It was a vast and glorious step in the right direction. Governor Seymour charges us with prolonging the war, and I say the longer the better if it must be so—in order to put an end to the hell-black cause out of which the rebellion has risen. About 180,000 African Americans serve in the Civil War on the Union side. The North Star, later called Frederick Douglass’ Paper, was an antislavery newspaper published by Frederick Douglass. We now want a country in which the obligations of patriotism shall not conflict with fidelity to justice and liberty. NEW YORK (AP) — More than a century after his death, Frederick Douglass and July 4 remain profoundly intertwined. Nevertheless, we must not be asked to say that the South was right in the rebellion, or to say the North was wrong. Frederick Douglass is thought to be one of the greatest men of the Civil War era. The blow we strike is not merely to free a country or continent, but the whole world, from slavery; for when slavery fails here, it will fall everywhere. We want a country, and are fighting for a country, through the length and breadth of which the literature and learning of any section of it may float to its extremities unimpaired, and thus become the common property of all the people—a country in which no man shall be fined for reading a book, or imprisoned for selling a book—a country where no man may be imprisoned or flogged or sold for learning to read, or teaching a fellow mortal how to read. On the other hand, exclude Abolition, and you exclude all else for which you are fighting. It has now assumed a saintly character. You and I know that the mission of this war is national regeneration. Looking at the matter from no higher ground than patriotism—the American considerations of justice, liberty, progress and civilization—the American people should resolve that this shall be the last slaveholding rebellion that shall ever curse this continent. Ask why it was opposed to giving persons claimed as fugitive slaves a jury trial before returning them to slavery; ask why it is now in favor of giving jury trial to traitors before sending them to the forts for safekeeping; ask why it was for war at the beginning of the Rebellion; ask why it has attempted to embarrass and hinder the loyal government at every step of its progress, and you have but one answer, slavery. It is this new complexion of our cause which warms our hearts and strengthens our hands at home, disarms our enemies and increases our friends abroad. Less than a half a million of Southern slaveholders—holding in bondage four million slaves—finding themselves outvoted in the effort to get possession of the United States government, in order to serve the interests of slavery, have madly resorted to the sword—have undertaken to accomplish by bullets what they failed to accomplish by ballots. I know that times have changed very rapidly, and that we have changed them. They charge that it is not waged to establish the Union as it was. I know we have recently gained a great political victory; but it remains to be seen whether we shall wisely avail ourselves of its manifest advantages. Tell me not of amnesties and oaths of allegiance. The question as to what shall be done with slavery—and especially what shall be done with the Negro—threaten to remain open questions for some time yet. Fourthly: And superior to all others, is the national prejudice and hatred toward all colored people of the country, a feeling which has done more to encourage the hopes of the rebels than all other powers beside. Had slavery been abolished in the Border States at the very beginning of the war, as it ought to have been—had it been abolished in Missouri, as it would have been but for Presidential interference—there would now be no rebellion in the Southern states, for, instead of having to watch these Border States, as they have done, our armies would have marched in overpowering numbers directly upon the rebels and overwhelmed them. In all the most horrid details of torture, starvation and murder in the treatment of our prisoners, I behold the features of the monster in whose presence I was born, and that is slavery. Haiti and Liberia are recognized. They saw that his must be a war for human nature, and walked by faith to its defense while all was darkness about us—while we were yet conducting it in profound reverence for slavery. Douglass was one of the greatest public speakers of … It is this more than all else which has carried consternation in to the bloodstained halls of the South. There is danger that, like some of our Generals in the field, who, after soundly whipping the foe, generously allow him time to retreat in order, reorganize his forces, and intrench himself in a new and stronger position, where it will require more power and skill to dislodge him than was required to vanquish him in the first instance. The rebellion has been a rapid educator. Nothing is better calculated to effect the desired change than the slow, steady and certain progress of the war. It has brought ruin at home, contempt abroad, has cooled our friends, heated our enemies and endangered our existence as nation. Douglass's stump speech for 25 years after the end of the Civil War emphasized work to counter the racism that was then prevalent in unions. There are vacant space at my hearthstone which I shall rejoice to see filled again by the boys who once occupied them, but which cannot be thus filled while the war lasts, for they have enlisted “during the war.”