But, to proceed. And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practiced on mankind. 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. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and cyphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christians God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men! Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. 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. Morel is right that the 1876 speech by Frederick Douglass is remarkable and masterful. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most sacrilegious and shocking and would make me a reproach before God and the world. The Lords of Buffalo, the Springs of New York, the Lathrops of Auburn, the Coxes and Spencers of Brooklyn, the Gannets and Sharps of Boston, the Deweys of Washington, and other great religious lights of the land have, in utter denial of the authority ofHimby whom they professed to be called to the ministry, deliberately taught us, against the example or the Hebrews and against the remonstrance of the Apostles, they teachthat we ought to obey mans law before the law of God. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! Easily integrate Rev using our robust APIs to start building your product quickly. 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. And while slavery has long been abolished and outlawed, the sentiment behind the address still applies in many unfortunate ways when it comes to the overall Black experience in America. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. Is it that slavery is not divine, that God did not establish it, that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Banners and pennants wave exultingly on the breeze. For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! For who is there so cold that a nation sympathy cannot warm him, who so adore it and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion. But I admit, where all is plain, there is nothing to be argued. It was a startling idea, much more so, than we, at this distance of time, regard it. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. You were under the British Crown. This certainly sounds large, and out of the common way, for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. I am not that man. 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. 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 ear-piercing fife and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. 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? There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. That point is conceded already. The power is co-extensive with the Star-Spangled Banner and American Christianity. 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. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. You may rejoice, I must mourn.. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 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. We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. Speech Transcript 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 and question and to denounce with all the emphasis I can command everything that serves to perpetuate slavery, the great sin and shame of America. Oppression makes a wise man mad. WebCelebrating 200 years of Frederick Douglass. be warned! 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. 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. Travel through South America. The fate of many a slave has depended upon the turn of a single card; and many a child has been snatched from the arms of its mother by bargains arranged in a state of brutal drunkenness. 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? This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. WebIn the late 1860sat a moment of great hope for the promise of equality under the lawthe famed orator and once-enslaved abolitionist Frederick Douglass took his Our Composite Nation speech on the road to argue for a plural American democracy. You live and must die, and you must do your work. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Frederick Douglass: (06:44) The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Sign up for NewsOne's email newsletter! For 186 years this doctrine of national independence has shaken the globeand it remains the most powerful force anywhere in the world today. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations history the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it. Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? Translated on-screen subtitles for videos. As noted here, that banquet was attended by prominent African-American professional men in celebration of the twenty-first anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.After the toast provided by former Senator Blanche K. Bruce, I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nations destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. You have already declared it. Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. Frederick Douglass: (01:08) The din of business, too, is hushed. 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. You have already declared it. What have I, or those I represent to do with your national independence. How unlike the politicians of an hour! He rose from the shackles of slavery to become an author, newspaper publisher, and respected abolitionist. 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. You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. 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.. In the solitude of my spirit, I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered humanity, on the way to the slave markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the highest bidder. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! 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! Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. This 4th of July is yours, not mine. He can bring no witnesses for himself. The message of Frederick Douglasss 1852 speech on the contradiction of Americas just ideals and unjust realities endures. Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium.