Yea! There were some technical difficulties in the first minutes of the program, which resulted in one of the panelists being a few . We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. 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! 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. 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. 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. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? In the end, Douglass wants to keep his hope and faith in humanity high. In the solitude of my spirit, I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity, on the way to the slave-markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the highest bidder. Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood, and the traders in the bodies and souls of men shoutWe have Washington to our father.Alas! I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.What, then, remains to be argued? Frederick Douglass, circa 1879. Douglass declares that true freedom can not exist in America if Black people are still enslaved there and is adamant that the end of slavery is near. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.But, such is not the state of the case. [9][10] He had previously lived in Boston, but did not want his newspaper to interfere with sales of The Liberator, published by William Lloyd Garrison. 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. GAZETTE: What is the historical setting for this speech, and why did Douglass focus on the Fourth of July? But, with that blindness which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea. we wept when we remembered Zion. 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. 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. Is slavery among them? They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. 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. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. 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, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. He implored the Rochester, N.Y., audience to think about the ongoing oppression of Black Americans during a holiday celebrating freedom. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. 15 November's Documents in Detail webinar was about Frederick Douglass's What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, his oration delivered on 5 July 1862. [7], The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1851. Americans! 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." 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. Douglass was a former slave of the 19th century and soon became a leader during the Abolitionist Movement. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future, Douglass said. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. Where these are, man is not sacred. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. 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? Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. . By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. 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. $ 3.60. To find out what elements make the speech 'What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?' If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 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. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. [17] This act drew the ire of the abolitionist movement,[9] and was directly criticized by Douglass in his speech. 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. or is it in the temple? The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. In a Fourth of July holiday special, we begin with the words of Frederick Douglass. In "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Frederick Douglass sought not only to convince people of the wrongfulness of slavery but also to make abolition more acceptable to Northern whites. You will see one of these human flesh-jobbers, armed with pistol, whip and bowie-knife, driving a company of a hundred men, women, and children, from the Potomac to the slave market at New Orleans. He can bring no witnesses for himself. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. He argues that though the international slave trade is correctly decried as abhorrent, the people of the United States are far less vocal in their opposition to domestic slave trade. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? Repetition Parallel structure ethos pathos Analogy Simile/Metaphor Rhetorical Question logos Part 2 - Slavery in America Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called uponto speak here today? This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations historythe very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. The British accomplished this through religion or more specifically, the church. 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! I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. As the project scholar, my role is to advise the process as it rolls out, to give a talk that provides contemporary and historical context and to facilitate the community discussion around the speech against the backdrop of other relevant issues. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? 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. 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. He wrote a glowing letter of encouragement to Harriet Tubman, which served as the preface to Sarah Bradfords 1869 biography about Tubmans life. GAZETTE: What is something you have discovered about Douglass while researching this speech and his work more broadly that people might be surprised to learn? In the second part of the speech, Douglass turns to the present and his own feelings about the 4th of July . [Under the Act] it became illegal not to arrest and return runaway slaves. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. that it should be so; yet so it is. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! Follow the drove to New Orleans. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Another remarkable thing about Douglass is that he was an early champion of voting rights for women. Worksheet Excerpt Analyzing Rhetorical Devices in "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?": when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. The speech notes the contradiction of the national ethos of United States and the way enslaved persons are treated. [16][17] Finally, the Act did not allow the accused individual of defending themselves in court. I am also hosting a summer reading and discussion series called Race, Fragility, and Anti-Racism through the Somerville Museum and the City on a Hill network of local churches. The well-known speech was previously known as The Meaning of July the Fourth for the Negro. Later, the speech was re-titled based on Douglasss question, What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?. Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nations jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. Because the church stood behind the decision to abolish the selling and buying of people, so did the rest of the country. 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. 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. True Christians, according to Douglass, should not stand idly by while the rights and liberty of others are stripped away. The 'Address' may be had at this office, price ten cents, a single copy, or six dollars per hundred. To the slave, Douglass tells the audience, "your 4th of July is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license [for enslaving blacks] . A major theme of the speech is how America is not living up to its proclaimed beliefs. Oh! 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