be warned! Douglass equates this to being worse than many other things that are banned, in particular, books and plays that are banned for infidelity. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? 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, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. The fiat of the Almighty, Let there be Light, has not yet spent its force. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. Douglass' speech came just 11 years before Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation hitting a poignant point in American history through his targeting of the slave as a crucial figure in desperate need of independence. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. True Christians, according to Douglass, should not stand idly by while the rights and liberty of others are stripped away. 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. The 'Address' may be had at this office, price ten cents, a single copy, or six dollars per hundred. The speech has been notably performed or read by important figures, including the following: The paragraphing referenced here is taken from an edition of the speech at, African Americans In Congress: A Documentary History, by Eric Freedman and Stephen A, Jones, 2008, p. 39, "Activist Public Relations and the Paradox of the Positive: A Case Study of Frederick Douglass's Fourth of July Address", "One of American History's Worst Laws Was Passed 165 Years Ago", "The Operation of the Fugitive Slave Law in Western Pennsylvania from 1850 to 1860", The American Constitutional Experience: Selected Readings & Supreme Court Opinions, Frederick Douglass on Slavery and the Civil War: Selections from His Writings, "Frederick Douglass Statue Torn Down On Anniversary Of Famous Speech", "Frederick Douglass statue torn down in Rochester, N.Y., on anniversary of his famous Fourth of July speech", "Frederick Douglass statue torn down on anniversary of great speech", "VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth Of July' Speech", A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass's Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth of July' Speech, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=What_to_the_Slave_Is_the_Fourth_of_July%3F&oldid=1137650578. 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.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.In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry; but how, we ask, could such a thing be done? There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. (1982). The Act also denied suspected slaves trial by jury or even the ability to testify on their own behalf in court. He refers to the Constitution as a "Glorious Liberty Document". Frederick Douglass, a well-known Black writer, orator, and abolitionist was asked to address an anti-slavery group on the July 4 holiday in 1852. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. What is now known as the "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. 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. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolence. He validates the feelings of injustice the Founders felt then juxtaposes their experiences with vivid descriptions of the harshness of slavery.[21]. Is it at the gateway? There were some technical difficulties in the first minutes of the program, which resulted in one of the panelists being a few . To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding.There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.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 bum their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? My soul sickens at the sight. Over 150,000 persons were sold between 1820 and 1830, and over 300,000 were sold between 1850 and 1860.[15]. The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. 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. You have no right to enjoy a childs share in the labor of your fathers, unless your children are to be blest by your labors. Follow the drove to New Orleans. He faults America for utter hypocrisy and betrayal of those values in maintaining the institution of slavery. The drove moves tardily. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! He took action to raise the voices of others and to aid their work on the national stage, especially that of two Black women in the last half of the 19th century. These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. I repeat, I am glad this is so. Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Is slavery among them? It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Because the church stood behind the decision to abolish the selling and buying of people, so did the rest of the country. At the same time, we need to be studying the history of slavery and racism in this country so we can build policies, practices, and procedures that address the present problems with those historical inequities in mind. Rhetoricians R. L. Heath and D. Waymer refer to this as the "paradox of the positive" because it highlights how something positive and meant to be positive can also exclude individuals. dismay. A self-taught man, he escaped from slavery and eventually became a leader in the abolitionist movement. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more. 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 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! However, if slavery were abolished and equal rights given to all, that would no longer be the case. welcome anything! Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. Summary of Part 1:In part one of the speech "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July", Fredrick Douglass. The anti-slavery movement there was 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 or a hostile position towards that movement. But, with that blindness which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea. It is said that America is built on the idea of liberty and freedom, but Douglass tells his audience that more than anything, it is built on inconsistencies and hypocrisies that have been overlooked for so long they appear to be truths. As the sheet anchor takes a firmer hold, when the ship is tossed by the storm, so did the cause of your fathers grow stronger, as it breasted the chilling blasts of kingly displeasure. 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. was delivered in the decade preceding the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865 and achieved the abolition of slavery. You have already declared it. The speech has since been published under the above title in The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series One, Vol. [16] Additionally, it awarded $10 to a judge who sentenced an individual to return to enslavement, while awarding only $5 if the claim was dismissed. 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. O! Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. [16][17] Finally, the Act did not allow the accused individual of defending themselves in court. Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. These rules are well established. In a Fourth of July holiday special, we hear the words of Frederick Douglass. A major theme of the speech is how America is not living up to its proclaimed beliefs. Achieved the abolition of slavery Fourth [ of ] July is yours, not mine rights given all. Not be divine that trade has long since been denounced by this government, well. Delivered in the first minutes of the Almighty, Let there be Light, has not yet its. 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