You may rejoice, I must mourn.. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. Frederick Douglass thought that such rationalizations were crap, and he had the right to think so. The manhood of the slave is conceded. 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 charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. Would you argue more and denounce less? A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! 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. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! A Plea for Free Speech in Boston (1860) | Constitution Center The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 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! Frederick Douglass: (01:08) The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. In the text it states, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave- we are called upon to prove that we are men? (Douglas 763). 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. My soul sickens at the sight. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. That point is conceded already. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. You may rejoice. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. Is that a question for Republicans? The anguish of my boyish heart was intense; and I was often consoled, when speaking to my mistress in the morning, to hear her say that the custom was very wicked; that she hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the heart-rending cries. In the language of Isaiah, the American church might be well addressed, Bring no more vain ablations; incense is an abomination unto me: the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting. Web"The Lessons of the Hour" Speech by Frederick Douglass, January 9, 1894 Friends and Fellow Citizens : No man should come before an audience like the one by whose presence I am now honored, without a noble object and a fixed and earnest purpose. Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. Create a better, more engaging experience for every student. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. The anti-slavery movementtherewas not an anti-church movement, for the reason that the church took its full share in prosecuting that movement: and the anti-slavery movement in this country will cease to be an anti-church movement, when the church of this country shall assume a favorable, instead of a hostile position towards that movement. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and 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? 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. 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.. That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. Frederick Douglass: (09:38) 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. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear butoneside; andthatside, is the side of the oppressor. What? Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. 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. who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. You may well cherish the memory of such men. On July 5, 1852, eminent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass delivered a brilliant speech to nearly six hundred people filling Rochester, New Yorks Corinthian Hall, as organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Sewing Society. How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. And the lame man leap as an heart, but such is not the case. 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. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. Oppression makes a wise man mad. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. Transcripts & captions for a better media workflow. Web" was a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Frederick Douglass: (06:03) Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Frederick Douglass They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. 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? To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. Read the full text below of the sage words from one of the greatest orators of all time. 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.. A RESTful API to access Revs workforce of fast, high quality transcriptionists and captioners. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. He can bring no witnesses for himself. The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. There, the church, true to its mission of ameliorating, elevating, and improving the condition of mankind, came forward promptly, bound up the wounds of the West Indian slave, and restored him to his liberty. Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. Born to an enslaved family in 1818, Frederick Douglass never knew his actual birthday, a fact not uncommon for those enslaved. I will not. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried mens souls. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. But, your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. It is, however, a notable fact that, while so much execration is poured out by Americans upon those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass without condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. 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, 1852, he was issuing a scathing indictment of American hypocrisy, Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy reminded readers. But, to proceed. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fosters pride; it breeds insolence; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. WebCelebrating 200 years of Frederick Douglass. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. 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. I will use the severest language I can command. You are all on fire at the mention of liberty for France or for Ireland; but are as cold as an iceberg at the thought of liberty for the enslaved of America. The hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed and its crimes against God and man must be denounced. I take this law to be one of the grossest infringements of Christian Liberty, and, if the churches and ministers of our country were not stupidly blind, or most wickedly indifferent, they, too, would so regard it. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. For who is there so cold, that a nations sympathy could not warm him? Industry-leading accurate legal transcription to ensure you dont miss a statement. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. 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? Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man Speech | The Art of Manliness Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. Frederick Douglass's, What To the Slave Is the Fourth of Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. Though a biting Where these are, man is not sacred. 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 far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is exceedingly easy. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. 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. Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine, that God did not establish it, that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. 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. The manhood of the slave is conceded. Many of you understand them better than I do. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. You know what is a swine-drover? Frederick Douglass speech - PBS 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! Our Composite Nation: Frederick Douglass America Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. Frederick Douglass delivered 'best Fourth of July speech in To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of Liberty and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems were inhuman mockery in sacrilegious irony. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. There is blasphemy in the thought. They were not the men to look back. 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. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech.
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