what to the slave is the fourth of july annotation

Let this damning fact be perpetually told. Is that a question for Republicans? Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God. In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester, NY, on July 5th, 1852. Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglass's life and the evolution of his thought in this period. Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. Douglass vividly describes the conditions under which those enslaved are bought and sold; he says that they are treated as no more than animals. the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles. Cling to this daycling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight, Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline, With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? 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. They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke put together have done. 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. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act had passed Congress as part of the broader Compromise of 1850. He wrote and presented a speech that challenged . Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester, NY, on July. I will show you a man-drover. 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. I will not. 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! 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? 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! Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! 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. Douglass then pivots to the present, stating that "We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future". [4], The speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" [17] This act drew the ire of the abolitionist movement,[9] and was directly criticized by Douglass in his speech. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. 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 nationa system begun in avarice, supported in pride, and perpetuated in cruelty. 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? 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. The United States does not have to stay the way it is. What to the Slave is the Fourth of July | Historical Context The Colonial regime paved way for the transportation of slaves from different parts of the world, mostly from the African continent to work in southern states of America on cash crop plantations that generated a great source of income. Frederick Douglass, ca 1855, Metropolitan Museum of Art. During the Civil War, Douglass said that since Massachusetts had been the first state to join the Patriot cause during the American Revolutionary War, black men should go to Massachusetts to enlist in the Union Army. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. He implored the Rochester, N.Y., audience to think about the ongoing oppression of Black Americans during a holiday celebrating freedom. According to Douglass, these inconsistencies have made the United States the object of mockery and often contempt among the various nations of the world. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he con signs to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. Space is comparatively annihilated. 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. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. 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. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? . On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? More than 150 years later, Keidrick Roy, a doctoral student in American Studies at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a U.S. Air Force veteran, will host a virtual community reading and discussion of the storied speech at the Somerville Museum on Thursday as part of the annual state-wide MassHumanities program Reading Frederick Douglass Together.. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! 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. 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! Stauffer, John. 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. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. 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. What characteristics does he praise about them? Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. He validates the feelings of injustice the Founders felt then juxtaposes their experiences with vivid descriptions of the harshness of slavery.[21]. 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. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? He also wrote a letter to Ida B. 4th period Mrs. Landrew Fredrick Douglass Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave who became a prominent activist, author and public speaker. [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. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. 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 Oratory of Fr. 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. In this respect, Douglass's views converged with that of Abraham Lincoln's[25] in that those politicians who were saying that the Constitution was a justification for their beliefs in regard to slavery were doing so dishonestly. 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. These rules are well established. On July 5, 1852, in . 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. When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. 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. 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 palpable bribe, and are bound, in deciding in the case of a mans liberty, hear only his accusers!In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this Fugitive Slave Law stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation. Great for your high school American Literature class. The4th of July is the first great fact in your nation's history the very ringbolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destinyPride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetualremembrance. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future, Douglass said. 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! For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Yea! 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 speech notes the contradiction of the national ethos of United States and the way enslaved persons are treated. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. 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. 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. Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. 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. He refers to the Constitution as a "Glorious Liberty Document". This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. Youll never experience a black hole, but Avi Loeb can help you imagine one, We need individual events like reading Douglass, but we also need to be thinking about ways to extend this conversation over the long term., Level of cannabis use could determine post-op outcomes, Historian says Fla. dispute shows why AP class in African American studies is needed, Why Church Committee alums urged new House panel to avoid partisanship, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Rewriting history to include all of it this time. This act forced citizens to report people who had escaped their enslavement and escaped to a free state, under punishment of a fine or imprisonment. I repeat, I am glad this is so. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! be warned! After this, he turns his attention to the church. Over 150,000 persons were sold between 1820 and 1830, and over 300,000 were sold between 1850 and 1860.[15]. For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, not religion. 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." 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! How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? The speech has since been published under the above title in The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series One, Vol. [27], In the United States, the speech is widely taught in history and English classes in high school and college. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. 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. be warned! "Meaning of the Fourth of July to a Negro" by Bridget Durham The Fourth of July is a day of celebration for many Americans because on July 4th, 1776, America declared independence from Britain and said that everyone was free under the US government, right? The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. Text Frederick Douglass, " What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? Almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet that our doctors of divinity are mistaken.! The national ethos of United States and the way enslaved persons are treated contradiction of the globe you,! Was often pierced with a sense of its horrors of July? American judge gets ten dollars for victim. And 1860. [ 15 ] wanted to share so badly have to stay way! 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