They that can, may; I cannot. 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 burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? In every clime be understood, Who can reason on such a proposition? Chan School of Public Health celebrates opening of $25M Thich Nhat Hanh Center for research, approaches to mindfulness, Women who suppressed emotions had less diverse microbiomes in study that also found specific bacterial link to happiness, Tenn. lawmaker Justin Pearson, Parkland survivor David Hogg 23 talk about tighter gun control, GOP attempts to restrict voting rights, importance of local politics, Dangers involved in rise of neurotechnology that allows for tracking of thoughts, feelings examined at webinar, 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. What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? And that is one of the truly special elements, the combination of a core group of readers and the accidental attendees who happen by and hear bits and pieces of this incredible speech. Thats a tough one for me. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. Throughout this speech, as well as his life, Douglass advocated equal justice and rights, as well as citizenship, for blacks.He begins his speech by modestly apologizing for being nervous in front of the crowd and recognizes that he has come a long way since his escape from slavery. His message was well-received because they believed in what he was standing up for. He begins his speech by modestly apologizing for being nervous in front of the crowd and recognizes that he has come a long way since his escape from slavery. [Under the Act] it became illegal not to arrest and return runaway slaves. The Act also denied suspected slaves trial by jury or even the ability to testify on their own behalf in court. On the 2nd of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea [i.e., the idea of total separation of the colonies from the crown] with all the authority of national sanction. I generally try to avoid speculating about current or historical figures I dont know. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. Given all that he has said in his speech, why does Douglass conclude on an optimistic note for black Americans. Without this fight, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were "final;" not slavery and oppression. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? O! I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. Douglass stated that the nation's founders were great men for their ideals of freedom. Douglass speech also foreshadowed the bloody reckoning to come: Civil War. I said then and throughout his presidency that rather than freeing us from talking about race, his election freed us to talk about it; and we entitled that first event: Reading Frederick Douglass in the Age of Obama.. 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. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake., Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. Douglass praises and respects the signers of the Declaration of Independence, people who put the interests of a country above their own. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. His speeches continued to agitate for racial equality and women's rights. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? Douglass presented this speech to an antislavery societyan audience that was already on his side. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. All Rights Reserved. In 1881, Douglass published his third autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, which took a long view of his life's work, the nation's progress, and the work left to do. A Brief History of the S'more, America's Favorite Campfire Snack, The 25 Defining Works of the Black Renaissance. On July 4th, 1852, he gave a speech to citizens of the United States. Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. 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. Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Convicted terrorists will be banned from taking a leading role in religious services and face more rigorous checks for extremist literature. One of his famous speeches, called "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," was given on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, at an event in the Corinthian Hall. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression. "We need the. I will not. From what point of view does he look at it? I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. In the late 1840s and into the 1850s, his finances were tight, and he was struggling to sustain the newspaper he founded, The North Star. "Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God." Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. 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. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. 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. It gave me such a surge of hope that the event could bring together such divergent groups. 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. That first year, 2009, was also President Obamas first year in office. What is the main message of Douglass's speech? He engages the listeners emotionally by stating his opinion over the topic of slavery. Has the public reading of the speech each year on Boston Commonor the experience or meaning of itchanged over the years? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. The time was when such could be done. Harvard Law Today: Can you tell me a little bit about Douglass speech? The fact of slavery ruins the celebrations of the Fourth of July. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. You may well cherish the memory of such men. 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. There is not time now to argue the constitutional question at lengthnor have I the ability to discuss it as it ought to be discussed. "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. I hold that every American citizen has a fight 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. 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. That day will come all feuds to end. He was invited to give a fourth of July speech by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! 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. [Throughout the speech] Douglass looks at the contradictions between the reality of slavery and the lofty claims of a just society outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. 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. