Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. Mark them! 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. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. 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. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. we wept when we remembered Zion. 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. But, to proceed. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Oh, had I, the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would today pour out a fiery steam of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. You were under the British Crown. It was a startling idea, much more so, than we, at this distance of time, regard it. Frederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. Douglass gave this speech to a group of abolitionists 168 years ago. 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 not the men to look back. 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. 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. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. Oh! Many of you understand them better than I do. 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. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Fromwhat quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? This certainly sounds large, and out of the common way, for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. 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. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. 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. In order to put an end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and establish themselves on the western coast of Africa! Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. You have no right to enjoy a childs share in the labor of your fathers, unless your children are to be blest by your labors. Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. There is blasphemy in the thought. The Best Speech-to-Text Solution for Your Business Learn how Rev fits into your businesses workflow. Fellows citizens, pardon me and allow me to ask, why am I called to speak here today? Speech 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. For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. 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. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. During They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. 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. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? 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. Standing here identified with the American bondsmen, making his wrongs mine. I repeat, I am glad this is so. in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! 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. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. The ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. What then remains to be argued? It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. 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.. And am I therefore called upon to bring our humble offering to the national alter and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? 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! This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. For who is there so cold that a nation sympathy cannot warm him, who so adore it and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. You may well cherish the memory of such men. 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! Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. 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? I cannot. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! I will use the severest language I can command. Would you argue more and denounce less? They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. 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. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. Their opposition to the then dangerous thought was earnest and powerful; but, amid all their terror and affrighted vociferations against it, the alarming and revolutionary idea moved on, and the country with it. Is slavery among them? 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. 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.. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. And while slavery has long been abolished and outlawed, the sentiment behind the address still applies in many unfortunate ways when it comes to the overall Black experience in America. 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. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' This is a primary source reading analysis of Frederick Douglass' famous speech. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. We need the storm. The message of Frederick Douglasss 1852 speech on the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nations Jubilee when the chains of servitude have been torn from his limbs? Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. You may rejoice. Frederick Douglass: (01:08) There is not a nation of the earth, guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. Speech-to-Text live streaming for live captions, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition API. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation? Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. 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! The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. I have detained my audience entirely too long already. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. 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. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. The document is in the form of a Google Docs so it has a translation tool, dictionary, and voice to text. Is a matter, the set with great difficulty involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment. 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. 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. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
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