. But today, after nearly three years of a slaveholding rebellion, Douglas wanted popular sovereignty; Mr. Lincoln wants the Union. Here is a part of the platform of principles upon which it seems to me every loyal man should take his stand at this hour: First: That this war, which we are compelled to wage against slaveholding rebels and traitors, at untold cost of blood and treasure, shall be, and of right ought to be, an Abolition war. We know and consider that a nation is not born in a day. President Lincoln introduced his administration to the country as one which would faithfully catch, hold and return runaway slaves to their masters. Events are mightier than our rulers, and these divine forces, with overpowering logic, have fixed upon this war, against the wishes of our government, the comprehensive character and mission I have ascribed to it. FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS: In this place, hallowed and made glorious by a statue of the best man, truest patriot, and wisest statesman of his time and country; I have been invited – I might say ordered – by the Lincoln Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, to say a few words to you in appropriate celebration of this annual national memorial day…. Douglass used this speech to frame the coming post-Civil War debate over the nature of a true and lasting peace, even as Confederate and Union Armies were still engaged on the field of battle. Can anybody be ignorant of the answer? We naturally prefer the bright side, but when there is a dark side it is folly to shut our eyes to it or deny its existence. J. P. Campbell, “Give Us Equal Pay and We Will Go To War”, (1865) Henry Highland Garnet, “Let The Monster Perish”, African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African Americans and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Alma Stephenson Dever Page on Afro-britons, With Pride: Uplifting LGBTQ History On Blackpast, Preserving Martin Luther King County’s African American History, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, African American Newspapers, Magazines, and Journals. We want a country where men may assemble from any part of it, without prejudice to their interests or peril to their persons. Strike out the high ends and aims thus indicated, and the war would appear to the impartial eye of an onlooking world like little better than a gigantic enterprise for shedding human blood. Elsewhere we may find peace, but it will be a hollow and deceitful peace. Now, for what is all this desolation, ruin, shame suffering and sorrow? We had come to abhor the idea of being called upon to suppress slave insurrections. We have no business to mourn over our mission. If accomplished, our glory as a nation will be complete, our peace will flow like a river, and our foundation will be the everlasting rocks. In a war that was caused by slavery, Douglass became a representative of the millions of enslaved individuals still in bondage, and his fiery speeches demanded that slavery should be abolished. Douglass was born a slave in Maryland, his mother was black and his … That is the answer. Then there is the danger arising from the impatience of the people on account of the prolongation of the war. DuBois on Black Progress (1895, 1903), Jane Addams, “The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements” (1892), Eugene Debs, “How I Became a Socialist” (April, 1902), Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Alice Stone Blackwell, Answering Objections to Women’s Suffrage (1917), Theodore Roosevelt on “The New Nationalism” (1910), Woodrow Wilson Requests War (April 2, 1917), Emma Goldman on Patriotism (July 9, 1917), W.E.B DuBois, “Returning Soldiers” (May, 1919), Lutiant Van Wert describes the 1918 Flu Pandemic (1918), Manuel Quezon calls for Filipino Independence (1919), Warren G. Harding and the “Return to Normalcy” (1920), Crystal Eastman, “Now We Can Begin” (1920), Marcus Garvey, Explanation of the Objects of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (1921), Hiram Evans on the “The Klan’s Fight for Americanism” (1926), Herbert Hoover, “Principles and Ideals of the United States Government” (1928), Ellen Welles Page, “A Flapper’s Appeal to Parents” (1922), Huey P. Long, “Every Man a King” and “Share our Wealth” (1934), Franklin Roosevelt’s Re-Nomination Acceptance Speech (1936), Second Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1937), Lester Hunter, “I’d Rather Not Be on Relief” (1938), Bertha McCall on America’s “Moving People” (1940), Dorothy West, “Amateur Night in Harlem” (1938), Charles A. Lindbergh, “America First” (1941), A Phillip Randolph and Franklin Roosevelt on Racial Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941), Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga on Japanese Internment (1942/1994), Harry Truman Announcing the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima (1945), Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945), Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Atoms for Peace” (1953), Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s “Declaration of Conscience” (1950), Lillian Hellman Refuses to Name Names (1952), Paul Robeson’s Appearance Before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1956), Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), Richard Nixon on the American Standard of Living (1959), John F. Kennedy on the Separation of Church and State (1960), Congressman Arthur L. Miller Gives “the Putrid Facts” About Homosexuality” (1950), Rosa Parks on Life in Montgomery, Alabama (1956-1958), Barry Goldwater, Republican Nomination Acceptance Speech (1964), Lyndon Johnson on Voting Rights and the American Promise (1965), Lyndon Johnson, Howard