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. In this collection, students will review the life of Frederick Douglass and learn about one of his most famous speeches, "The Meaning of Fourth of July for the Negro" (it is also commonly referred to as "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July). 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.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.Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. As the champions of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appearedmen, honored for their so-called piety, and their real learning. The 4th of July Address, delivered in Corinthian Hall, by Frederick Douglass, is published on good paper, and makes a neat pamphlet of forty pages. He can bring no witnesses for himself. [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]. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. 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. The Act also denied suspected slaves trial by jury or even the ability to testify on their own behalf in court. dismay. [20]:344. This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 19:31. your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, the slave plantation, from which I escaped, and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you, This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. As with rivers so with nations. The British accomplished this through religion or more specifically, the church. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. You profess to believe that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth, and hath commanded all men, everywhere to love one another; yet you notoriously hate, (and glory in your hatred), all men whose skins are not colored like your own. Stauffer, John. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. 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". Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? that it should be so; yet so it is. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? 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. Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? "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? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. 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. we wept when we remembered Zion. 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. 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. 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. A self-taught man, he escaped from slavery and eventually became a leader in the abolitionist movement. [5], A statue of Douglass erected in Rochester in 2018 was torn down on July 5, 2020the 168th anniversary of the speech. Products. 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. After this, he turns his attention to the church. It is a slander upon their memory, at least, so I believe. At the same time, we need to be studying the history of slavery and racism in this country so we can build policies, practices, and procedures that address the present problems with those historical inequities in mind. But now is the time, the important time. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. 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 arm of the Lord is not shortened, and the doom of slavery is certain. The 'Address' may be had at this office, price ten cents, a single copy, or six dollars per hundred. It is neither. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. 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. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. [5] American studies professor Andrew S. Bibby argues that because many of the editions produced for educational use are abridged, they often misrepresent Douglass's original through omission or editorial focus. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. He expresses his belief in the speech that he and other slaves are fighting the same fight in terms of wishing to be free that White Americans, the ancestors of the white people he is addressing, fought seventy years earlier. I am not that man. 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. The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear but one side; and that side, is the side of the oppressor. 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. welcome atheism! Rhetorical Analysis Of Harvey Fourth Of July. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, caprice and rapacity of the buyers and sellers of men. Douglass believed that slavery could be eliminated with the support of the church, and also with the reexamination of what the Bible was actually saying. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! What is now known as the "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" speech was delivered on July 5, 1852 as an address to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. Space is comparatively annihilated. He implored the Rochester, N.Y., audience to think about the ongoing oppression of Black Americans during a holiday celebrating freedom. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the lame man leap as an hart.But, such is not the state of the case. Random House. He thinks they were extremely intelligent, and the thinks it is admirable that when they realized they were oppressed by Britain, they rebelled. 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. The speech notes the contradiction of the national ethos of United States and the way enslaved persons are treated. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. 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? Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. 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. In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. 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! [5] Many copies of one section of it, beginning in paragraph 32, have been circulated online. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. One of the biggest challenges we face in our present moment is building sustainable movements that fundamentally change peoples minds about race and racism. But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic. 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. His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their arrival, through the papers, and on flaming hand-bills, headed CASH FOR NEGROES. One small step toward understanding gravity, Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. Genius is the ultimate source of music knowledge, created by scholars like you who share facts and insight about the songs and artists they love. The United States does not have to stay the way it is. 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. 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. You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. Assignment in book chapter School Alief Early College High School Course English language and literature (ELL2002) Uploaded by God Academic year2021/2022 Helpful? Interview was lightly edited for clarity and length. Douglass denounces the churches for betraying their own biblical and Christian values. "[1][2] was a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. [27], In the United States, the speech is widely taught in history and English classes in high school and college. 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. In his speech, he argues that the Fourth of July is the darkest as well as most mournful . Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. Frederick Douglass, circa 1879. Is slavery among them? 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. Not everyone. 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 strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. In a Fourth of July holiday special, we hear the words of Frederick Douglass. Summary: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" In "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?", otherwise known as "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," Frederick Douglassoutlines a careful argument against the institution of slavery and more specifically the Fugitive Slave Act. 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. 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. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to. [17] This act drew the ire of the abolitionist movement,[9] and was directly criticized by Douglass in his speech. It is neither. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? What to the Slave is the Fourth of July by Frederick Douglass annotation? 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! Yea! Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. 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. 4th period Mrs. Landrew Fredrick Douglass Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave who became a prominent activist, author and public speaker. 5.0. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery.I have detained my audience entirely too long already. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. 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. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. What characteristics does he praise about them? Summary of Part 1:In part one of the speech "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July", Fredrick Douglass. a horrible reptile is coiled up in your nations bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever!But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic.Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stooped, basely stooped. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! PDF. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? GAZETTE: What is the historical setting for this speech, and why did Douglass focus on the Fourth of July? Your lawmakers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. He says that, if anything, many churches actually stand behind slavery and support the continued existence of the institution. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. Is it at the gateway? During the 1850's, the Fourth of July served as a reminder of the many horrors and injustices in the world. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. Frederick Douglass delivered his famous speech at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester, NY, on July. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. 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