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On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea with all the authority of national sanction. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. Its quite a remarkable speech as Douglass in a way reenacts his own journey in appreciation for the work that Lincoln did, not just for blacks, but for whites in this country. 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. For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. What, then, remains to be argued? 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. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. I am not that man. 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. The time for such argument is past. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? 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. 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. Speech Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. Would you argue more and denounce less? I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! I doubt if there be another nation on the globe, having the brass and the baseness to put such a law on the statute-book. They that can, may; I cannot. Speech What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? I will not. Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. 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. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. This Fourth [of] July isyours, notmine. 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. 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. Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Space is comparatively annihilated. By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? 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. 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, 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. Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. You could instruct me in regard to them. 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. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. 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.. They inhabit all our Southern States. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent Many of you understand them better than I do. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. 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. Ex-Vice-President Dallas tells us that the Constitution is an object to which no American mind can be too attentive, and no American heart too devoted. 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. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. Douglass views the monument and the day's ceremonies as reflecting honor upon African But I admit, where all is plain, there is nothing 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. Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God. In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: Th oppressd shall vilely bend the knee. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. They were not the men to look back. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. Copyright 2023 Interactive One, LLC. There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. My subject then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. Albert Barnes but uttered what the common sense of every man at all observant of the actual state of the case will receive as truth, when he declared that There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it.. 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. I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! WebAn excerpt from the 1847 Frederick Douglass speech given for the anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. 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! To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. 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. Speech This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. Frederick Douglass July Fourth Speech Full Text: Read The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. 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. 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. 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, From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. I shall not be charged with slandering Americans, if I say I think the American side of any question may be safely left in American hands. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? 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. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . What? The questions are designed to provoke thought and guide the students through the document. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, not religion. This is esteemed by some as a national trait perhaps a national weakness. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Frederick Douglass At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. 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? The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! He can bring no witnesses for himself. 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. 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.