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SLAYEKY

THE CONSTITUTION

BY WILLIAM I. BOWDITCH.

BOSTON:
ROBERT F. WALLCUT, 21, CORNHILL.
1849.

.YALE

BOSTON:
PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON,
No. 21, School-street.

Cb8l.38fc

CONTENTS.

Chapter P&gc
I. " Slavery Agreeable to God's Providence "... 1
H. Direct Mental Instruction op Slaves .... 5
Ed. Moral and Religious Condition op the Slaves ... 14
TV. Moral and Religious Teachers op the Slaves . . 19
V. Direct Religious Instruction op Slaves . . . .27
VI. Indirect Instruction. — No Legal Marriage op Slaves 56
VH. "Soul-dbjvtng"  6S
Vm. " Domestic Slave-trade "  77
IX. Runaway Slaves  94
X. Slaveholding always "Wrong  107
XI. The Constitution and its Interpretation . . . . li7
XII. The Constitution according to the Common Meaning op
its Terms  120
Xm. The Constitution as its Fbamers Intended to Make it 127
XTV. The Constitution according to the Practice op the Go
vernment  136
XV. The Constitution according to the Exposition op ns final
Interpreter .  143
XVI. No Union -with Slaveholders  150

NOTE.
Page 45 was struck off before I became aware that " Master Auld" now
shelters Douglass's grandmother under his own roof. We are glad of the
fact, and respect Master Auld for his change. But the case of Douglass's
grandmother is by no means a solitary instance of cruel treatment. I might
easily adduce others equally cruel, though not told with nearly so much
feeling. W. I. B.

SLAVERY AND THE CONSTITUTION.

CHAPTER I.
"SLAVERY AGREEABLE TO GOD'S PRO VIDEXCE " !

" Thus did Jehovah stereotype his approbation of domestic slavery"! — Rev. President
Shannon, of Bacon CoUege, Ky.
" Herd we see God dealing enslaves; giving them to bis own favorite child [Abraham],
a man of superlative worth, and as a reward for his eminent goodness." — Rev. Theodore
Clapp, of JVra> Orleans. *

Nearly three millions of men, women, and children are held
in slavery in the Southern States, not by the ignorant and
brutal alone, but by enlightened Christian bishops, ministers,
and church members of all denominations ; whilst men and
women of cultivated minds, refined manners, and delicate
tastes, indignantly deny that slaveholding is wrong.
The Right Rev. 'George W. Freeman, Bishop of the Pro
testant Episcopal Church in Arkansas and Texas, whilst a
minister at Raleigh, N.C. Nov. 27, 1836, preached two dis
courses on the character of slavery and the duties of masters.
In these (" A Reproof of the American Church, by the
Bishop of Oxford ; with an Introduction, by an American
Churchman ; " New York, 1846, p. 6) he declared " that no
man, nor set of men in our day, unless they can produce a
new revelation from Heaven, are entitled to pronounce sla
very wrong;" and that "slavery, as it exists at the present
1

clay, is agreeable lo the order of Divine Providence." The
Right Rev. Levi S. Ives, Bishop of the diocese, was present ;
and, though a northern man, has in writing published that
he listened to them " with most unfeigned pleasure " ! (Ib.
p. 7.) They were afterwards published with the bishop's
note of approbation, under the title, " The Rights and Duties
of Slaveholders." They were also printed in South Caro
lina, and distributed gratuitously as a tract by the Society
for the Advancement of Christianity, — a society composed
of clergymen and laymen, with Bishop Bowen at their head.
(Ib. pp. 7, S.) Rev. Theodore Clapp,* the Unitarian mini
ster of New Orleans, says (" Slavery, a Sermon delivered in
the First Congregational Church in New Orleans, April 15,
1838," p. 11), " The same God who gave Abraham sunshine,
air, rain, earth, flocks, herds, silver, and gold, blessed him
with a donative of slaves." Ib. p. 33 : " To succeed, then,
in putting down every thing like servitude, you must annihi
late the word of God." Bishop Hedding, of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, says (" The Church as it is," p. 50),
" The right to hold a slave is founded on this rule, ' There
fore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to
you, do ye even so unto them.' " The funds of churches and
theological institutions are not unfrequently invested in slaves.
Sometimes these slaves are hired out at auction, and from
their earnings the salaries of the clergymen and professors
are paid ! At other times, they are sold in order to change
the investment ! Thus, in the " Charleston Courier," Feb.
12, 1835, there is advertised for sale, by Thomas N. Gads
den, " a prime gang of ten negroes, accustomed to the culture
of cotton and provisions belonging to the Independent Church
in Christ Church parish" ! (" The Church as it is," p. 72.)
No incredible story, therefore, was told by the fugitive slave,
who gave as hi3 reason for not receiving the Lord's Supper,
* Mr. Clapp is said to have changed his opinions since 1838. We hope
he has. But he has not favored the world with any statement of what his
change consists in. The statement which recently appeared in the "Pica
yune," even if reliable, shows that Mr. Clapp had changed his opinion
somewhat, but not essentially, as it seems to us.

