Frederick Douglass Speaks Beside Independence Hall, 1844

On Saturday, August 17, 1844, at 6 p.m., Frederick Douglass addressed an antislavery meeting on Independence Square in Philadelphia — then called the State House Yard. The Pennsylvania Freeman, newspaper of the Anti-Slavery Society of Pennsylvania, described the event in its August 22 issue, in a page-3 column titled "Meeting in the State House Yard."

Why it mattered

• Douglass was 26. He had seized his freedom six years earlier, yet he told the crowd of about 200 that he was still enslaved in the eyes of the law — under the Constitution and the nation's laws, he could be returned to his enslaver.
• He spoke steps from the hall where the Declaration of Independence was adopted, and pointed out the irony.
• He also delivered his "Slaveholder's Sermon," a parody in which he imitated a white Southern preacher to point out Christian hypocrisy.
• Some had feared a mob would attack the gathering, but it passed without violence.

The newspaper

The Freeman was published at the Anti-Slavery Society's office at No. 31 North 5th Street, Philadelphia. Besides the Douglass report, the August 22 issue carried:

• the end of the minutes of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society's annual meeting, with commentary (page 2);
• advertisements (page 4), including from African American artists Robert Douglass and "S.M.D." — probably his sister, Sarah Mapps Douglass.

Scans of the issue are held by the Center for Research Libraries Digital Delivery System.

The Pennsylvania Freeman's account

Meeting in the State House Yard
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As there has been a good deal of express in the community lately against mobs, and a strong determination manifested on the part of the city authorities to preserve the peace at all hazards, it was considered by some of our friends a good time to carry out a purpose for some time cherished, to hold anti-slavery meetings in the State House Yard. Accordingly, Frederick Douglass consenting to be the speaker, an appointment was made by placards and through the newspapers, for Saturday afternoon last, at 6 o'clock. Considerable apprehension was felt by some as to the result; but those who took the responsibility of making the appointment were confident that the public feeling was such as to prevent anything like disturbance. This expectation was happily not disappointed. At the hour designated, a goodly company, both in point of numbers and character, and embracing some of both sexes, were in attendance, and Frederick took the stand. At first he seemed embarrassed and spoke with some hesitancy; but soon his embarrassment disappeared; his heart began to play, and he poured forth a stream of glowing thought and thrilling eloquence which, coming from an unlettered colored man, seemed to many of the audience utterly amazing. They could scarcely believe him when he said that he was still a slave, and liable at any moment, under the constitution and laws of the country, to be sent back to hopeless bondage. How a man not six years freed from the yoke, and never having been, as he said, a single day to school in his life, should exhibit such a command of language and force of thought, they were utterly at a loss to imagine. All listened with deep attention, and the only interruption we heard of the quiet of the meeting arose from the hearty clapping of hands which every now and then broke in upon the speaker and betokened the feelings of the audience.
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The stand which Douglass occupied was close by the old Hall in which the Declaration of Independence was adopted, and he made one or two allusions to this circumstance with thrilling effect. He gave them, also, his "Slaveholder's Sermon," and, full of cutting sarcasm as it was, it was received with enthusiastic applause. He only spoke for about an hour, orders having been given, as a precaution against a riot, to close the gates at 7 o'clock; an unnecessary measure, as little or no disposition was manifested, unless it was by the police officers themselves, to make any disturbance. Some of these fellows, however, seemed quite uneasy that the meeting was going off so quietly, and they were observed going through the crowd, muttering their curses, and expressing themselves in such a way of the speaker and the meeting, as under other circumstances would have probably raised a mob. Their behavior was noticed and condemned by many of our respectable citizens, as it has often been before on similar occasions. One person, not an abolitionist, remarked to us after the meeting, that Philadelphia certainly had the rowdiest police-men that ever infested any city. This is a prevailing opinion among a large portion of our citizens, and should claim the attention of his Honor the Mayor. It is in vain that we hope for the preservation of order in our city so long as we have a set of police-men appointed for that purpose who are themselves, in the estimation of some, nothing better than mobocrats.
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It is a matter of congratulation among abolitions, however, that they have been permitted, without interruption from the people, and with so little from the authorities, to hold in so public a place such a good meeting. They are disposed to regard it as an earnest of better things to come.

What the account shows

• Fear of mobs shaped the meeting: organizers timed it for a moment when the city was taking a hard line against riots, and officials ordered the gates closed at 7 o'clock, cutting Douglass off after about an hour.
• The only threat of disorder, the paper says, came from police officers who moved through the crowd cursing the speaker — behavior it called on the mayor to address.
• Abolitionists saw the peaceful meeting as a promise of better things to come.

Sources

Based on "Frederick Douglass's 'Meeting in the State House Yard,' August 22, 1844," Independence National Historical Park, National Park Service, a work of the United States government in the public domain; the transcript is from The Pennsylvania Freeman, August 22, 1844, p. 3, courtesy of the Center for Research Libraries Digital Delivery System.