Frederick Douglass July Quotations

The sunlight that has brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.

This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.

The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation's history — the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation's destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.

What to the Slave is the 4th of July.

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: A day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustices and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.

No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.

A great man, tender of heart, strong of nerve, boundless patience and broadest sympathy, with no motive apart from his country.