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“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings ^ | July 5, 1852 | Frederick Douglass

Posted on 07/05/2015 11:00:24 AM PDT by EternalVigilance

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To: ctdonath2
Few recall that the very slavery he speaks of was legal and normal under British rule. It took two revolutions to depose of it.

Slavery Abolition Act 1833

The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was an 1833 Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire (with the exceptions "of the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company," the "Island of Ceylon," and "the Island of Saint Helena"; the exceptions were eliminated in 1843).

21 posted on 07/05/2015 6:04:37 PM PDT by BwanaNdege (.)
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To: BwanaNdege

Thanks for pointing out that important fact of history. Good men prayed and worked diligently for decades to make that into reality. And they did it without a civil war.


22 posted on 07/05/2015 6:28:14 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (I understand the temptation to defeatism, but that doesn't mean I approve of it.)
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To: EternalVigilance
Thanks for pointing out that important fact of history. Good men prayed and worked diligently for decades to make that into reality. And they did it without a civil war.

William Wilberforce!

(and the grace of God, His Amazing Grace!)

23 posted on 07/05/2015 6:48:11 PM PDT by BwanaNdege (.)
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To: EternalVigilance

Re: “They are as serious as any words spoken in American history.”

I partially agree - they are seriously irrational.

The Fourth of July is an American celebration of independence from Britain.

Douglass joined in the celebration knowing that all American slaves would be free if the British had prevailed.


24 posted on 07/06/2015 10:11:41 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen

Douglass chose to identify as an American, primarily because of the “ringbolt of our nation’s destiny,” the natural moral law principles of our Declaration.

And that identification proved in the end not to have been ill-placed or irrational.

Sadly, as in Douglass’ day, too many today have abandoned that ringbolt, and then cannot understand why the ship of state is going on the rocks.

Those who forget history are bound to repeat it.


25 posted on 07/06/2015 10:24:56 AM PDT by EternalVigilance (I understand the temptation to defeatism, but that doesn't mean I approve of it.)
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To: EternalVigilance

If one were to skim that speech quickly, and not recognize its author or context ...

One might be forgiven for thinking, at times, that it addressed the abject horror of legalized abortion.


26 posted on 07/06/2015 10:40:58 AM PDT by NorthMountain ("The time has come", the Walrus said, "to talk of many things")
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To: NorthMountain

Absolutely.


27 posted on 07/06/2015 10:43:38 AM PDT by EternalVigilance (I understand the temptation to defeatism, but that doesn't mean I approve of it.)
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