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Spoken communication by Frederick Douglass

Coordinates: 43°09′22″Northward 77°36′47″Due west  /  43.1562269°N 77.6129184°W  / 43.1562269; -77.6129184

A photo of Douglass dressed in a suit

Frederick Douglass circa 1852

The 1852 pamphlet press of the speech

"What to the Slave Is the Quaternary of July?"[1] [2] is the title now given to a speech by Frederick Douglass delivered on July 5, 1852, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, at a meeting organized past the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Social club.[three] The speech is perhaps the virtually widely known of all of Frederick Douglass' writings save his autobiographies. Many copies of one section of it, showtime in paragraph 32, have been circulated online.[four] Due to this and the variant titles given to it in various places, and the fact that it is chosen a July Fourth Oration just was actually delivered on July five, some defoliation has arisen nearly the date and contents of the speech. The speech communication has since been published under the above championship in The Frederick Douglass Papers, Serial I, Vol. 2. (1982) [v]

While referring to the celebrations of the Independence Twenty-four hour period in the United States the day earlier, the speech communication uses bitter irony and biting rhetoric, and acute textual analysis of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and the Christian Bible, to advance a values-based statement against the continued existence of Slavery in the United States.[half-dozen] Douglass orates that positive statements nigh American values, such equally liberty, citizenship, and freedom, were an offense to the enslaved population of the United States because of their lack of freedom, freedom, and citizenship. Every bit well, Douglass referred not only to the captivity of enslaved people, simply to the merciless exploitation and the cruelty and torture that slaves were subjected to in the United States.[7] Rhetoricians R.L. Heath and D. Waymer called this topic the "paradox of the positive" because it highlights how something positive and meant to be positive can likewise exclude individuals.[seven]

Views expressed in the speech [edit]

The 4th of July Accost, delivered in Corinthian Hall, by Frederick Douglass, is published on practiced paper, and makes a neat pamphlet of xl pages. The 'Accost' may exist had at this office, cost ten cents, a single copy, or half dozen dollars per hundred.

—Advertisement for the pamphlet of Douglass' speech from the July 12, 1852 edition of Frederick Douglass' Paper (formerly The Northward Star)

Douglass said that the fathers of the nation were nifty statesmen, and that the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence were "saving principles", and the "ringbolt of your nations destiny", stating, "stand past those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatsoever cost." However, he maintained that slaves owed naught to and had no positive feelings towards the founding of the United states. He faulted America for utter hypocrisy and betrayal of those values in maintaining the institution of slavery.

What accept I, or those I stand for, to practise with your national independence? Are the slap-up principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?...What, to the American slave, is your fourth of July? I reply; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the yr, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.[8]

Douglass too stresses the view that slaves and gratuitous Americans are equal in nature. He expresses his belief in the speech that he and other slaves are fighting the same fight in terms of wishing to be complimentary that White Americans, the ancestors of the white people he is addressing, fought seventy years earlier.

They were statesmen, patriots, and heroes, and…with them, justice, freedom, and humanity were final; not slavery and oppression.[ix] : 340

Douglass also says that if the residents of America believe that slaves are "men",[9] : 342 they should be treated as such. True Christians, co-ordinate to Douglass, should not stand up idly by while the rights and liberty of others are stripped away.

Douglass denounces the churches for betraying their own biblical and Christian values. He is outraged by the lack of responsibility and indifference towards slavery that many sects have taken around the nation. He says that, if anything, many churches actually stand behind slavery and back up the continued beingness of the institution. Douglass equates this to being worse than many other things that are banned, in particular, books and plays that are banned for infidelity.

They catechumen the very name of faith into an engine of tyranny and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the pagan writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke put together have washed.[nine] : 344

Nevertheless, Douglass claims that this tin can change. The United States does not take to stay the style it is. The country can progress like information technology has before, transforming from being a colony of a far-abroad male monarch to an independent nation. Great Britain, and many other countries of that fourth dimension, had already abolished slavery from its territories. The British accomplished this through religion or more specifically, the church. Because the church building stood behind the decision to abolish the selling and ownership of people, and so did the rest of the land. Douglass argues that religion is the center of the problem but also the main solution to information technology.

Douglass believed that slavery could be eliminated with the support of the church, and also with the reexamination of what the Bible was really saying.

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 lot notoriously hate (and celebrity in your hatred) all men whose skins are non colored similar your own.[nine] : 345

Douglass wants his audition to realize that they are not living up to their proclaimed behavior. He talks near how they, beingness Americans, are proud of their country and their religion and how they rejoice in the name of freedom and liberty and yet they do not offer those things to millions of their country'due south residents.[9] : 345

He employs irony to do a lot of this work. Douglass spends time celebrating the efforts of the founding fathers of America for fighting back against the tyranny of England when he says[10]

Oppression makes a wise man mad. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. Just hither, the idea of a full separation of the colonies from the crown was born! It was a startling idea, much more so, than nosotros, at this distance of fourth dimension, regard it. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed past information technology.