"I could not bear to go forward, and receive the commu
nion from vessels which were the purchase of my brother's
blood." In the memorial of the Presbytery of Georgia to
the Presbyteries of the Southern States in 1844, on the reli
gious instruction of the negroes, it is stated that slaves are
" connected with our churches ; nay, more, they are owned
by our church members and by our ministers." — " "What
is it," asks the Rev. Dr. Albert Barnes (Sermon in Phila
delphia in 1846, " The Church as it is," p. 81), " that lends
the most efficient sanction to slavery in the United States ?
What is it that does most to keep the public conscience at
ease on the subject ? "What is it that renders abortive all
measures to remove the evil ?  It is the fact that the
system is countenanced by good men; that bishops and
priests and deacons, that ministers and elders, that Sunday-
school teachers and exhorters, that pious matrons and heir
esses, are the holders of slaves ; and that the ecclesiastical
bodies of the land address no language of rebuke or entreaty
to their consciences." More evidence to the same point
might be adduced, if thought necessary.
This open vindication of the rightfulness of slaveholding is
by no means confined to persons residing at the South. In
the year 1847, the Rev. Geo. W. Blagden, of Boston, who
delivered the last Dudleian Lecture in Harvard University,
defended slavery from the Bible, in the pulpit of Old South
Church, that second cradle of Liberty ! Only last winter
(1848), a gentleman of this State, of high legal attainments, at
present connected with the Law School in Harvard Univer
sity, in conversation hesitated not to declare to us his opinion;
" that it was not desirable that slavery should cease " ! And
Dr. Taylor, of Yale College, at the head of the theological
department, instructs his pupils, candidates for the ministry,
that, " if Jesus Christ were now on earth, he would, under
certain circumstances, become a slaveholder"! ("The
Church as it is," p. 95.)
Open defenders of slavery are therefore found among the
foremost of the leaders in Church and State. And how few
of the opponents of the system have a deep, ineradicable con-

viction, that slaveholding is Avrong under all circumstances !
Our object is to create and deepen this conviction.
To prove our position, we shall not rely upon the physical
condition of the slaves. Notwithstanding the fact is other
wise, we are willing to suppose that every slave is comforta
bly housed, and has sufficient food and clothing. These may
give " Ease to the body some, none to the mind
From restless thoughts."
Even if in a comfortable house, the slave is homeless ! No
joys cluster around his hearthstone ! He has no wife to
share his sorrows, or to partake his joys ; for neither law nor
public opinion sanctions the marriage of slaves ! The very
children whom the slave presses to his heart are not regard
ed, either by law or public sentiment, as his dear children,
but only as part of the stock of the plantation ! Mother and
children may be, and are, sold at auction, and separated
from him and from each other for ever ! And yet the heart
of the slave-mother yearns for her children as much as the
heart of the white mother. -.* ¦ : --
By giving me a spiritual nature capable of improvement,
God has made it my duty to strive to improve myself, — has
declared that I have a natural right to improve myself, and
that any wanton or unnecessary infringement of this right is
a wrong. No man has the right to prevent me, or the mean
est slave, from earnestly seeking after wisdom ; to prevent
me, or the meanest slave, from becoming pure in heart ; or
to deaden my affections, or those of the humblest slave that .,
walks. In keeping a slave ignorant or impure, or in blunt- \
ing his affections, even though he is well fed, clothed, and
housed, violence is offered to his nature ; his God-given
rights are infringed ; a wrong is done !
Slaveholding is WTong under all circumstances, because it
either darkens the minds, brutalizes the souls, and deadens
the affections of the slaves, or, without any necessity, renders
such spiritual death not merely possible, but almost inevitable. •
If it is wrong to murder the body, how much more wrong is
it to murder the soul ! Slaveholding is murder of the soul !

CHAPTER II.

DIRECT MENTAL LXSTRTJCTION OF SLAVES.

" It is universally the fact throughout the Slaveholding States, that either cnstnm or law
prohibits them [Le. the slaves] the acquisition of letters." — Report made to Synod of South-
Carolina and Georgia in 1833.

At a recent annual meeting of the American Colonization
Society, the Rev. Joel Parker, D.D. of Philadelphia, a mem
ber of the Presbyterian Church, speaking of the instruction
of the colored race, is reported to have used the following
language : — " There seems to me, in connection with this
subject, a beautiful illustration of what Hall calls ' a fetch in
Divine Providence.' God had a design in bringing these
people to this country in the way he did. We cannot proba
bly comprehend the whole of it ; but this we can see, he has
secured the education of those who, to all human appearance,
would not and could not have been educated in any other
way. There are now in this country more than three hun
dred thousand Africans who can read and write, who could
not have done it ifit had not been for the slave-trade. There
are many in this country and in Liberia who are capable of
preaching the gospel, editing papers, and performing all the
duties of civil fife, who must have remained in total darkness
but for this trade. How came this people by all this know
ledge ? ' Did anybody go to Africa and teacli them ? No !
It has been done by slavery  And now we send them
back to Africa, with a preparation for doing a great work
there, which we never could have imparted to them in any
other way  In this view of the subject, Ave may per-

