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Frederick Douglass in 1852: "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?"
Teaching American History ^ | July 5, 1852 | Frederick Douglass

Posted on 01/15/2018 11:17:47 AM PST by GoldenState_Rose

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too — great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.

They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concede that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it ought to command respect. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests.

They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. With them, nothing was “settled” that was not right. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were “final;” not slavery and oppression.

(Excerpt) Read more at teachingamericanhistory.org ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: 1852; abolition; douglass; foundingfathers; frederickdouglass; history; martinlutherking; slavery
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1 posted on 01/15/2018 11:17:47 AM PST by GoldenState_Rose
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Should rejoice. The USA stopped slavery. Get over it.


2 posted on 01/15/2018 11:23:23 AM PST by I want the USA back (Lying Media: completely irresponsible. Complicit in the destruction of this country.)
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Frederick Douglass on the US Constitution:

“Interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a glorious liberty document.”


3 posted on 01/15/2018 11:28:22 AM PST by reasonisfaith ("...because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thessalonians))
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Bo Snerdly says he doesn’t celebrate it.


4 posted on 01/15/2018 11:31:01 AM PST by TakebackGOP
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To: reasonisfaith

The anti-American, mainstream democrats of today and the Jeff Flakes of the world whose actions oppose either the letter or the spirit of our Constitution need to reflect on the principle conveyed in Douglass’ statement.


5 posted on 01/15/2018 11:32:32 AM PST by reasonisfaith ("...because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thessalonians))
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Ask a Democrat from the south.


6 posted on 01/15/2018 11:34:09 AM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: TakebackGOP

You mean Limbaugh’s Snerdley?

Limbaugh, employee of the deep state?


7 posted on 01/15/2018 11:34:19 AM PST by reasonisfaith ("...because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thessalonians))
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To: GoldenState_Rose
Image result for Good post
8 posted on 01/15/2018 11:34:21 AM PST by NRx (A man of integrity passes his father's civilization to his son, without selling it off to strangers.)
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To: TakebackGOP

Oh? So he’s still a slave? I guess all those white folks that were killed during the War of Secession were killed in vain.


9 posted on 01/15/2018 11:36:12 AM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: reasonisfaith

When deep staters try to interpret the US Constitution it’s the same as atheists attempting to interpret the Bible.


10 posted on 01/15/2018 11:36:25 AM PST by reasonisfaith ("...because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thessalonians))
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Impressive. Within only a few years of this speech, Christians abandoned the Whigs, and within only a few years of that, slavery was no more.


11 posted on 01/15/2018 11:36:40 AM PST by marron
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To: reasonisfaith
Frederick Douglass was never a slave....free born and educated.....never one day in the cotton fields.
12 posted on 01/15/2018 11:43:19 AM PST by mastertex
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To: reasonisfaith
You have an ironic tagline for someone posting lies.

(you posted the inflammatory accusation. Back it up with solid facts. I've been listening to Rush as long as anyone and until you back up your words I will consider you a liar and hypocrite).

13 posted on 01/15/2018 11:44:21 AM PST by bramps (It's the Islam, stupid!)
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To: mastertex
Frederick Douglass was never a slave....free born and educated.....never one day in the cotton fields.

Poppycock.

14 posted on 01/15/2018 11:44:56 AM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: mastertex

Wrong.


15 posted on 01/15/2018 11:47:18 AM PST by stormer
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Where would they be today if America never existed?


16 posted on 01/15/2018 11:52:32 AM PST by mulligan (The)
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To: GoldenState_Rose
"What to the slave is the 4th of July?"

Its "I'm Not Going To Grow Old And Die In A Shithole Country Day."

17 posted on 01/15/2018 11:57:26 AM PST by paddles ("The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." Tacitus)
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To: GoldenState_Rose

You cannot be unmoved if you read the entire speech. Clearly the Founding Fathers were great men to forge a confederacy between very independent minded states of their time, found a nation, win a war against a great and wealthy power,and write a constitution that established the greatest republic the world has ever seen. Yet as Douglass points out, whether it was political, economic or racial fears, they were unable or unwilling to end slavery and enfranchise everyone in this grand human endeavor. It was the Achilles heel of the new Republic. As Lincoln said no foreign power could take a drink of water from the Ohio River without the consent of the American people. The nation could only be destroyed by internal dissension and civil war. It almost was. Slavery was ended with much bitter bloodshed. Yet today’s citizens continue to suffer the consequences of this “peculiar American institution”. It may yet be the core cause for the dissolution of the American endeavor. Face it. The American nation can neither survive “multiculturalism” or a delusional approach to racial and social realities.


18 posted on 01/15/2018 12:02:40 PM PST by allendale (.)
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To: GoldenState_Rose

Douglass’ speech applied during his time. A man like him wouldn’t deliver the same speech in regards to today’s U.S.A.


19 posted on 01/15/2018 12:03:03 PM PST by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." --Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
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To: mastertex

He never worked in the cotton fields because he was born and raised on a plantation in Maryland, not the Deep South.


20 posted on 01/15/2018 12:20:19 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("Go ahead, bite the Big Apple ... don't mind the maggots.")
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