- Sep 2017
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teachingamericanhistory.org teachingamericanhistory.org
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Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens:
Do 'friends' and 'fellow citizens' mean the same group of people?
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There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, not long after this speech
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These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble.
Slave traders obtained huge profits at that time. Interstate slave traders received a wage greater than that of an alternative profession in skilled mechanical trades (e.g. regular merchants).
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American slave-trade
Domestic slave trade in the U.S.: due to the explosive increase of cotton cultivation in the Deep South, demand for slave labor had also increased; as a result, millions of slaves were forced to migrate and domestic slave trade had become a major economic activity in the country until the 1860s.
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What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?
Irony
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I will not equivocate; I will not excuse;
Quoted from the famous American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison's "To the Public", published in The Liberator in 1831. Full sentence: "I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD."
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My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY.
Some people are still suffering from cruel slavery, while the others are submerged in merriment from their national celebration - Douglass points out this ironic fact and condemns the falsehood of 'liberty'
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a nation whose crimes, lowering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin
Is he referring to the Tower of Babylon...? If so, how is it parallel?
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The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me.
Slaves being tortured in southern plantations
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Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Need I tell you that the Jews are not the only people who built the tombs of the prophets, and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous? Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood, and the traders in the bodies and souls of men shout — “We have Washington to our father.” — Alas! that it should be so; yet so it is.
Here Douglass is introducing the main topic of his speech, as reflected in the title.
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This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right and proper.
Do such 'restraints, burdens and limitations' refer to the prejudices American people hold against slaves, etc.?
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www.archives.gov www.archives.gov
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We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
George III's intention was to continue the war between America and Britain (although opposed by his ministers): "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse"
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Tyrant
[Oppressive government that employs cruel and unjust use of power and authority] Struggle against tyranny seems to be the theme for most, if not all, revolutionary wars. Does it mean that tyranny to an extreme extent result in rebellion in the name of the people?
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For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
In order to maintain its monopoly profit, Britain imposed heavy taxes on its colonies - also one of the major and most direct reasons that caused the American Revolution
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He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
Do the civilian militias today in the U.S. qualify?
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Declaration of Independence
A statement of American independence from British rule, drafted by a committee from the Second Continental Congress (the thirteen states)
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