Posted by Randy Barnett:
July 5th Oration by Frederick Douglass:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_06_28-2009_07_04.shtml#1246707917
Tomorrow I am hoping to attend a recreation of Frederick Douglass's
Independence Day oration at his home in Anacostia, DC.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS SPEECH Sunday at 1. Reenactor Kevin McIlvaine
delivers the speech, originally given by the abolitionist on July
5, 1852, that focused on the failure of the Declaration of
Independence to fulfill its promise to provide freedom for African
Americans. Frederick Douglass Home, 1411 W St. SE. 202-426-5961.
Free.
Today, historian Jonathan Bean has a nice essay on National Review
Online entitled, [1]The Party of Lincoln, and of Douglass:
Rediscovering Frederick Douglass in the Age of Obama. Here is how it
opens:
Some 157 years ago, in 1852, the great abolitionist Frederick
Douglass delivered his �Fourth of July Oration� condemning America
for practicing slavery and thereby failing to live up to the humane
ideals expressed by the Declaration of Independence.
�What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?� Douglass
thundered. �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.�
Douglass�s words might seem passé on Independence Day 2009, with
Barack Obama occupying the White House, several black Americans
serving as governors, and others running everything from the
Republican National Committee to Fortune 500 companies. But the
words of the Sage of Anacostia remain not only relevant, but
essential. Why? Douglass unfailingly opposed any man�s exercising
control over another, and he would be appalled, his writings
suggest, by the new spirit of dependency and control ushered in
with the Age of Obama. Douglass championed limited constitutional
government, colorblind law, capitalism, hard work, and self-help.
His principles are not the stuff of �New New Deals� but rather a
brief for a �New Independence Day� based on small-government
principles.
This reminded me of a blog post of mine from July 4th, 2006, which I
reprint here:
Elevate your Independence Day by reading [2]this moving 1852 oration
by Frederick Douglass in its entirety. There is so much to appreciate
in this speech, it is difficult to select excerpts. But here is one
passage I particularly like:
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.
Or this:
Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is
conceded already. . . . It is admitted in the fact that Southern
statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe
fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write.
When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of
the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave.
When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the
cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles
that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute,
there will I argue with you that the slave is a man!
Or this:
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; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of
rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations 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 which would disgrace a nation of
savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices,
more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United
States, at this very hour. Go where you may, search where you will,
roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world,
travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you
have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday
practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for
revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without
a rival.
But later he turns to the Constitution:
But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have
now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the
Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to
hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the
illustrious Fathers of this Republic.
Then, I dare to affirm, notwithstanding all I have said before,
your fathers stooped, basely stooped
"To palter with us in a double sense:
And keep the word of promise to the ear,
But break it to the heart."
And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to
be, they were the veriest imposters that ever practised on mankind.
This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape.
But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framers of
the Constitution of the United States. It is a slander upon their
memory, at least, so I believe. There is not time now to argue the
constitutional question at length � nor have I the ability to
discuss it as it ought to be discussed. The subject has been
handled with masterly power by [3]Lysander Spooner, Esq., by
William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not
least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. These gentlemen have, as I think,
fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to
support slavery for an hour.
"[L]et me ask, if it be not somewhat singular that, if the
Constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a
slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor
slave can anywhere be found in it."
Fellow-citizens! 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. In
that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor
sanction of the hateful thing; but, 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 it in the temple? It is neither. While I do
not intend to argue this question on the present occasion, let me
ask, if it be not somewhat singular that, if the Constitution were
intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave-holding
instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can
anywhere be found in it. What would be thought of an instrument,
drawn up, legally drawn up, for the purpose of entitling the city
of Rochester to a tract of land, in which no mention of land was
made? Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the
proper understanding of all legal instruments. These rules are well
established. They are plain, common-sense rules, such as you and I,
and all of us, can understand and apply, without having passed
years in the study of law. I scout the idea that the question of
the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a
question for the people. I hold that every American citizen has a
right to form an opinion of the constitution, and to propagate that
opinion, and to use all honorable means to make his opinion the
prevailing one. Without this right, the liberty of an American
citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. . . .
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 what could have been a paean to the Internet
and other liberating technologies:
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. "The arm of the Lord is
not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore,
leave off where I began, with hope. 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. Nations do not
now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages
ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world,
and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without
interference. The time was when such could be done. Long
established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence
themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity.
Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and
the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now
come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have
become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates
of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners
of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well
as on the earth. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered
agents. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From
Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively
annihilated. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are,
distinctly heard on the other. The far off and almost fabulous
Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestial Empire, the
mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let
there be Light," has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage
whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the
all-pervading light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must
be seen, in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her
yet unwoven garment. "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
The wide world o'er!
When from their galling chains set free,
Th' oppress'd shall vilely bend the knee,
And wear the yoke of tyranny
Like brutes no more.
That year will come, and freedom's reign,
To man his plundered rights again
Restore. . . .
References
1.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmUxY2MxZGMyMjQ4Zjk5NTg0YTJlOGVlZDBlOTM2NWU=
2. http://douglassarchives.org/doug_a10.htm
3. http://www.lysanderspooner.org/UnconstitutionalityOfSlaveryContents.htm
_______________________________________________
Volokh mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
