frederick douglass speech transcript

In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.. 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. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. Yet this is but a glance at the American slave-trade, as it exists, at this moment, in the ruling part of the United States. Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood, and the traders in the bodies and souls of men shout We have Washington toour father. Alas! You declare, before the world, and are understood by the world to declare, that you hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and yet, you hold securely, in a bondage which, according to your own Thomas Jefferson, is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose, aseventh partof the inhabitants of your country. in preference to the gospel,as preached by those Divines! Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. 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. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent How unlike the politicians of an hour! From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' descendants deliver his 'Fourth of July' speech. Become a freelancer and work on your own terms. The existence of slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. The document is in the form of a Google Docs so it has a translation tool, dictionary, and voice to text. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. But, with that blindness which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea, the British Government persisted in the exactions complained of. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. To do so would be to make myself ridiculous and to offer an insult to your understanding. Go search where you will. Frederick Douglass Read the full transcript here. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who There are seventy-two 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 the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. A John Knox would be seen at every church door, and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quarter than was shown by Knox, to the beautiful, but treacherous queen Mary of Scotland. In a final celebratory post for Black History Month 2023, it is worth returning to the 1883 Douglass Banquet. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. 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. 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. They have all been taught in your common schools, narrated at your firesides, unfolded from your pulpits, and thundered from your legislative halls, and are as familiar to you as household words. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. During Copyright 2023 Interactive One, LLC. I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just. Your President, your Secretary of State, ourlords,nobles, and ecclesiastics, enforce, as a duty you owe to your free and glorious country, and to your God, that you do this accursed thing. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory. The din of business, too, is hushed. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. This 4th of July is yours, not mine. Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Travel through South America. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year, by dealers in this horrid traffic. They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concede that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it ought to command respect. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. I doubt if there be another nation on the globe, having the brass and the baseness to put such a law on the statute-book. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. be warned! The country was poor in the munitions of war. 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 or to write. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. This Fourth [of] July isyours, notmine. Add English on-screen subtitles for videos. Frederick Douglass: (06:44) 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. That point is conceded already. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. Yea! Suicide Note Revealed After Shocking Death, Mississippi Cops Beat, Waterboarded Handcuffed Black Men, Shot 1 For Dating White Women': Lawyers, Indicted! Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. The fact that the church of our country, (with fractional exceptions), does not esteem the Fugitive Slave Law as a declaration of war against religious liberty, implies that that church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, andnota vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love and good will towards man. 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. Read the full text below of the sage words from one of the greatest orators of all time. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. The propriety of the nation must be startled. 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. By that act, Mason and Dixons line has been obliterated; New York has become as Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women, and children as slaves remains no longer a mere state institution, but is now an institution of the whole United States. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. The Best Speech-to-Text Solution for Your Business Learn how Rev fits into your businesses workflow. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. WebCelebrating 200 years of Frederick Douglass. His death, according to Douglass was not only tragic, but also prevented recently freed slaves and African Americans from gaining the ear of wise and well-intentioned leader. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. 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. 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 Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? I was glad to find one who sympathized with me in my horror. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved.. Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. 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. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. 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. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. Did this law concern the mint, anise, and cumin abridge the right 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. Who can reason on such a proposition? What was possible for him, he sincerely believed was possible for any man who was willing to work hard. My subject then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. Frederick Douglass: (04:09) It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. His own testimony is nothing. Frederick Douglass: (00:26) With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. 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 hypocrisy a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. welcome anything! 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? Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. What to the Slave is the 4th of July? Speech Transcript by Frederick Douglass, Congressional Testimony & Hearing Transcripts. 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. The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by England; but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present ruler. 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? They are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them; and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation? Fully appreciating the hardship to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutiny of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attest their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible odds against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you. I leave, therefore, the great deeds of your fathers to other gentlemen whose claim to have been regularly descended will be less likely to be disputed than mine! 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. This is esteemed by some as a national trait perhaps a national weakness. From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. 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. They were great in their day and generation. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen. Frederick Douglass: (01:08) Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. 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. To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is exceedingly easy. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times. Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. 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. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice embodied in that Declaration of Independence extended to us? It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. 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.. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. From the slave prison to the ship, they are usually driven in the darkness of night; for since the antislavery agitation, a certain caution is observed. speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglasss life and the evolution of his thought in this period. Short bio of Frederick Douglass The Frederick Douglass Papers Library of Congress If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. President John F. Kennedy On July 4, 1962 President John F. Kennedy delivered this speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I will not. 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 people were called Tories in the days of your fathers; and the appellation, probably, conveyed the same idea that is meant by a more modern, though a somewhat less euphonious term, which we often find in our papers, applied to some of our old politicians. For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! I have better employments for my time and strength than such arguments would imply. Thu 5 Jul 2018 07.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 24 Jul 2019 11.58 EDT. Like our content? Space is comparatively annihilated. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. To him, your celebration is a sham, your boasted Liberty, an unholy license, your national greatness, swelling vanity. What then remains to be argued? They were not the men to look back. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. 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? Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. You could instruct me in regard to them. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and The style and title of your sovereign people (in which you now glory) was not then born. 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. 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! The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Is a matter, the set with great difficulty involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. Fellow-citizens! A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear butoneside; andthatside, is the side of the oppressor. As with rivers so with nations. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. You know what is a swine-drover? That, which is inhuman cannot be divine. If any man in this assembly thinks differently from me in this matter, and feels able to disprove my statements, I will gladly confront him at any suitable time and place he may select. 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. And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. I must mourn. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market. No! Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. Frederick Douglass: (03:37) The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to Liberty, that he is the rightful owner of his body? The slave holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. You live and must die, and you must do your work. Frederick Douglass: (06:03) I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? 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). It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. How should I look today, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? Frederick Douglass: (05:02) You were under the British Crown. 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? Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. The manhood of the slave is conceded. Racist Ex-University Of Kentucky 'Karen' Sophia Rosing Is Charged For Assaulting Black Student. 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. The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. It is a fact, that whatever makes for the wealth or for the reputation of Americans, and can be had cheap! Not fewer than forty Americans have, within the past two years, been hunted down and, without a moments warning, hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery and excruciating torture. 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. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you. be warned! Without this right, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. Is that a question for Republicans? Is slavery among them? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? This, however, did not answer the purpose. The feeling of the nation must be quickened. I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor. 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! May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Fellows citizens, pardon me and allow me to ask, why am I called to speak here today? we wept when we remembered Zion. 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. I am not included within the pales of this glorious anniversary. Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. 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. Get a weekly digest of the weeks most important transcripts in your inbox. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. I lived on Philpot Street, Fells Point, Baltimore, and have watched from the wharves, the slave ships in the Basin, anchored from the shore, with their cargoes of human flesh, waiting for favorable winds to waft them down the Chesapeake. Speech Transcript 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. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. At a time like this, scorching irony not convincing argument is needed. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumption in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument. had I the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

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