Conghaileach
7th July 2002, 21:24
Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"
5 July 1852
Occasion: Meeting sponsored by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery
Society, Rochester Hall, Rochester, N.Y. To illustrate the full shame
of slavery, Douglass delivered a speech that took aim at the pieties of
the nation -- the cherished memories of its revolution, its principles
of liberty, and its moral and religious foundation. The Fourth of July,
a day celebrating freedom, was used by Douglass to remind his audience
of liberty's unfinished business.
Editorial note: Footnotes from the source copy have been placed
immediately following their respective paragraphs.
-------------------------------------------------------
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this
audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have.
I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before
any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability,
than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to
the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task before me is
one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper
performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally
considered flat and unmeaning. I trust, however, that mine will not be
so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much
misrepresent me. The little experience I have had in addressing
public meetings, in country school houses, avails me nothing on the
present occasion.
The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July
oration. 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.
But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have
of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment.
The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform
and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable --and
the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the
former, are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is, to me,
a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not,
therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say, I evince no
elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding
exordium. With little experience and with less learning, I have been
able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together;
and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to
lay them before you.
"May [the reformer] not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice
and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation
older, the patriot's heart might be sadder, and the reformer's brow
heavier. . . . There is consolation in the thought that America is
young."
This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It is
the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political
freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated
people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of
your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders,
associated with that act, and that day. This celebration also marks the
beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that
the Republic of America is now 76 years old.
I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six
years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life
of a nation. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for
individual men; but nations number their years by thousands.
According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of
your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I
repeat, I am glad this is so. There is hope in the thought, and hope is
much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The
eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous
times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America
is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her
existence. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and
of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation
older, the patriot's heart might be sadder, and the reformer's brow
heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its
prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in the thought
that America is young. Great streams are not easily turned from
channels, worn deep in the course of ages. They may sometimes rise in
quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and
fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. They may also
rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the
accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. They, however,
gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as
ever. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up,
and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly
rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed
glory. As with rivers so with nations.
Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the
associations that cluster about this day. The simple story of it is
that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects.
The style and title of your "sovereign people" (in which you now glory)
was not then born. You were under the British Crown . Your fathers
esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as
the fatherland. This home government, you know, although a considerable
distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its
parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children,
such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgement,
it deemed wise, right and proper.
But, your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this
day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of
its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to
the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints.
They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of
government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such
as ought not to be quietly submitted to. I scarcely need say, fellow-
citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of
your fathers. Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be
worth much to anybody. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what
part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of
1776. To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is
exceedingly easy. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than
the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England
towards the American Colonies. It is fashionable to do so; but there
was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause
of the colonies, tried men's souls. They who did so were accounted in
their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men.
To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the
strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! here lies the
merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our
day. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the
deeds of your fathers. But, to proceed.
Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government,
your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought
redress. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a
decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. Their conduct was
wholly unexceptionable. This, however, did not answer the purpose. They
saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn.
Yet they persevered. They were not the men to look back.
As the sheet anchor takes a firmer hold, when the ship is tossed by the
storm, so did the cause of your fathers grow stronger, as it breasted
the chilling blasts of kingly displeasure. The greatest and best
of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence
of the British Senate came to its support. But, with that blindness
which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since
Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea, the
British Government persisted in the exactions complained of.
The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by
England; but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present rulers.
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 here, the idea of a total 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 by it.
for the complete text on-line, go
to http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/doug_a10.htm
-------------------------------------------------------
Where the text can be found: The speech was originally published as a
pamphlet. It can be located in James M. Gregory's, Frederick Douglass,
the Orator (1893). More recent publications of the speech include
Philip Foner's, The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass (1950) and
The Frederick Douglass Papers (1982), edited by John W. Blassingame.
Prepared by: D. L. Oetting
Accepted: 1 September 1996
Last updated: 15 May 2002
Copyright © 1997-2002 Douglass Archives. All rights reserved.
5 July 1852
Occasion: Meeting sponsored by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery
Society, Rochester Hall, Rochester, N.Y. To illustrate the full shame
of slavery, Douglass delivered a speech that took aim at the pieties of
the nation -- the cherished memories of its revolution, its principles
of liberty, and its moral and religious foundation. The Fourth of July,
a day celebrating freedom, was used by Douglass to remind his audience
of liberty's unfinished business.
Editorial note: Footnotes from the source copy have been placed
immediately following their respective paragraphs.
-------------------------------------------------------
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this
audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have.
I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before
any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability,
than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to
the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task before me is
one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper
performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally
considered flat and unmeaning. I trust, however, that mine will not be
so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much
misrepresent me. The little experience I have had in addressing
public meetings, in country school houses, avails me nothing on the
present occasion.
The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July
oration. 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.
But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have
of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment.
The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform
and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable --and
the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the
former, are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is, to me,
a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not,
therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say, I evince no
elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding
exordium. With little experience and with less learning, I have been
able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together;
and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to
lay them before you.
"May [the reformer] not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice
and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation
older, the patriot's heart might be sadder, and the reformer's brow
heavier. . . . There is consolation in the thought that America is
young."
This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It is
the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political
freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated
people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of
your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders,
associated with that act, and that day. This celebration also marks the
beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that
the Republic of America is now 76 years old.
I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six
years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life
of a nation. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for
individual men; but nations number their years by thousands.
According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of
your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I
repeat, I am glad this is so. There is hope in the thought, and hope is
much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The
eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous
times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America
is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her
existence. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and
of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation
older, the patriot's heart might be sadder, and the reformer's brow
heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its
prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in the thought
that America is young. Great streams are not easily turned from
channels, worn deep in the course of ages. They may sometimes rise in
quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and
fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. They may also
rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the
accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. They, however,
gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as
ever. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up,
and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly
rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed
glory. As with rivers so with nations.
Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the
associations that cluster about this day. The simple story of it is
that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects.
The style and title of your "sovereign people" (in which you now glory)
was not then born. You were under the British Crown . Your fathers
esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as
the fatherland. This home government, you know, although a considerable
distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its
parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children,
such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgement,
it deemed wise, right and proper.
But, your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this
day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of
its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to
the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints.
They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of
government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such
as ought not to be quietly submitted to. I scarcely need say, fellow-
citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of
your fathers. Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be
worth much to anybody. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what
part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of
1776. To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is
exceedingly easy. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than
the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England
towards the American Colonies. It is fashionable to do so; but there
was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause
of the colonies, tried men's souls. They who did so were accounted in
their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men.
To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the
strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! here lies the
merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our
day. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the
deeds of your fathers. But, to proceed.
Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government,
your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought
redress. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a
decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. Their conduct was
wholly unexceptionable. This, however, did not answer the purpose. They
saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn.
Yet they persevered. They were not the men to look back.
As the sheet anchor takes a firmer hold, when the ship is tossed by the
storm, so did the cause of your fathers grow stronger, as it breasted
the chilling blasts of kingly displeasure. The greatest and best
of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence
of the British Senate came to its support. But, with that blindness
which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since
Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea, the
British Government persisted in the exactions complained of.
The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by
England; but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present rulers.
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 here, the idea of a total 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 by it.
for the complete text on-line, go
to http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/doug_a10.htm
-------------------------------------------------------
Where the text can be found: The speech was originally published as a
pamphlet. It can be located in James M. Gregory's, Frederick Douglass,
the Orator (1893). More recent publications of the speech include
Philip Foner's, The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass (1950) and
The Frederick Douglass Papers (1982), edited by John W. Blassingame.
Prepared by: D. L. Oetting
Accepted: 1 September 1996
Last updated: 15 May 2002
Copyright © 1997-2002 Douglass Archives. All rights reserved.