frederick douglass speech transcript

On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? You may well cherish the memory of such men. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Frederick Douglass: (06:03) 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! It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. I am not that man. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. If I do forget, if I do not 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. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. Oh! 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. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. 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. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. Youmay rejoice,Imust mourn. Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. 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. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? 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. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. 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Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has welcome atheism! 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. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms. What would be thought of an instrument, drawn up, legally drawn up, for the purpose of entitling the city of Rochester to a track of land, in which no mention of land was made? 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? To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. 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? WebFrederick Douglass speech What to a Slave is the Fourth of July effectively argues against slavery. 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? Convert your audio or video into 99% accurate text by a professional. If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. 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. 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. It is a fact, that whatever makes for the wealth or for the reputation of Americans, and can be had cheap! There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. 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. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear butoneside; andthatside, is the side of the oppressor. What to the American slave is your 4th of July? I am not included within the pales of this glorious anniversary. The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. One of the parts of the speech that resonates with me the most is when Douglass says: What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.. Standing here identified with the American bondsmen, making his wrongs mine. weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. 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. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. I hold that every American citizen has a right to form an opinion of the constitution, and to propagate that opinion, and to use all honorable means to make his opinion the prevailing one. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. 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. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. 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. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. Would you argue more and denounce less? VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost.

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