[In honor of Patriots’ Day,
and inspired by my book-in-progress for the American Ways
series on the history of American patriotisms, a series on that topic and brief
examples of critical patriotism from across American history. Leading up to a
special post on that next book project of mine!]
On the stunning
speech that challenges us as much today as it did 165 years ago.
I’ve written
many times, in
this space and elsewhere,
about the inspiring history of Elizabeth Freeman, Quock Walker, and their
Revolutionary-era peers. Freeman and Walker, and the abolitionist activists
with whom they worked, used the language and ideas of the Declaration of
Independence (along with the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution) in support of
their anti-slavery petitions and legal victories, and in so doing contributed
significantly to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts. I’m hard-pressed to
think of a more inspiring application of our national ideals, or of a more
compelling example of my argument (made in this piece) that
black history is American history. Yet at the same time, it would be
disingenuous in the extreme for me to claim that Freeman and Walker’s cases
were representative ones, either in their era or at any time in the more than two
and a half centuries of American slavery; nor I would I want to use Freeman and
Walker’s successful legal victories as evidence that the Declaration’s “All men
are created equal” sentiment did not in a slaveholding nation include (indeed,
embody) a central
strain of hypocrisy.
If I ever need
reminding of that foundational American hypocrisy, I can turn to one of our
most fiery texts: Frederick
Douglass’s 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass’s
speech is long and multi-layered, and I don’t want to reduce its historical
and social visions to any one moment; but I would argue that it builds with
particular power to this passage, one of the most trenchant in American oration
and writing: “Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon
to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your
national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of
natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?
And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national
altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the
blessings resulting from your independence to us?” The subsequent second half
of the speech sustains that perspective and passion, impugning every element of
a nation still entirely defined by slavery and its effects. Despite having
begun his speech by noting his “quailing sensation,” his feeling of appearing
before the august gathering “shrinkingly,” Douglass thus builds instead to one
of the most full-throated, confident critiques of American hypocrisy and
failure ever articulated.
As an avowed and
thoroughgoing optimist, it’s far easier for me to grapple with Freeman and
Walker’s use of the Declaration and the 4th of July than with
Douglass’s—which, of course, makes it that much more important for me to
include Douglass in my purview, and which is why I wanted to begin this week’s
series on critical patriotism with Douglass’s speech. There’s a reason, after
all, why the most famous American slave is undoubtedly Harriet Tubman—we like our histories
overtly inspiring, and if we’re going to remember slavery at all, why not do so
through the lens of someone who resisted it so successfully? Yet while Tubman,
like Freeman and Walker, is certainly worth remembering, the overarching truth
of slavery in America is captured far better by Douglass’s speech and its
forceful attention to our national hypocrisies and flaws. And despite the
ridiculous recent attacks on “too
negative” histories or the concept of “apologizing
for America,” there’s no way we can understand our nation or move forward
collectively without a fuller engagement with precisely the critically
patriotic lens provided by Douglass and his stunning speech.
Next critical
patriot tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Other examples or forms of patriotism you’d highlight?
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