In speaking of the American church, however, let it be distinctly understood that I mean the great mass of the religious organizations of our land. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. Douglass equates this to being worse than many other things that are banned, in particular, books and plays that are banned for infidelity. 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." The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. Great Britain, and many other countries of that time, had already abolished slavery from its territories. He validates the feelings of injustice the Founders felt then juxtaposes their experiences with vivid descriptions of the harshness of slavery.[21]. Douglass believed that slavery could be eliminated with the support of the church, and also with the reexamination of what the Bible was actually saying. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. Many of its most eloquent Divines. The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our DOCTORS OF DIVINITY. With this product, you can choose to either have your students read the entire speech and annotate and analyze Douglass' rhetorical devices or you can choose to have your students read shorter excerpts from the speech and do an abbreviated annotation and analysis of rhetorical devices. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. He had delivered a series of seven lectures about slavery there in the winter of 185051. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, lowering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! 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. "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" remains one of the most effective and poignant condemnations of slavery in the canon of American abolitionist literature, a tribute to the moral character and oratorical skills of Frederick Douglass. 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? 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. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future, Douglass said. GAZETTE: Why is it important to do this kind of community-building work at a local level? But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation's historythe very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. However, if slavery were abolished and equal rights given to all, that would no longer be the case. He can bring no witnesses for himself. Assignment in book chapter School Alief Early College High School Course English language and literature (ELL2002) Uploaded by God Academic year2021/2022 Helpful? 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. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. 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). It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. Kate Harris Date Published September 28, 2016 Last Modified November 14, 2021 Description. Frederick Douglass, circa 1879. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. Your President, your Secretary of State, your lords, nobles, and ecclesiastics, enforce, as a duty you owe to your free and glorious country, and to your God, that you do this accursed thing. ROY:One of the things that Douglass writings shows us is that he believed in amplifying a variety of voices. But its quite another to change the way you see yourself and to grow into a person deeply committed to long-term interracial coalition building. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. Initially mentored by William Lloyd Garrison, Douglass My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. 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. And it also imposed severe penalties on anyone who helped enslaved people to escape. The Fugitive Slave Law makes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. He also wrote a letter to Ida B. He is outraged by the lack of responsibility and indifference towards slavery that many sects have taken around the nation. Building off of this, Douglass criticizes the Fugitive Slave Act, holding that in this act, "slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form." What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. The drove moves tardily. GAZETTE: What is the historical setting for this speech, and why did Douglass focus on the Fourth of July? What to the Slave is the Fourth of July | Historical Context The Colonial regime paved way for the transportation of slaves from different parts of the world, mostly from the African continent to work in southern states of America on cash crop plantations that generated a great source of income. 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. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. Yea! To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. 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? These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour.Fellow-citizens! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more. [10] Douglass had spoken at Corinthian Hall in the past. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act had passed Congress as part of the broader Compromise of 1850. Your broad republican domain is hunting ground for men. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? From what quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market. 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. In spite of his praise of the Founding Fathers, he maintains that slaves owe nothing to and have no positive feelings towards the founding of the United States. Essentially, Douglass criticizes his audience's pride for a nation that claims to value freedom though it is composed of people who continuously commit atrocities against Blacks. PDF. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles. [11] Additionally, he had spoken there less than three months prior to this speech, on March 25. 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? be warned! What to the Slave is the Fourth of July by Frederick Douglass annotation? 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. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. The speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" was delivered in the decade preceding the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865 and achieved the abolition of slavery. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. More than 150 years later, Keidrick Roy, a doctoral student in American Studies at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a U.S. Air Force veteran, will host a virtual community reading and discussion of the storied speech at the Somerville Museum on Thursday as part of the annual state-wide MassHumanities program Reading Frederick Douglass Together.. Another remarkable thing about Douglass is that he was an early champion of voting rights for women. The occasion was the Society's Fourth of July celebration, but Douglass refused to give the speech on July 4; he would not celebrate the holiday so long as African Americans remained enslaved. [8] Frederick Douglass had moved to Rochester in 1847 in order to publish his newspaper The North Star. $ 3.60. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. 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. 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. [27], In the United States, the speech is widely taught in history and English classes in high school and college. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Douglass then pivots to the present, stating that "We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future". Douglass addressed a part of the population for which the day had huge significance the true independence, he argues, is not for the American people, but for the American slave. In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. How should I look to-day, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? You may rejoice, I must mourn. 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. Douglass also stresses the view that slaves and free Americans are equal in nature. Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" in 1852, drawing parallels between the Revolutionary War and the fight to abolish slavery. [5], A statue of Douglass erected in Rochester in 2018 was torn down on July 5, 2020the 168th anniversary of the speech. 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. 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.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. 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