Frederick Douglas — “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
One of the most famous and inspirational Independence Day speeches comes from Frederick Douglas — “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” (July 5, 1852). It’s a long read but well worth it.
Written and no doubt elegantly and powerfully delivered by a man who deeply understood the great legacy left by the nation’s founding fathers, who as a former slave was deeply outraged by the institution of slavery, and who spoke out against the inherent conflict of the values defined in the Declaration of Independence and imbued in Christian principles versus the practice of slavery.
He first describes the circumstances and injustices under which our nation was born, reflecting some 76 years later that it is easy to do so in the present but far more risky and less fashionable to do have done so back in the moment. “Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers … earnestly sought redress”… later drawing his audience into comparisons with the iniquities of the current day.
“How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! How unlike the politicians of an hour! Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future.” Note the poke he makes at his current generation of politicians and wonder what he would think of politics today.
He then moves on to the point of his speech, which is to lay out in clear and challenging terms the horror and injustice of slave trade. “I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.”
“What, to the American slave, is your 4th 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. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license…”.
“Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. Here you will see men and women reared like swine for the market.”
He contrasts the American and English Churches in their attitude on the anti-slavery movement …“the churches in England …There, the church, true to its mission of ameliorating, elevating, and improving the condition of mankind, came forward promptly, bound up the wounds of the West Indian slave, and restored him to his liberty. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question.”
He then returns to the Constitution — rebutting any sanction of slavery in it and holding it up as foundational to the freedom of all human beings.“The Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? Or is it in the temple? It is neither.”
“Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery.”
He then concludes with optimism inherent in the Constitution and with faith in the American people… “Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery.”
Happy Independence Day. Cherish and celebrate the freedom envisioned in our nation’s founding principles and give gratitude to all who have helped realize this dream, the “Great Experiment”.
