The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro

Assignment #6

This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the Fourth of July. It is the birth day of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, as what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. l am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I repeat, I am glad this is so. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation older, the patriot's heart might be sadder, and the reformer's brow heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in the thought that America is young.-Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. As with rivers so with nations. 

  To my understanding the overall message of this passage, is that our nation is so young that it is still building itself and learning from its mistakes. When the author mentions that the nation is only 76 years old and it is only the beginning of the nations career. He is implying that we are still learning how to manage everything that is currently happening. We as a nation have made several mistakes and we are just now learning how to deal with these mistakes. He also compares the our nation to a child's childhood. The comparison between our nation and a child's childhood goes back to the idea that we are not fully developed and the we continue to make mistakes, the same way a child does. Lastly, the authors refers back to the idea that our nation needs hope to continue with all of the things that are happening. And hopefully with hope we can come to a place where we are all consider equal. 

   The reason why I decided to used this passage is because I as well agree that our nation is lingering in their childhood. Children tend to make mistake after mistake and even when they know the consequences will be bad they will still do it. The same happens with our nation regardless of the lesson learned we continue to make the same mistakes. Lastly, I also agree with the idea of hope. In my opinion, hope is the only thing we can rely on. Hopefully with hope we will not end up killing ourselves in order to obtain power.