Douglass details the hardships past Americans once endured when they were members of British colonies and validates their feelings of ill treatment. He does all this to evidence the irony of their inability to sympathize with the Black people they oppressed in cruel ways that the forefathers they valorized never experienced. He validates the feelings of injustice the Founders felt so juxtaposes their experiences with vivid descriptions of the harshness of slavery when he says:[11]

The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman yous saw with the babe. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her bondage! that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. Follow the collection to New Orleans. Nourish the auction; see men examined similar horses; encounter the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. Meet this collection sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, pitiful sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. Tell me citizens, WHERE, nether the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. Yet this is but a glance at the American slave-trade, every bit it exists, at this moment, in the ruling part of the United States.

Essentially, Douglass criticizes his audience'southward pride for a nation that claims to value freedom though information technology is equanimous of people who continuously commit atrocities confronting Blacks. It is said that America is built on the thought of liberty and liberty, but Douglass tells his audition that more than than anything, it is built on inconsistencies and hypocrisies that have been disregarded for and then long they appear to exist truths. According to Douglass, these inconsistencies have made the Usa the object of mockery and frequently contempt among the various nations of the world.[9] : 346 To prove prove of these inconsistencies, equally ane historian noted, during the speech Douglass claims that the United States Constitution is an abolitionist certificate and not a pro-slavery document.[12] Douglass said:[13] [14]

A handwritten announcement of the date and time of the speech

An advertizing for the occasion of the speech.

Fellow-citizens! there is no affair in respect to which, the people of the North take allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, every bit that of the pro-slavery graphic symbol of the Constitution. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the mean thing; simply, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? or is information technology in the temple? Information technology is neither.

In this respect, Douglass' views converged with that of Abraham Lincoln's[15] in that those politicians who were proverb that the Constitution was a justification for their beliefs in regard to slavery were doing and then dishonestly.


All the same, if slavery were abolished and equal rights given to all, that would no longer exist the case. In the end, Douglass wants to keep his hope and organized religion in humanity high. Douglass declares that true freedom tin can not exist in America if Black people are still enslaved there and is adamant that the end of slavery is about. Knowledge is becoming more readily available, Douglass said, and shortly the American people volition open their optics to the atrocities they have been inflicting on their fellow Americans.

Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, likewise every bit on the earth.[9] : 346

Subsequently views on American independence [edit]

The spoken language "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" was delivered in the decade preceding the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865 and achieved the abolition of slavery. During the Civil War, Douglass said that since Massachusetts had been the showtime state to join the Patriot crusade during the American Revolutionary War, blackness men should get to Massachusetts to enlist in the Marriage Army.[16] After the Civil War, Douglass said that "we" had accomplished a cracking thing past gaining American independence during the American Revolutionary State of war, though he said it was not as bang-up equally what was accomplished by the Civil War.[17]

Legacy [edit]

In the United states, the speech is widely taught in history and English classes in high schoolhouse and college.[6] American studies professor Andrew Southward. Bibby argues that because many of the editions produced for educational use are abridged, they often misrepresent Douglass'due south original through omission or editorial focus.[vi]

A statue of Douglass erected in Rochester in 2018 was torn down on July 5, 2020—the 168th anniversary of the speech.[18] [19] The caput of the organization responsible for the memorial speculated that it was vandalized in response to the removal of Amalgamated monuments in the wake of the George Floyd protests, though there is no show to prove this statement. [twenty]

Notable readings [edit]

The speech communication has been notably performed or read by important figures, including the following:

  • James Earl Jones[6]
  • Morgan Freeman[6]
  • Danny Glover[six]
  • Ossie Davis[six]
  • Baratunde Thurston[21]
  • Five of his descendants[22]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Douglass, Frederick (1852). Frederick Douglass, Oration, Delivered in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, July 5th, 1852. Rochester: Lee, Mann & Co., 1852. Rochester, NY: Lee, Mann & Co.
  2. ^ Douglass, Frederick (July v, 1852). ""What to the Slave is the Quaternary of July?"". Retrieved Jan ii, 2022.
  3. ^ McFeely, William S. (1991). Frederick Douglass . New York: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 172–173. ISBN978-0-393-02823-2.
  4. ^ The paragraphing referenced here is taken from an edition of the speech at RhetoricalGoddess
  5. ^ Douglass, Frederick (1982). Blassingame, John W. (ed.). The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series One: Speeches Debates, and Interviews. Vol. 2, 1847-54. New Oasis: Yale Academy Press. p. 359-387.
  6. ^ a b c d due east f yard Bibby, Andrew S. (July 2, 2014). "'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?': Frederick Douglass's fiery Independence Day speech is widely read today, only non so widely understood". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  7. ^ a b Heath, Robert L.; Waymer, Damion (2009). "Activist Public Relations and the Paradox of the Positive: A Instance Written report of Frederick Douglass'south Quaternary of July Accost". Rhetorical and Disquisitional Approaches to Public Relations Ii: 192–215. ISBN9781135220877.
  8. ^ Battistoni, Richard. The American Constitutional Experience: Selected Readings & Supreme Court Opinions, pp. 66-73 (Kendall Hunt, 2000).
  9. ^ a b c d eastward f g Douglass, Frederick (1852). "Oration, Delivered in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, July 5, 1852". In Harris, Leonard; Pratt, Scott L.; Waters, Anne Due south. (eds.). American Philosophies: An Album. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell (published 2002). ISBN978-0-631-21002-3.
  10. ^ ""What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"". Didactics American History . Retrieved 2021-05-22 .
  11. ^ ""What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"". Teaching American History . Retrieved 2021-05-22 .
  12. ^ Colaiaco, James A. (March 24, 2015). Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July. St. Martin'southward Publishing Group. ISBN9781466892781 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ "Exceptionalism and the left". Los Angeles Times. December xiii, 2010.
  14. ^ African Americans In Congress: A Documentary History, by Eric Freedman and Stephen A, Jones, 2008, p. 39
  15. ^ Gorski, Philip (February 6, 2017). American Covenant: A History of Ceremonious Faith from the Puritans to the Present. Princeton University Press. ISBN9781400885008 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ Douglass, Frederick. Frederick Douglass on Slavery and the Civil War: Selections from His Writings, p. 46 (Dover Publications, 2014): "We can get at the throat of treason and slavery through the Land of Massachusetts. She was kickoff in the State of war of Independence; first to break the bondage of her slaves; first to make the black homo equal before the police; first to acknowledge colored children to her mutual schools, and she was first to answer with her claret the alarm cry of the nation, when its capital was menaced by rebels."
  17. ^ Douglass, Frederick. Autobiographies, p. 765 (Library of America, 1994): "Information technology was a great thing to achieve American Independence when we numbered 3 millions, but information technology was a greater matter to salve this country from dismemberment and ruin when information technology numbered thirty millions."
  18. ^ Schwartz, Matthew Southward. (July 6, 2020). "Frederick Douglass Statue Torn Downwardly On Anniversary Of Famous Oral communication". NPR. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  19. ^ Brown, Deneen L. (July 6, 2020). "Frederick Douglass statue torn down in Rochester, N.Y., on anniversary of his famous Fourth of July voice communication". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July seven, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  20. ^ Pengelly, Martin (July half-dozen, 2020). "Frederick Douglass statue torn down on anniversary of great oral communication". The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July seven, 2020. Speaking to WROC, [Carvin] Eison asked: 'Is this some blazon of retaliation because of the national fever over Amalgamated monuments right now? Very disappointing, it's beyond disappointing.'
  21. ^ Thurston, Baratunde (July iv, 2020) [Recorded July 1, 2016]. Baratunde Delivers Us Co-Founder Frederick Douglass 1852 Speech: 'What To The Slave Is The 4th of July' . Facebook. Directed past Tara Garver Mikhael. Brooklyn Public Library. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  22. ^ "VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth Of July' Spoken language". NPR.org . Retrieved 2021-05-22 .

Further reading [edit]

  • Bizzell, Patricia (1997-02-01). "The 4th of July and the 22nd of December: The Office of Cultural Athenaeum in Persuasion, equally Shown past Frederick Douglass and William Apess". College Composition and Communication. 48 (i): 44–threescore. doi:10.2307/358770. ISSN 0010-096X. JSTOR 358770.
  • Douglass, Frederick. A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1845.
  • Douglass, Frederick, ed. Stauffer, John. Random House. 2003. My Bondage and My Freedom: Part I - Life as a Slave, Role Ii - Life equally a Freeman, with an introduction past James McCune Smith. New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan. 1855.
  • Gates, Jr. Henry Louis, ed. Frederick Douglass, Autobiography. New York: Library of America. 1994.
  • Oakes, James. The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics. New York: Westward.W. Norton & Visitor, Inc. 2007.

External links [edit]

  • Frederick Douglass' Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth of July' Speech (video)
  • Starting time edition of the publication of Douglass' oral communication
  • Word of the pamphlet from The Public Domain Review
  • What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? public domain audiobook at LibriVox

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_to_the_Slave_Is_the_Fourth_of_July%3F

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