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. The main message of Douglass's speech is that it is hypocritical to celebrate the Fourth of July as a day of freedom and independence while slaves are not independent nor do they have freedom. From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely . These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour. Keidrick Roy, the host of the virtual reading event. Nor in a tyrants presence cower; 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. Although the . That point is conceded already. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. As with any great oration, Douglass builds to his point, which is to distinguish between the spirit of celebration typically surrounding the holiday and the misery suffered by enslaved people on that day and every day. The charter of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. The Nativist party is rising. On this, the bicentennial year of Douglasss birth, the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and American Universitys Antiracist Research and Policy Center are honoring 200 Americans whose work best reflects his legacy. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. He also wrote a letter to Ida B. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.. 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 slavery the great sin and shame of America! Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Douglass continued to add to the speech in the years that followed. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. And each return for evil, good, Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? The wide world oer There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart." Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. Douglass uses religious language in discussing Independence. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. 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. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. He does some of his greatest writing in early 1850s during this terrible personal crisis, Blight says, and right there in the middle of it comes the greatest speech hes ever delivered, of the hundreds of speeches he delivered in his life.. 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. This power fuels modern abolition movements, whether of human trafficking, prison or police. The River Campus Libraries Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation's holdings includes a manuscript collection of Douglass's letters, photographs, and ephemera. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, our economy continues to recover. You may well cherish the memory of such men. Host called senior colleague a C-word in text message obtained by lawyers as part of Dominion lawsuit Tucker Carlson's firing from Fox News came after he used vulgar language to describe a . We may finally be thinking about creating a commission to study the possibility of reparationsas with all deliberate speed, the American way of tackling a problem takes so much time and patienceand for this we can be thankful. Butin doing so he brings awareness to the hypocrisy of their ideals by the existence of slavery on American soil. 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. whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. SOURCE FORMAT: Public speech (excerpt) WORD COUNT: 1,660 words Excerpt from Frederick Douglass's "Fifth of July" Speech (1852). But, he said, speaking more than a decade before slavery was ended nationally, a lot of work still needed to be done so that all citizens can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Above your national, tumultuous joy the July 4th celebrations of white Americans were the mournful wails of millions whose heavy chains are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them.. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. Douglass printed the speech in his newspaper, Frederick Douglass' Paper, and published 700 copies of it in pamphlet form. Cambridge, MA 02138, 2022 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, International Legal Studies & Opportunities, Syllabi, Exam and Course Evaluation Archive, Sign Up for the Harvard Law Today Newsletter, Consumer Information (ABA Required Disclosures). 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. The report is remembered for its conclusion that: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one whiteseparate and unequal.. In Douglass' speech, his tone mainly appeals to emotions. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. So, all these years later, our massive system of incarceration echoes Douglasss charge that, There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. This is not to say there are not tyrannical regimes elsewhere in the world or that other nations do not abuse human rights, but it is the self-righteousness of our celebration in the midst of ongoing injustice that continues to resonate today. There is blasphemy in the thought. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. Many of you understand them better than I do. God speed the day when human bloodShall cease to flow!In every clime be understood,The claims of human brotherhood,And each return for evil, good,Not blow for blow;That day will come all feuds to end.And change into a faithful friendEach foe. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The claims of human brotherhood, Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. And it also imposed severe penalties on anyone who helped enslaved people to escape. Why does Douglass appeal to the Constitution in the last section of the speech? But all to manhoods stature tower, It saps the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a byword to a mocking earth. It were considered radical, extreme, and risky. Th oppressd shall vilely bend the knee, Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, 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. Its also an election year; the 1852 presidential election was heating up that summer. we wept when we remembered Zion. Read the address in full onPBS. I am not that man. Why, then, did Douglass speak as harshly as he did? Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. 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? That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! What feelings is he appealing to in his audience in this section? Paul Marcus, then the director of Community Change, and I contacted another colleague, David Tebaldi, then executive director of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities (now MassHumanities) about sponsoring a public reading. