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To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. I cannot. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. 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? It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. Travel through South America. Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, newspaper publisher, and respected abolitionist. His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their arrival, through the papers, and on flaming hand-bills, headed CASH FOR NEGROES. in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! If I do forget, if I do not faithfully 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! To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. For it is not light that is needed, but fire. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. But, such is not the state of the case. The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. Fellow-citizens! 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. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. 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. As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglasss life and the evolution of his thought in this period. Short bio of Frederick Douglass The Frederick Douglass Papers Library of Congress The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. 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. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. 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. How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. I am not that man. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. 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. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? Is slavery among them? All Rights Reserved. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. 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? That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. Prayers are made, hymns are sung, and sermons are preached in honor of this day; while the quick martial tramp of a great and multitudinous nation, echoed back by all the hills, valleys and mountains of a vast continent, bespeak the occasion one of thrilling and universal interest a nations jubilee. 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. Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. 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. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, thenwill I argue with you that the slave is a man! Towards the end of whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. 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. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and 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. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. 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. Juneteenth Reading List: 10 Books To Learn More About Black Independence Day, Your email will be shared with newsone.com and subject to its, 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, . What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. Industry-leading accurate legal transcription to ensure you dont miss a statement. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. 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. Where these are, man is not sacred. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, 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! 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. The Bible addresses all such persons as scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe ofmint, anise,andcumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. 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, Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Read the full text below of the sage words from one of the greatest orators of all time. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! 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. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. I scout the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. The Fugitive SlaveLawmakes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. Create a better, more engaging experience for every student. Full transcript of the famous speech What to the Slave is the 4th of July? by Frederick Douglass. The document is in the form of a Google Docs so it has a translation tool, dictionary, and voice to text. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations history the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. The style and title of your sovereign people (in which you now glory) was not then born. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? The Best Speech-to-Text Solution for Your Business Learn how Rev fits into your businesses workflow. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, andthugs. Frederick Douglass: (04:09) Go search where you will. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? That, which is inhuman cannot be divine. 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. Calculate how much it costs to transcribe, caption, or subtitle your content. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. WebDescription. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. Many of its most eloquent Divines. You have already declared it. This Fourth [of] July isyours, notmine. They were great men too great enough to give fame to a great age. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. 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. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. 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. The fiat of the Almighty, Let there be Light, has not yet spent its force. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? 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, I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. WATCH VIDEO: Should Black Americans Celebrate Independence Day? Extend your content reach and maximize your engagement rates. 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. I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! 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. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. Cling to this day cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. Is that a question for Republicans? You may rejoice. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. The manhood of the slave is conceded. your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. Who can reason on such a proposition? 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. 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! 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. At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. Frederick Douglass: (10:31) In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. Search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival. The din of business, too, is hushed. Need I tell you that the Jews are not the only people who built the tombs of the prophets, and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous? My soul sickens at the sight. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. I will not. It has been denounced with burning words, from the high places of the nation, as an execrable traffic. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. 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. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry; buthow, we ask, could such a thing be done? 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! America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. 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! 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! In the summer of 2020, the U.S. commemorated Independence Day amid nationwide 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. The drove moves tardily. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters?