I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument.Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. 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? They inhabit all our Southern States. Stauffer, John. 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. It is the antagonistic force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. He is outraged by the lack of responsibility and indifference towards slavery that many sects have taken around the nation. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. 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. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. Without this fight, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. 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? 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. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. 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. I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.What, then, remains to be argued? ROY: Douglass wrote the speech in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which effectively extended the reach of slave power in the South throughout the rest of the country. There is blasphemy in the thought. He can bring no witnesses for himself. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future, Douglass said. 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. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. Frederick Douglass, ca 1855, Metropolitan Museum of Art. ROY: The event that were doing in Somerville puts pressure on whitewashed conceptions of the Fourth of July, as many people to this day still view it as a celebration of American food, fireworks, and freedom. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations historythe very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. 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. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Douglass was a powerful orator, often traveling six months out of the year to give lectures on abolition. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slaves point of view. In spite of his praise of the Founding Fathers, he maintains that slaves owe nothing to and have no positive feelings towards the founding of the United States. [20]:344. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. . Is slavery among them? You live and must die, and you must do your work. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. 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. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. We need individual events like reading Douglass, but we also need to be thinking about ways to extend this conversation over the long term. welcome atheism! If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! [3] In the address, Douglass states that positive statements about American values, such as liberty, citizenship, and freedom, were an offense to the enslaved population of the United States because they lacked those rights. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! 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. 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. [11] Additionally, he had spoken there less than three months prior to this speech, on March 25. [12], According to the 1850 Census, there were around 3.2 million enslaved persons in the United States. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? 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! Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? Not everyone. Random House. GAZETTE: This is your second year as host of Reading Frederick Douglass Together in Somerville. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs. Douglass equates this to being worse than many other things that are banned, in particular, books and plays that are banned for infidelity. 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? Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. 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! I will not equivocate; I will not excuse;. 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. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. Knowledge is becoming more readily available, Douglass said, and soon the American people will open their eyes to the atrocities they have been inflicting on their fellow Americans. How should I look to-day, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? 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! It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago, for the children of Jacob to boast, we have Abraham to our father, when they had long lost Abrahams faith and spirit. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Heat and sorrow have nearly consumed their strength; suddenly you hear a quick snap, like the discharge of a rifle; the fetters clank, and the chain rattles simultaneously; your ears are saluted with a scream, that seems to have torn its way to the center of your soul! An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he con signs to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. Keidrick Roy, the host of the virtual reading event. 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. He talks about how Americans are proud of their country and their religion and how they rejoice in the name of freedom and liberty and yet they do not offer those things to millions of their country's residents. The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our DOCTORS OF DIVINITY. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Frederick Douglass, born a slave and later the most influential African American leader of the 1800s, addresses the hypocrisy of the US of maintaining slavery with its upheld ideals being freedom and independence on July 4th, 1852. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? He says that, if anything, many churches actually stand behind slavery and support the continued existence of the institution. speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. 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? There should be no shoulder that does not bear the burden of the government. He had a prophetic vision for the future that he was always trying to work toward. 5.0. We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? The time was when such could be done. During the 1850's, the Fourth of July served as a reminder of the many horrors and injustices in the world. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? Rhetorical Analysis Of Harvey Fourth Of July. 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. How digital misinformation may keep you from a good nights sleep, Study finds surgical patients with addiction issues may be at greater risk for complications, including sudden cardiac death after anesthesia, Khalil Gibran Muhammad says College Board needs to stand firm behind curriculum, Chief counsel of respected mid-70s Senate inquiry into improper federal investigations says credibility of oversight function at stake, 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, By Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite Harvard Staff Writer, 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. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisya thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. [28][29] The head of the organization responsible for the memorial speculated that it was vandalized in response to the removal of Confederate monuments in the wake of the George Floyd protests.[30]. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. He argues that the Constitution does not permit slavery, contrary to the claims of contemporary defenders of the institution. The 'Address' may be had at this office, price ten cents, a single copy, or six dollars per hundred. Douglass argues that religion is the center of the problem but also the main solution to it. It has been denounced with burning words, from the high places of the nation, as an execrable traffic. One of the parts of the speech that resonates with me the most is when Douglass says: 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? 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. Did this law concern the mint, anise, and cuminabridge the fight to sing psalms, to partake of the sacrament, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. by Frederick Douglass 1852 11th Grade Lexile: 1140 Font Size Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an African American social reformer, orator, and writer. be warned! Douglass also stresses the view that slaves and free Americans are equal in nature. 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 in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slaverythe great sin and shame of America! The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. The right of the hunter to his prey stands superior to the right of marriage, and to all rights in this republic, the rights of God included! [20]:345He also attempts to demonstrate the irony of their inability to sympathize with the Black people they oppressed in cruel ways that the forefathers they valorized never experienced. 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. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour.Fellow-citizens! or is it in the temple? You may rejoice, I must mourn. With this product, you can choose to either have your students read the entire speech and annotate and analyze Douglass' rhetorical devices or you can choose to have your students read shorter excerpts from the speech and do an abbreviated annotation and analysis of rhetorical devices. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. we wept when we remembered Zion. The time for such argument is passed.At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. Your broad republican domain is hunting ground for men. He celebrates the efforts of the founding fathers of America for fighting back against the tyranny of England.[18]. 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. 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. In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass prepares a speech known as The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro. No! 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. But now is the time, the important time. Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. $ 3.60. 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 and sacrilegious irony. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Douglass addressed a part of the population for which the day had huge significance the true independence, he argues, is not for the American people, but for the American slave. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN 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. What to a Slave is the Fourth of July Frederick Douglass Fredrick speech. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. 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. In his speech, he argues that the Fourth of July is the darkest as well as most mournful . [20]:346 To prove evidence of these inconsistencies, as one historian noted, during the speech Douglass claims that the United States Constitution is an abolitionist document and not a pro-slavery document.[22][23][24]. 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. 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. that it should be so; yet so it is. 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