July 1, 2024: Models of Critical Patriotism: “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?”

[For my Patriots’Day series this year, I highlighted examples of mythic patriotism fromacross American history. So I thought for my July 4th series I wouldAmericanStudy examples of the other, directly opposed category at the heart of OfThee I Sing: critical patriotism. Leading up to a weekend post on the stateof critical patriotism in 2024!]

On the stunningspeech that challenges us as much today as it did 172 years ago.

I’vewritten many times, in thisspace and elsewhere, aboutthe inspiring history of Elizabeth Freeman, Quock Walker, and theirRevolutionary-era peers. Freeman and Walker, and the abolitionist activistswith whom they worked, used the language and ideas of the Declaration ofIndependence (along with the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution) in support oftheir anti-slavery petitions and legal victories, and in so doing contributedsignificantly to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts. I’m hard-pressed tothink of a more inspiring application of our national ideals, or of a morecompelling example of my argument (made in this piece) thatblack history is American history. Yet at the same time, it would bedisingenuous in the extreme for me to claim that Freeman and Walker’s cases wererepresentative ones, either in their era or at any time in the more than twoand a half centuries of American slavery; nor would I want to use Freeman andWalker’s successful legal victories as evidence that the Declaration’s “All menare created equal” sentiment did not in a slaveholding nation include (indeed,embody) a centralstrain of hypocrisy.

If I everneed reminding of that foundational American hypocrisy, I can turn to one ofour most fiery texts: FrederickDouglass’s 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass’sspeech is long and multi-layered, and I don’t want to reduce itshistorical and social visions to any one moment; but I would argue that itbuilds with particular power to this passage, one of the most trenchant inAmerican oration and writing: “Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, whyam I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to dowith your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedomand of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extendedto us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to thenational altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude forthe blessings resulting from your independence to us?” The subsequent secondhalf of the speech sustains that perspective and passion, impugning everyelement of a nation still entirely defined by slavery and its effects. Despitehaving begun his speech by noting his “quailing sensation,” his feeling ofappearing before the august gathering “shrinkingly,” Douglass thus buildsinstead to one of the most full-throated, confident critiques of Americanhypocrisy and failure ever articulated.

As anavowed and thoroughgoing optimist, it’s far easier for me to grapple withFreeman and Walker’s use of the Declaration and the 4th of July thanwith Douglass’s—which, of course, makes it that much more important for me toinclude Douglass in my purview, and which is why I wanted to begin this week’sseries on critical patriotism with Douglass’s speech. There’s a reason, afterall, why the most famous American enslaved person is undoubtedly Harriet Tubman—we likeour 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? Yetwhile Tubman, like Freeman and Walker, is certainly worth remembering, theoverarching truth of slavery in America is captured far better by Douglass’sspeech and its forceful attention to our national hypocrisies and flaws. Anddespite the ridiculous recent attacks on “toonegative” histories or the concept of “apologizingfor America,” there’s no way we can understand our nation or move forwardcollectively without a fuller engagement with precisely the criticallypatriotic lens provided by Douglass and his stunning speech.

Nextcritical patriot tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other examples or forms of patriotism you’d highlight?