We Have Washington as Our Father: A July 4th Reflection
Frederick Douglass's criticism of those who connect themselves to the legacy of the founding fathers extends to the present
On this July 4th, you’ll probably see a lot of references to Frederick Douglass's famous 1852 speech “What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?” I think it’s one of the most beautiful, prophetic, unflinching, and compelling speeches that’s ever been given in this nation. You should read the whole thing today. You know what? Imma save you some time; these two paragraphs are probably the most striking in the whole speech in which Douglass drives the convicting word into the seared conscience of the 76-year-old nation.
What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelly to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.
I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. 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.
But there’s something else in this speech that I want to highlight, and then there’s another Fourth of July speech that Douglass made in 1875 that contains some more powerful words that are worth reflecting on as well. I’ll spend time on the former in this article and Part Two will focus on the latter.
If you’ve been in this country for any amount of time, you know that the Fourth is the day where you’ll probably see the stars and stripes everywhere and smell cookout food somewhere in your proximity. It’s a holiday celebrated by many people in this country, either because their company’s paying for it, or because they love this nation deeply: its ideals, freedoms, and history. Sometimes it’s both. But more than anything, there are a lot of people whose patriotic love for our country bursts forth during this holiday, and their self-identification as proud American citizens is unquestioned. You know what I’m talking about, right? It’s people who usually have the phrase “Founding Fathers” in regular rotation in their vocabulary, a telling phrase. In his 1852 speech, the mulatto man Douglass brings attention to the exalted “fathers” of the nation in a way that only another brown-skinned man had done before him, a Jewish rabbi named Jesus.
During his ministry, Jesus’ staunchest opponents were people who often viewed themselves in relation to their fathers. In Matthew 23, the Jewish teachers claimed that had they lived in the same times as their fathers, they would’ve responded differently than their fathers who had killed the prophets (Matt 23:29-32), and in John 8, they prided themselves in the fact that Abraham was their biological father (John 8:33-44). In response to them elevating themselves above their fathers, Jesus tells them that they’re essentially no different because they don’t listen to Him and seek to kill him. And in response to them claiming Abraham as their biological ancestor, so as to exclude themselves from the Son’s liberating power, Jesus tells them who their real father is, the devil, because they don’t believe Him and they want to murder Him. In both passages, Jesus employs “your fathers” as the indicting words that connect their sinful present actions to the previous wicked actions of those who came before.
In “What, To The American Slave, Is The Fourth of July?” Douglass uses the same phrase several times, starting his speech in Rochester, New York by praising the accomplishment of the nation’s independence which was achieved by “your fathers”. Whether Douglass’ motive in celebrating the nation’s triumphs was one of praise or provocation for the prophetic oracle which was to come moments later, only he knew, but his language of hope concerning the age of the young nation, and his recounting of the bravery of their fathers in breaking from the oppression of the British Government most likely lured his audience made up of self-identified white American listeners to board the peaceful boat of his celebratory words into the conviction-filled clouds of the storm ahead. In praise, several more times, Douglass recounts the bravery, wisdom, and strength of “your fathers” in the pursuit of independence. But just before Douglass pivots into the storm clouds of his popular indictment of the white supremacy which has pervaded and persisted throughout the young nation, he states,
Sydney Smith tells us that men seldom eulogize the wisdom and virtues of their fathers, but to excuse some folly or wickedness of their own. This truth is not a doubtful one. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago, for the children of Jacob to boast, we have “Abraham to our father,” when they had long lost Abraham’s faith and spirit. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abraham’s great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. 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.
According to Douglass, those who claimed to “have Washington to our father” were connecting themselves to Washington’s legacy while acting contrary to his ideals. This sentiment was being expressed by the enslavers, racists, and oppressors of Douglass's day, who praised the virtues of Washington in an effort to excuse their present evils. They boasted of independence and freedom from oppression while neglecting their active oppression of Black and indigenous peoples. Who then would share in this sentiment today? Clearly, the context in which Douglass makes this statement has changed and has since progressed but contrary to Douglass’s perception of Washington, the nation’s first President isn’t viewed today as a liberator as much as he was a slave owner for the majority of his life. But perhaps there are those more recently who would say “we have Washington as our father” for different reasons, not as a covering for their explicit evils, but as a conviction, a shared conviction, that the true legacy of this nation was intended only for some. Much like the men Douglass criticized, they boast of the legacy of freedom while either opposing or neglecting the oppressed. In addition, those who would connect themselves to the legacy of Washington and the Founding Fathers of our country often exalt these men and their efforts as being the great foundation of this nation - believing them to be almost divine, in spite of the wickedness of their white supremacy and the enslavement of Black peoples which contributed to the success of the Revolutionary War and the pursuit of the nation’s independence.
In today’s context, to say “We have Washington as our father” is to praise and laud the efforts and achievements of the fathers who established this nation almost 250 years ago - elevating, embracing, and identifying with them and their successes while simultaneously distancing, disassociating, and distinguishing themselves from their flaws and failures, not simply as individual men (although this matters), but in their creation of a society which was built on the legitimization of slavery and the creation of a racial caste. From this posture comes the recurring deflections against those who would bring awareness to the complex and unjust foundations of our country; deflections that many times sound like, “Why are you complaining about this country? It’s the greatest nation in the world. No place is perfect, but this is better than anywhere else.” “If you don’t like this country, get out or go back to where you came from.” This posture sees 1619 as a threat to 1776. “We have Washington as our father” is a posture that feels threatened by the national recognition of Juneteenth, a holiday that proclaims true democracy and liberation for those who were oppressed - but more than that, this posture attempts to pit Juneteenth against July 4th as if the latter determines the true history of this country. From this posture that proclaims “we have Washington as our father” comes the great replacement theory, the cries to take our country back on January 6th, the banning of “critical race theory” and Black history books in schools, the distortion of the hopes of the Civil Rights Movement from equitableness for African-Americans and minorities to colorblindness, and the denial of the historical and present realities of systemic racism. To say that “we have Washington to our father” is to lean on an incomplete and very limited understanding of this nation’s history and to protect that understanding as the dominant narrative at all costs.
None of this is to suggest that the nation shouldn’t be celebrated for achieving its independence from an oppressive empire 246 years ago, if you so choose to celebrate that achievement on this day. But to boast in the foundations of this democracy and celebrate its achievements and victories for the causes of freedom, equality, and justice while minimizing or ignoring the realities of oppression, inequality, and injustice that many marginalized and downtrodden peoples have experienced at the expense of and pursuit of those ideals is a hindrance to both healing and progress of this nation. To those who would boldly proclaim that “we have Washington as our father”, the words of Jesus in John 8:32 again ring ever true to those who prided themselves as Abraham’s descendants, “the truth will set you free.”
Great cross-reference to biblical scriptures. Outstanding and a must for all to read, comprehend and apply.