" Speech Transcript The propriety of the nation must be startled. Standing here identified with the American bondsmen, making his wrongs mine. 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. But, to proceed. You know what is a swine-drover? 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. Follow the drove to New Orleans. Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! 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. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! When a sufficient number have been collected here, a ship is chartered, for the purpose of conveying the forlorn crew to Mobile, or to New Orleans. Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. 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. The slave holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. Calculate how much it costs to transcribe, caption, or subtitle your content. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. 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. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. 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! As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent African-American professional men in celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.After the toast provided by former Senator Blanche K. Bruce, 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? The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. 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. WebFrederick Douglass, July 5, 1852 INTRODUCTION (Exordium) 1. At a time like this, scorching irony not convincing argument is needed. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has 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? A John Knox would be seen at every church door, and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quarter than was shown by Knox, to the beautiful, but treacherous queen Mary of Scotland. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. How unlike the politicians of an hour! To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. 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. in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! Do you mean citizens to mock me by asking me to speak today? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? "The Lessons of the Hour" Speech by Frederick Douglass 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. 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. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. 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. 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. 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. 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. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. 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. WebFrederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) O! I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. All Rights Reserved. For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. I have detained my audience entirely too long already. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. WebBoth anniversaries remind us that the fight for independence and equality did not end in the 18th century - a theme highlighted in Douglass speech. I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by England; but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present ruler. Its the news, without the news. Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. This is a primary source reading analysis of Frederick Douglass' famous speech. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? The feeling of the nation must be quickened. A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! Frederick Douglass delivered 'best Fourth of July speech in The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. Douglass views the monument and the day's ceremonies as reflecting honor upon African In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry; buthow, we ask, could such a thing be done? Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. 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! These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. My soul sickens at the sight. Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. We need the storm. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. His own testimony is nothing. 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. There is blasphemy in the thought. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market. I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will use the severest language I can command; 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. They were great in their day and generation. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Oration by Frederick Douglass, delivered on the occasion of the Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. Like our content? They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. Is a matter, the set with great difficulty involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. Many of its most eloquent Divines. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our DOCTORS OF DIVINITY. The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass 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. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! 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 shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slaves point of view. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. Fellow-citizens! They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. He can bring no witnesses for himself. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. No! They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. 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. 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. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. I will not. 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. 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. Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to Rob them of their Liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with ions, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? As with rivers so with nations. 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. And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. 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, Nobody doubts it. Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. 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. This is esteemed by some as a national trait perhaps a national weakness. Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. Is that a question for Republicans? The message of Frederick Douglasss 1852 speech on the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures. Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. Yea! Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. I am not that man. You could instruct me in regard to them. That, which is inhuman cannot be divine. Frederick Douglass July Fourth Speech Full Text: Read 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. I will show you a man-drover. Americans! Frederick Douglass: (05:02) They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. 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. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear butoneside; andthatside, is the side of the oppressor. Frederick Douglass: (06:03) Who can reason on such a proposition? Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. Frederick Douglass: (01:08) Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. 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. One is struck with the difference between the attitude of the American church towards the anti-slavery movement, and that occupied by the churches in England towards a similar movement in that country. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Speech 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. You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill. But I admit, where all is plain, there is nothing to be argued. Space is comparatively annihilated. 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. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. 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. 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. 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. What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. 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. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. Yet they persevered. 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. But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was a social reformer and advocate, abolitionist, orator, writer, minister, and statesman. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. 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. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. Speech 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.