Busted Oconee County, Sc, Foosackly's Allergy Menu, Articles W

All Rights Reserved. or is it in the temple? God speed the hour, the glorious hour,When none on earthShall exercise a lordly power,Nor in a tyrants presence cower;But all to manhoods stature tower,By equal birth!That hour will come, to each, to all,And from his prison-house, the thrallGo forth. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were "final;" not slavery and oppression. Is it at the gateway? I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! What is the significance of the image of the reptile in the bosom on the nation at the end of this section? Two readings, 165 years apart, addressed to a nation at a precarious political moment. Two years before Douglass' famed speech, the U.S. government passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required runaway slaves to be returned to their owners. The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. But, he said, speaking more than a decade before slavery was ended nationally, a lot of work still needed to be done so that all citizens can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Above your national, tumultuous joy the July 4th celebrations of white Americans were the mournful wails of millions whose heavy chains are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them.. His message was well-received because they believed in what he was standing up for. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. At the time Douglass spoke, Blight says, the opportunity was ripe for a lecture on the moral crisis. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. As with any great oration, Douglass builds to his point, which is to distinguish between the spirit of celebration typically surrounding the holiday and the misery suffered by enslaved people on that day and every day.