"The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
No categories assigned
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" July 5, 1852
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Independence Day (United States)
8 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Independence Day (United States) →
Related Quotes
"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that i…"
"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and …"
"July 4, 1776 was the historic day on which the representatives of three millions of people vocalized Concord and Lexi…"
"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in th…"
"But could I be heard by this great nation, I would call to mind the sublime and glorious truths with which, at its bi…"
"Our Bicentennial [of Indepdence] is the happy birthday of all fifty States, a commonwealth, and self-governing territ…"
"When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for o…"