allusions in what to the slave is the fourth of july

Speech by Frederick Douglass

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

Frederick Douglass circa 1852

The 1852 pamphlet printing of the spoken communication

"What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?"^{[1] [ii]} is the title now given to a oral communication by Frederick Douglass delivered on July five, 1852, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society.^[3] The speech is perchance the most widely known of all of Frederick Douglass' writings relieve his autobiographies. Many copies of ane department of it, beginning in paragraph 32, have been circulated online.^[4] Due to this and the variant titles given to information technology in various places, and the fact that it is chosen a July Fourth Oration only was actually delivered on July 5, some confusion has arisen virtually the date and contents of the speech communication. The spoken communication has since been published under the to a higher place title in The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series I, Vol. 2. (1982) ^[5]

While referring to the celebrations of the Independence 24-hour interval in the United States the mean solar day before, the speech uses biting 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 confronting the continued being of Slavery in the U.s..^[6] Douglass orates that positive statements virtually American values, such as freedom, citizenship, and freedom, were an criminal offence to the enslaved population of the The states because of their lack of freedom, liberty, and citizenship. As well, Douglass referred not only to the captivity of enslaved people, but 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 chosen this topic the "paradox of the positive" because information technology highlights how something positive and meant to be positive can also exclude individuals.^[vii]

Views expressed in the speech [edit]

The 4th of July Accost, delivered in Corinthian Hall, by Frederick Douglass, is published on good newspaper, and makes a neat pamphlet of forty pages. The 'Accost' may be had at this office, price ten cents, a unmarried copy, or six dollars per hundred.

—Advertisement for the pamphlet of Douglass' oral communication from the July 12, 1852 edition of Frederick Douglass' Paper (formerly The Due north Star)

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

What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the smashing principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?...What, to the American slave, is your quaternary of July? 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.^[eight]

Douglass also stresses the view that slaves and free 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 exist free 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, liberty, and humanity were final; non slavery and oppression.^{[9] : 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, according to Douglass, should not stand idly past while the rights and freedom 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 really stand behind slavery and support the continued being 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 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.^{[nine] : 344}

Nevertheless, Douglass claims that this can alter. The The states does not take to stay the mode it is. The country tin can progress similar it has earlier, transforming from being a colony of a far-away king to an independent nation. U.k., and many other countries of that time, had already abolished slavery from its territories. The British accomplished this through religion or more specifically, the church. Because the church stood behind the decision to abolish the selling and buying of people, so did the residue of the land. Douglass argues that religion is the heart of the problem but also the chief solution to it.

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

You profess to believe, "that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the confront of all the world," and hath commanded all men everywhere to love ane another; yet you notoriously hate (and glory in your hatred) all men whose skins are not colored similar your ain.^{[9] : 345}

Douglass wants his audience to realize that they are not living up to their proclaimed beliefs. He talks about how they, being Americans, are proud of their land and their religion and how they rejoice in the name of liberty and freedom and notwithstanding they do non offer those things to millions of their state's residents.^{[ix] : 345}

He employs irony to practice a lot of this piece of work. Douglass spends time celebrating the efforts of the founding fathers of America for fighting dorsum confronting the tyranny of England when he says^[10]

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

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 show the irony of their inability to sympathise with the Blackness people they oppressed in cruel ways that the forefathers they valorized never experienced. He validates the feelings of injustice the Founders felt then juxtaposes their experiences with bright descriptions of the harshness of slavery when he says:^[11]

The fissure you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the baby. Her speed had faltered nether the weight of her child and her bondage! that gash on her shoulder tells her to move on. Follow the drove to New Orleans. Attend the auction; meet men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. See this collection sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. Tell me citizens, WHERE, under the sunday, you lot can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. Yet this is simply a glance at the American slave-merchandise, as it exists, at this moment, in the ruling function of the United States.

Substantially, Douglass criticizes his audience's pride for a nation that claims to value freedom though it is equanimous of people who continuously commit atrocities confronting Blacks. It is said that America is built on the idea of liberty and freedom, only Douglass tells his audience that more anything, it is built on inconsistencies and hypocrisies that accept been disregarded for and then long they appear to be truths. According to Douglass, these inconsistencies accept made the United States the object of mockery and frequently contempt among the various nations of the world.^{[9] : 346} To prove bear witness of these inconsistencies, every bit one historian noted, during the speech communication Douglass claims that the United States Constitution is an abolitionist certificate and not a pro-slavery document.^[12] Douglass said:^{[13] [14]}

An advert for the occasion of the speech communication.

Fellow-citizens! at that place is no matter in respect to which, the people of the Due north accept immune themselves to be and then ruinously imposed upon, every bit that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. In that instrument I hold in that location is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful matter; but, interpreted every bit information technology 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'due south^[15] in that those politicians who were saying that the Constitution was a justification for their beliefs in regard to slavery were doing and so dishonestly.

However, if slavery were abolished and equal rights given to all, that would no longer be the example. In the end, Douglass wants to keep his hope and faith in humanity loftier. Douglass declares that true liberty tin non be in America if Black people are nevertheless enslaved in that location and is adamant that the terminate of slavery is near. Knowledge is becoming more than readily bachelor, Douglass said, and soon the American people volition open their eyes to the atrocities they take been inflicting on their fellow Americans.

Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well every bit on the world.^{[ix] : 346}

Later views on American independence [edit]

The speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" was delivered in the decade preceding the American Civil State of 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 outset state to join the Patriot crusade during the American Revolutionary War, black men should get to Massachusetts to enlist in the Union Army.^[16] After the Civil State of war, Douglass said that "we" had achieved a great thing by gaining American independence during the American Revolutionary War, though he said it was not as great as what was achieved by the Ceremonious War.^[17]

Legacy [edit]

In the U.s., the spoken language is widely taught in history and English classes in high school and higher.^[6] American studies professor Andrew S. Bibby argues that because many of the editions produced for educational use are abridged, they oftentimes misrepresent Douglass'due south original through omission or editorial focus.^[6]

A statue of Douglass erected in Rochester in 2018 was torn downwards on July 5, 2020—the 168th ceremony of the speech.^{[18] [19]} 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, though in that location is no evidence to bear witness this statement. ^[20]

Notable readings [edit]

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

• James Earl Jones^[6]
• Morgan Freeman^{[half dozen]}
• Danny Glover^[6]
• Ossie Davis^{[half dozen]}
• 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, Isle of mann & Co., 1852. Rochester, NY: Lee, Mann & Co.
2. ^ Douglass, Frederick (July 5, 1852). ""What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"". Retrieved January 2, 2022.
3. ^ McFeely, William S. (1991). Frederick Douglass . New York: W.West. 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 Due west. (ed.). The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series I: Speeches Debates, and Interviews. Vol. two, 1847-54. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 359-387.
6. ^ ^{a b c d east f g} Bibby, Andrew South. (July 2, 2014). "'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?': Frederick Douglass's fiery Independence Day speech is widely read today, but not and then widely understood". Wall Street Periodical . Retrieved August 13, 2015.
7. ^ ^{a b} Heath, Robert L.; Waymer, Damion (2009). "Activist Public Relations and the Paradox of the Positive: A Example Report of Frederick Douglass's Fourth of July Address". Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations II: 192–215. ISBN9781135220877.
8. ^ Battistoni, Richard. The American Constitutional Experience: Selected Readings & Supreme Courtroom Opinions, pp. 66-73 (Kendall Chase, 2000).
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f chiliad} Douglass, Frederick (1852). "Oration, Delivered in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, July 5, 1852". In Harris, Leonard; Pratt, Scott 50.; Waters, Anne S. (eds.). American Philosophies: An Anthology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell (published 2002). ISBN978-0-631-21002-iii.
10. ^ ""What to the Slave Is the Quaternary of July?"". Teaching 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 thirteen, 2010.
14. ^ African Americans In Congress: A Documentary History, by Eric Freedman and Stephen A, Jones, 2008, p. 39
15. ^ Gorski, Philip (Feb 6, 2017). American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present. Princeton University Press. ISBN9781400885008 – via Google Books.
16. ^ Douglass, Frederick. Frederick Douglass on Slavery and the Ceremonious State of war: Selections from His Writings, p. 46 (Dover Publications, 2014): "We can get at the throat of treason and slavery through the State of Massachusetts. She was first in the State of war of Independence; first to break the chains of her slaves; start to brand the black man equal before the police; beginning to admit colored children to her common schools, and she was get-go to answer with her blood the alarm cry of the nation, when its capital letter was menaced by rebels."
17. ^ Douglass, Frederick. Autobiographies, p. 765 (Library of America, 1994): "It was a peachy affair to achieve American Independence when nosotros numbered three millions, merely it was a greater thing to salvage this country from dismemberment and ruin when information technology numbered thirty millions."
18. ^ Schwartz, Matthew S. (July vi, 2020). "Frederick Douglass Statue Torn Down On Anniversary Of Famous Speech". NPR. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July vii, 2020.
19. ^ Brown, Deneen 50. (July 6, 2020). "Frederick Douglass statue torn down in Rochester, N.Y., on anniversary of his famous Fourth of July speech". The Washington Postal service. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July seven, 2020.
20. ^ Pengelly, Martin (July 6, 2020). "Frederick Douglass statue torn downwards on anniversary of great spoken communication". The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July seven, 2020. Speaking to WROC, [Carvin] Eison asked: 'Is this some type of retaliation considering of the national fever over Confederate monuments right now? Very disappointing, it's beyond disappointing.'
21. ^ Thurston, Baratunde (July four, 2020) [Recorded July one, 2016]. Baratunde Delivers USA Co-Founder Frederick Douglass 1852 Oral communication: 'What To The Slave Is The quaternary of July' . Facebook. Directed by Tara Garver Mikhael. Brooklyn Public Library. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
22. ^ "VIDEO: Frederick Douglass' Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth Of July' Speech". NPR.org . Retrieved 2021-05-22 .

Further reading [edit]

• Bizzell, Patricia (1997-02-01). "The 4th of July and the 22nd of December: The Function of Cultural Archives in Persuasion, as Shown by Frederick Douglass and William Apess". College Limerick and Advice. 48 (one): 44–60. doi:ten.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, Part Two - Life as a Freeman, with an introduction by 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: West.Due west. Norton & Visitor, Inc. 2007.

External links [edit]

• Frederick Douglass' Descendants Deliver His 'Fourth of July' Spoken language (video)
• First edition of the publication of Douglass' speech
• Word of the pamphlet from The Public Domain Review
• What to the Slave Is the Quaternary 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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