Even Northerners who were anti-slavery were not necessarily pro-abolition. The time was when such could be done. 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. Resources for Understanding Text Complexity, Resources for Writing High-Quality Text Dependent Questions, Advisor: James Engell, Gurney Professor of English and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University, National Humanities Center Fellow.Copyright National Humanities Center, 2013.

| Q&A. Fellow-citizens!
Douglass never mentions the fact that many of the fathers were slave owners. Copyright 2010–2020 National Humanities Center. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. While drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. No! How does Douglass address these expectations in his introduction? Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young.
They were great in their day and generation. What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? I will not. Looking for hints of future prospects in the past and predicting what lies ahead, It may lift personalized treatment, fill gaps in access to care, cut red tape but risks abound, Epidemiologist offers tips for family gatherings at Thanksgiving and in December, © 2020 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. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. 14. If America permits slavery to become a deep and permanent part of its life, the nation might benefit from it, or it might be destroyed by it, or it could be morally drained by it. 10. It took 13 years after the speech for slavery to be abolished — 89 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 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 denunciation 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 hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes that would disgrace a nation of savages. Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, Early Visual Representations of the New World, Failed European Colonies in the New World, Successful European Colonies in the New World, Benjamin Franklin’s Satire of Witch Hunting, Lexington & Concord: Tipping Point of the Revolution, America, the Creeks, and Other Southeastern Tribes, America and the Six Nations: Native Americans After the Revolution, The Expansion of Democracy During the Jacksonian Era, Individualism in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”, Aylmer’s Motivation in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark”, Thoreau’s Critique of Democracy in “Civil Disobedience”, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”, “The Chinese Question from a Chinese Standpoint,” 1873, “To Build a Fire”: An Environmentalist Interpretation, The Radio as New Technology: Blessing or Curse? In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. As he reminds his audience in the final paragraph of the introduction, he is an escaped slave. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” An Address Delivered in Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852. “Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God.” In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: God speed the year of jubilee On July 5, 1852, abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass delivered a scathing speech on slavery — its title commonly identified as “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” — that still echoes today.

Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. What, then, remains to be argued? Identifying himself with the enslaved, he announces that he will consider the Fourth of July from their perspective.     Like brutes, no more:— But we also need to invest as a city and as a society into reading and learning more about the present realities of oppressed peoples. 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. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? There is blasphemy in the thought. He also wrote a letter to Ida B. The third focuses on his use of syllogistic reasoning, while the fourth examines how he makes his case through emotion and the fifth through analogy. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. 40 - Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=What_to_the_Slave_Is_the_Fourth_of_July%3F&oldid=2821120, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. 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. 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. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. Douglass does not emphasize key points or restate his arguments. The anguish of my boyish heart was intense; and I was often consoled, when speaking to my mistress in the morning, to hear her say that the custom was very wicked; that she hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the heart-rending cries.

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