frederick douglass speech transcript

Fromwhat quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? This certainly sounds large, and out of the common way, for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. 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? Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. 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. But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. You profess to believe that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth, and hath commanded all men, everywhere to love one another; yet you notoriously hate, (and glory in your hatred), all men whose skins are not colored like your own. 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.. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. Frederick Douglass: (02:57) WebIn this speech, Frederick Douglass reflected on how the outpouring of joy at the conclusion of the Civil War turned to mourning with Lincolns assassination. Transcripts & captions for a better media workflow. 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. To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most sacrilegious and shocking and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. 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. welcome anything! These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Then would my task be light and my burden easy and delightful? In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.. Speech It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852 . When the dogs in your street, 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 I will argue with you that the slave is a man. weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! Youmay rejoice,Imust mourn. I will not excuse. there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? What to the American slave is your 4th of July? America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. For who is there so cold that a nation sympathy cannot warm him, who so adore it and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. 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 blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. Go search where you will. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. Mark them! There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. Let it be thundered around the world, that, in tyrant-killing, king-hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats of justice are filled with judges, who hold their offices under an open and palpablebribe, and are bound, in deciding in the case of a mans liberty,hear only his accusers! Add English on-screen subtitles for videos. Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. Sydney Smith tells us that men seldom eulogize the wisdom and virtues of their fathers, but to excuse some folly or wickedness of their own. Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nations Jubilee when the chains of servitude have been torn from his limbs? They that can, may; I cannot. The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. This is esteemed by some as a national trait perhaps a national weakness. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. I am not that man. From police shootings to the wage gap to crippling stereotypes (and everything in between), there are too many parallels today with what Douglass described in his speech to white America, including this relevant line. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. Frederick Douglass, Fifth of July speech (1852) There are 72 crimes in the state of Virginia, which if committed by a black man, no matter how ignorant he be, subject him to the punishment of death, while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. "The Lessons of the Hour" Speech by Frederick Douglass The fiat of the Almighty, Let there be Light, has not yet spent its force. Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. 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. That point is conceded already. He can bring no witnesses for himself. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic, are distinctly heard on the other. Frederick Douglass: (07:35) 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. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. Its the news, without the news. Is that a question for Republicans? Where these are, man is not sacred. Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market. Frederick Douglass' Descendants Read His Famous 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? Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is, today, in active operation in this boasted republic. Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to those questions. Is slavery among them? What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? It is called (in contradistinction to the foreign slave-trade) the internal slave trade. It is, probably, called so, too, in order to divert from it the horror with which the foreign slave-trade is contemplated. Speech Frederick Douglass: (01:08) WebIn December 1860, the great American orator and former slave Frederick Douglass delivered one of his finest speeches, A Plea for Free Speech in Boston. In it, he boldly declared that liberty is meaningless where the right to utter ones thoughts and The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. 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). This, however, did not answer the purpose. His own testimony is nothing. WebThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Frederick Douglass. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. That year will come, and freedoms reign. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will in the name of humanity, which is outraged in the name of Liberty, which is fettered in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon dare to call and question and to denounce with all the emphasis I can command everything that serves to perpetuate slavery, the great sin and shame of America. I hold that every American citizen has a right to form an opinion of the constitution, and to propagate that opinion, and to use all honorable means to make his opinion the prevailing one. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! Is that a question for Republicans? Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. 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? According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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! Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a speech at an Independence Day celebration organized by the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Frederick Douglass July Fourth Speech Full Text: Read Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. You glory in your refinement and your universal education yet you maintain a system as barbarous and dreadful as ever stained the character of a nation a system begun in avarice, supported in pride, and perpetuated in cruelty. Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. This Fourth [of] July isyours, notmine. Frederick Douglass 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. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. They inhabit all our Southern States. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. Yea! For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. welcome atheism! 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. They were not the men to look back. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. Under Title 17 U.S.C. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. 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. Frederick Douglass: (02:13) Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common.