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. -douglas was trying to to reach to people who didn't agree with slavery, but never did anything to fight against it How does the struggle for freedom change with history? My original thought was a public reading prior to the holiday, which would prompt people to incorporate the speech or a discussion of its meaning in their holiday observations, whether in the back yard or the local library. America has been working to fully live up to the ideals laid out in the Declaration of Independence ever since the document was printed on July 4, 1776. Addressing an audience of about 600 at the newly constructed Corinthian Hall, he started out by acknowledging that the signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave and great men, and that the way they wanted the Republic to look was in the right spirit. Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Douglass's purpose in writing his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was to provide a first-hand account of the horrors of slavery and thereby support the. They did so in the form of a resolution; and as we seldom hit upon resolutions, drawn up in our day whose transparency is at all equal to this, it may refresh your minds and help my story if I read it. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. He begins his speech by modestly apologizing for being nervous in front of the crowd and recognizes that he has come a long way since his escape from slavery. speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. "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. The main message of Douglass's speechis that it is hypocritical to celebrate the Fourth of July as a day of freedom and independence while slaves are not independent nor do they have freedom. Douglass made the speech nearly a decade before the American Civil War, a conflict that ultimately led to the adoption of the 13th amendment, which ended slavery. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people! To what other elements in the American political tradition does he appeal? The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. "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. An edited version of Douglasss speech is provided below. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, circa 1855. The Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress as part of this compromise was bitterly resented by the Northern states. Why does he do this? Until that year, day, hour, arrive, It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. 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. In some ways, the first part of the speech is a traditional patriotic speech. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped "To palter with us in a double sense: And keep the word of promise to the ear, But break it to the heart.". 4 Pages. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, is inhuman mockery. The audience of Douglass' message were abolitionists, who were white people from the north who did not own slaves and wanted to abolish slavery. 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. It occurred to me that it would be of interest to many others if they knew about it. We have a precise date for that first, momentous vote, which set the pattern of exclusion with which we still live, but no such precision marks the arrival of 50 captive Africans sometime in August, 1619. 11th annual public reading of What to the slave is the Fourth of July? takes place on July 2nd at noon on Boston Common, Photo via the Harvard Gazette David Harris, managing director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School. However, this was not the purpose of Douglass's speech. The people who came to America were surprised by its history. Oppression makes a wise man mad. What did he say and in what context? Hed had a breakdown in the early 1850s, and was having trouble supporting his family. What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Watch: A Conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Oprah Winfrey, Media Mogul and Philanthropist, National Museum of African American History & Culture, A Nation's Story: What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. They are not part of the original. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. (modern), Frederick Douglas addressing an English audience during his visit to London in 1846., Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. In this speech, he called out the "hypocrisy of the nation" (Douglass), questioning the nation's . Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, "It is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. On July 5, 1875, as Reconstruction brought its own fears, like violence from the Ku Klux Klan, Douglass shifted his speech for the day, asking, If war among the whites brought peace and liberty to the blacks, what will peace among the whites bring? But the 1852 What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? speech remains the best known of his addresses on the occasion, especially as it became even more widely read in the late-20th century, with events like the public readings sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council and a powerful reading by James Earl Jones in 2004. 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. The speech was originally delivered at a moment when the country was fiercely locked in debate over the question of slavery, but theres a reason why it has remained famous more than 150 years after emancipation, says David Blight, author of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. 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. Douglass's speech emphasized that American slavery and American freedom is a shared history and that the actions of ordinary men and women, demanding freedom, transformed our nation. In an 1868 speech, he said, No man should be excluded from the government on the basis of his color, no woman on account of her sex. Why does he call his own time degenerate? They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. 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 think he would look at the ongoing gulf between our ideals and reality and might refer back to some of his own analysis to understand the current contradictions. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. Be warned! Must we allow symbols of racism on public land? And from his prison-house, the thrall What characteristics does he praise about them? In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: God speed the year of jubilee