Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other. 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." America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future, Douglass said. Were not only going to be reading books like White Fragility, and Divided by Faith, but were also going to read and watch a number of speeches by Martin Luther King Jr., and documentaries like 13th and King in the Wilderness, as we try to get at the root of racial division so we can come together to remove it. 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. From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. The manhood of the slave is conceded. 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, and not a vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love and good will towards man. 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. Oppression makes a wise man mad. 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. Because the church stood behind the decision to abolish the selling and buying of people, so did the rest of the country. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. Products. [20]:345He also attempts to demonstrate the irony of their inability to sympathize with the Black people they oppressed in cruel ways that the forefathers they valorized never experienced. Yea! Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. I will not. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? 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. 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. Over 150,000 persons were sold between 1820 and 1830, and over 300,000 were sold between 1850 and 1860.[15]. Frederick Douglass, born a slave and later the most influential African American leader of the 1800s, addresses the hypocrisy of the US of maintaining slavery with its upheld ideals being freedom and independence on July 4th, 1852. There is blasphemy in the thought. Nobody doubts it. weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! 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. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. The speech has since been published under the above title in The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series One, Vol. 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. So its important that our city and our society are outraged by the recent murders of unarmed black people. He says that, if anything, many churches actually stand behind slavery and support the continued existence of the institution. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. that it should be so; yet so it is. [5] Many copies of one section of it, beginning in paragraph 32, have been circulated online. They inhabit all our Southern States. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. He wrote a glowing letter of encouragement to Harriet Tubman, which served as the preface to Sarah Bradfords 1869 biography about Tubmans life. 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.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. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act had passed Congress as part of the broader Compromise of 1850. Alison Drasner, the project coordinator for the Somerville Museum, teamed up with Dave Ortega at the Somerville Media Center to prerecord voices of 50 Somerville residents, including my 7-year-old daughter, Charlotte, to read sections of the speech. But now is the time, the important time. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. Where these are, man is not sacred. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour.Fellow-citizens! That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! [7], The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1851. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. Follow the drove to New Orleans. Frederick Douglass, ca 1855, Metropolitan Museum of Art. the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles. Is slavery among them? It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year, by dealers in this horrid traffic. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. 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. He is outraged by the lack of responsibility and indifference towards slavery that many sects have taken around the nation. He is a bird for the sportsmans gun. 00 Comments Please sign inor registerto post comments. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. This year is pretty challenging in the wake of COVID-19, and the event is going to be held online instead of before a live audience like we did last year. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. be warned! Random House. Douglass denounces the churches for betraying their own biblical and Christian values. He talks about how Americans are proud of their country and their religion and how they rejoice in the name of freedom and liberty and yet they do not offer those things to millions of their country's residents. 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. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. In the end, Douglass wants to keep his hope and faith in humanity high. Students also viewed In short, it gave the federal government an active role in maintaining the Souths system of slavery. One small step toward understanding gravity, Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. ROY: The event that were doing in Somerville puts pressure on whitewashed conceptions of the Fourth of July, as many people to this day still view it as a celebration of American food, fireworks, and freedom. 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. 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. Space is comparatively annihilated. Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. Kate Harris Date Published September 28, 2016 Last Modified November 14, 2021 Description. 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. The fate of many a slave has depended upon the turn of a single card; and many a child has been snatched from the arms of its mother by bargains arranged in a state of brutal drunkenness.The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. [10] Douglass had spoken at Corinthian Hall in the past. Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. 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! He praises them because they were great men. Douglass also stresses the view that slaves and free Americans are equal in nature. He wrote and presented a speech that challenged . For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. There should be no shoulder that does not bear the burden of the government. He had a prophetic vision for the future that he was always trying to work toward. Summary of Part 1:In part one of the speech "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July", Fredrick Douglass. You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the mere tools and body-guards of the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work The downfall of slavery. [16][17] Finally, the Act did not allow the accused individual of defending themselves in court. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? 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, a seventh part of the inhabitants of your country.Fellow-citizens! Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. 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. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? 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). 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. 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! It is said that America is built on the idea of liberty and freedom, but Douglass tells his audience that more than anything, it is built on inconsistencies and hypocrisies that have been overlooked for so long they appear to be truths. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. official permission or approval. 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? The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisya thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? These people were called Tories in the days of your fathers. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Douglass then returns to the topic of the founding of the United States. Yet this is but a glance at the American slave-trade, as it exists, at this moment, in the ruling part of the United States. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. 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. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. ROY:One of the things that Douglass writings shows us is that he believed in amplifying a variety of voices. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. 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. 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! I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! 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. [Throughout the speech] Douglass looks at the contradictions between the reality of slavery and the lofty claims of a just society outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. [8] Frederick Douglass had moved to Rochester in 1847 in order to publish his newspaper The North Star. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. 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. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs. Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. 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