University Commencement Address (1965), National Organization for Women, “Statement of Purpose” (1966), George M. Garcia, Vietnam Veteran, Oral Interview (1969/2012), Fannie Lou Hamer: Testimony at the Democratic National Convention 1964, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968), Statement by John Kerry of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971), Barbara Jordan, 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (1976), Jimmy Carter, “Crisis of Confidence” (1979), Gloria Steinem on Equal Rights for Women (1970), First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan (1981), Jerry Falwell on the “Homosexual Revolution” (1981), Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985), Phyllis Schlafly on Women’s Responsibility for Sexual Harassment (1981), Jesse Jackson on the Rainbow Coalition (1984), Bill Clinton on Free Trade and Financial Deregulation (1993-2000), The 9/11 Commission Report, “Reflecting On A Generational Challenge” (2004), George W. Bush on the Post-9/11 World (2002), Pedro Lopez on His Mother’s Deportation (2008/2015), Chelsea Manning Petitions for a Pardon (2013), Emily Doe (Chanel Miller), Victim Impact Statement (2015), ← A case of sexual violence during Reconstruction, 1866. Our destiny is to be taken out of our own hands. The same was said by Breckinridge and Vallandigham. Ask why it was for mobbing down freedom of speech a few years ago, when that freedom was claimed by the Abolitionists, and it answers, slavery. Loyalty has a strong back, but taxation has often broken it. It has placed the broad arrow of British suspicion on the prows of the rebel rams in the Mersey and performed a like service in France. The Revolution of 1848 was one of the grandest that ever dazzled a gazing world. We tender you on this memorial day the homage of the loyal nation, and the heartfelt gratitude of emancipated millions. I have applauded that paper and do now applaud it, as a wide measure—while I detest the motive and principle upon which it is based. In this speech, Douglass calls on Americans to remember the war for what it was—a struggle between an army fighting to protect slavery and a nation reluctantly transformed into a force for liberation. Its members would receive the benediction due to peacemakers. by Bill Batson On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave who would become one of the most powerful public figures in 19th century America, gave his most memorable speech in Rochester, New York, entitled “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” We are not fighting for the old Union, nor for anything like it, but for that which is ten thousand times more important; and that thing, crisply rendered, is national unity. His withering 1852 … In his last Message he shows the same moral indifference, by saying as he does say that he had hoped that the rebellion could be put down without the abolition of slavery. The loyal North is less definite in regard to the necessity of principles of national unity. Then the uplifted arm of the nation will swing unfettered to its work, and the spirit and power of the rebellion will be broken. Frederick Douglass Impact On Civil War “What to the slave is the fourth of July” quoted Frederick Douglass, a black man that was born into slavery and made astonishing accomplishments throughout his life. Though I have worn the yoke of bondage, and have no love for what are called the good old times of slavery, there is in my heart no taint of malice toward the ex-slaveholders. Just in proportion to the progress made in taking upon itself the character I have ascribed to it has the war prospered and the rebellion lost ground. I was not sent and am not come to console this breach of our political church. When our government and people shall bravely avow this to be an Abolition war, then the country will be safe. While the Democratic party is in existence as an organization, we are in danger of a slaveholding peace, and of Rebel rule. Indeed, as long as slavery has any life in it anywhere in the country, we are in danger of such a compromise. On June 17, 1877, Frederick Douglass returns to St. Micheal’s for the first time in 41 years where he meets with Thomas Auld and speaks to a racially mixed audience. I do not intend to argue but to state facts. By it the holding and flogging of Negroes is the exclusive luxury of loyal men. They have based their confederacy squarely on their cornerstone. They are an impulsive people, impatient of delay, clamorous for change, and often look for results out of all proportion to the means employed in attaining them. We are writing the statutes of eternal justice and liberty in the blood of the worst of tyrants as a warning to all aftercomers. But even from the length of this struggle, we who mourn over it may well enough draw some consolation when we reflect upon the vastness and grandeur of its mission. On January 13, 1864, Frederick Douglass was invited to deliver a speech before the Woman’s Loyal League at the Cooper Institute in New York City. A former slave, self-taught writer, editor, and public servant, Frederick Douglass was also among the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement. The whole head was sick and the whole heart faint. In this speech, Douglass calls on Americans to remember the war for what it was—a struggle between an army fighting to protect slavery and a nation reluctantly transformed into a … Justice and humanity are often overpowered, but they are persistent and eternal forces, and fearful to contend against. 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