what to the slave is the fourth of july annotationbyron morris obituary

In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. A major theme of the speech is how America is not living up to its proclaimed beliefs. Random House. To honor Black History Month, as an introduction or review of rhetorical appeals and devices, or as a speech exemplar, this Frederick Douglass "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" rhetoric activity is a fabulous addition to any lesson. The duty to extirpate and destroy it, is admitted even by our DOCTORS OF DIVINITY. 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. But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of the Constitution of the United States. O! On July 5, 1852, in . The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. In the end, Douglass wants to keep his hope and faith in humanity high. He celebrates the efforts of the founding fathers of America for fighting back against the tyranny of England.[18]. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor. Kate Harris Date Published September 28, 2016 Last Modified November 14, 2021 Description. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. one of the most important speeches of the 19th century? 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! However, if slavery were abolished and equal rights given to all, that would no longer be the case. I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. 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. (1982). Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Were the nation older, the patriots heart might be sadder, and the reformers brow heavier. The speech has been notably performed or read by important figures, including the following: The paragraphing referenced here is taken from an edition of the speech at, African Americans In Congress: A Documentary History, by Eric Freedman and Stephen A, Jones, 2008, p. 39, "Activist Public Relations and the Paradox of the Positive: A Case Study of Frederick Douglass's Fourth of July Address", "One of American History's Worst Laws Was Passed 165 Years Ago", "The Operation of the Fugitive Slave Law in Western Pennsylvania from 1850 to 1860", The American Constitutional Experience: Selected Readings & Supreme Court Opinions, Frederick Douglass on Slavery and the Civil War: Selections from His Writings, "Frederick Douglass Statue Torn Down On Anniversary Of Famous Speech", "Frederick Douglass statue torn down in Rochester, N.Y., on anniversary of his famous Fourth of July speech", "Frederick Douglass statue torn down on anniversary of great speech", "VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth Of July' Speech", A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass's Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth of July' Speech, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=What_to_the_Slave_Is_the_Fourth_of_July%3F&oldid=1137650578. 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. So its important that our city and our society are outraged by the recent murders of unarmed black people. 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. The 'Address' may be had at this office, price ten cents, a single copy, or six dollars per hundred. 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. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Interview was lightly edited for clarity and length. [5], A statue of Douglass erected in Rochester in 2018 was torn down on July 5, 2020the 168th anniversary of the speech. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. 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. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. [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]. 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. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. Albert Barnes but uttered what the common sense of every man at all observant of the actual state of the case will receive as truth, when he declared that There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it.Let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds; and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceive.In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry; but how, we ask, could such a thing be done? For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. 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. 5.0. 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? Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. In short, it gave the federal government an active role in maintaining the Souths system of slavery. 4th period Mrs. Landrew Fredrick Douglass Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave who became a prominent activist, author and public speaker. 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! we wept when we remembered Zion. In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass prepares a speech known as The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro. The Fugitive Slave Law makes mercy to them a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. ROY:One of the things that Douglass writings shows us is that he believed in amplifying a variety of voices. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. Douglass declares that true freedom can not exist in America if Black people are still enslaved there and is adamant that the end of slavery is near. 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. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. These people were called Tories in the days of your fathers. It is neither. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! You shed tears over fallen Hungary, and make the sad story of her wrongs the theme of your poets, statesmen and orators, till your gallant sons are ready to fly to arms to vindicate her cause against her oppressors; but, in regard to the ten thousand wrongs of the American slave, you would enforce the strictest silence, and would hail him as an enemy of the nation who dares to make those wrongs the subject of public discourse! ARI . In a Fourth of July holiday special, we hear the words of Frederick Douglass. Your broad republican domain is hunting ground for men. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. I am not that man. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. Space is comparatively annihilated. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. One small step toward understanding gravity, Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. Text Frederick Douglass, " What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? After this, he turns his attention to the church. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. You live and must die, and you must do your work. Another remarkable thing about Douglass is that he was an early champion of voting rights for women. Great for your high school American Literature class. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. 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. I will not. The time was when such could be done. He can bring no witnesses for himself. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. "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? Nevertheless, Douglass claims that this can change. 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. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. He wrote and presented a speech that challenged . 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. [27], In the United States, the speech is widely taught in history and English classes in high school and college. Is slavery among them? 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. 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. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? R, R. Raymond) on the platform, are shining examples; and let me say further, that upon these men lies the duty to inspire our ranks with high religious faith and zeal, and to cheer us on in the great mission of the slaves redemption from his chains.One is struck with the difference between the attitude of the American church towards the anti-slavery movement, and that occupied by the churches in England towards a similar movement in that country. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. 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? Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist. 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