ceive at least one good which slavery has done to Africa ;
and the question may with propriety be asked, whether it has
not done for Africa more good than harm."
If we may believe this spiritual teacher, the Being who
made of one blood all the nations of men, the common
Father of us all, himself designed the scheme by which
millions of men, women, and children were torn from their
homes and friends, and all they held clear, and brought to
this country, through all the horrors of the middle passage,
where a terrible death relieved on an average at least one
nfth_.oi'the victims from a scarcely less terrible hfe, — for this
end in part, that, after two centuries of wrongs, not even a
tithe of their descendants might be returned to the land of
their fathers, to teach the Africans the religion of their op
pressors! A truly touching example of God's loving-kind
ness and tender mercy to all his children !
That many slaves have been instructed to the extent stated
by Dr. Parker is true ; but they have been educated, not in
consequence, but in spite, of slavery. So hostile to mental
culture is slavery, that but a slight examination is needed to
satisfy us that it is neither profitable nor safe to educate
a slave beyond a certain point. Without some education, a
slave would be worse than valueless. Far the larger number
of them, as field slaves, are simply taught lo use the hoe, and
other instruments of agriculture. Others are brought up as
carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, house-servants, &e. Fred
erick Douglass earned a dollar and a half a day at caulking ;
whilst William Craft, as a cabinet-maker and occasional
waiter at an hotel, supported himself, and paid his owner \
twenty dollars a month for the right to use his own muscles.
We occasionally meet with such advertisements as the fol
lowing, cut from the " New Orleans Picayune," of Oct. 18,
1846: —
" Credit Sale of Valuable Negeo Mechanics, &c. 
By Beard, Calhoun, and Co. auctioneers, will be sold at auction, on
Tuesday the 20th October, at twelve o'clock, at Banks's Arcade,
the following valuable slaves : — Ezekiel, 25 years, a superior
carpenter, fully guarantied ; Jacob, 25 years, a superior carpenter

and wheelwright, fully guarantied; Dick, 35 years, a superior
carpenter and wheelwright, fully guarantied; Charles, 28 years,
engineer and rough carpenter ; Charles, 22 years, field hand, fully
guarantied, excepting slightly ruptured ; Sancho, 26 years, good
house carpenter, fully guarantied ; Maria, mulattress, 28 years,
first-rate washer and ironer, fully guarantied; Maria, negress, 13,
child's nurse, fully guarantied.
" Terms : Twelve months' credit for notes drawn and endorsed
to the satisfaction of the vendor, with mortgage on the property,
bearing interest eight per cent per annum, from date of .salejintil
paid. Slaves not to be delivered until the notes are approved of.
The servants can he seen on the morning of sale. Act of sale .
before D. I. Ricardo, notary public, at the expense of the pur
chaser." In the same paper, Alexander Daggett advertises " for sale
a negro man, a first-rale blaclismith." In the " Richmond
Whig " of Jan. 25, 1848, Benjamin Davis advertises for sale
a negro man " who is a first-rate carpenter by trade ; also a
rough blacksmith." In the " Charleston (S. C.) Mercury,"
Thomas W. Mordecai, broker and auctioneer, under date
Sept. 1, 1847, advertises at private sale —
" An uncommonly prime and likely black man, about 22.
A prime woman, a superior washer, and good cook and farm hand..
A very prime axeman and field hand.
A superior man-cook."
It is not, however, necessary to teach a slave-mechanic or
field hand, or even " a prime woman," to read or write, in
order to make him\or her a profitable investment. If we
suppose William Craft's value as a slave to have been two
thousand dollars, his master received from his investment
only twelve per cent clear profit ! Yet William could nei
ther read nor write. He was a valuable working machine.
To have him educated farther, to have taught him to read or
write, would have lessened his market value. To teach a
slave these things is to teach him his rights, and to make him
keenly feel his wrongs. Mrs. Hugh Auld taught Frederick
Douglass his letters before slavery had hardened her naturally

8 (
kind heart. She gave him the inch, as he says, and no pre
caution could prevent his taking the ell. He taught himself
to read and write, and thus describes the effect produced by
reading a book called " The Columbian Orator." This
book contains one or more of Sheridan's speeches, and a
dialogue between a master and his slave, wherein the slave I
is made to refute all the arguments usually brought forward 1
in support of slavery. '{
" The more I read," he says (" Narrative," p. 40), " the more
I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them
in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left
their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes,
and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. X loathed them as
being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men. As I read
and contemplated the subject, behold ! that very discontentment
which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to
read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unuttera
ble anguish. As I writhed under it, I could at times feel that
learning to read had been a curse, rather than a blessing. It had
given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy.
It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which
to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for
their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred
the condition of the meanest reptile to my own, — any thing, no
matter what, to get rid of thinking ! It was this everlasting think
ing of my condition that tormented me. There was no getting rid
of it."
As a necessary result of his learning to read, Douglass
loathed slavery, and detested his enslavers. If he had never
read, his eyes would never have been fully opened to the
extent of his wrongs ; and what is true of him is true of all
other slaves. Any slave who can read Sheridan's denuncia
tions of slayery must, like Douglass, loathe his condition, and
detest his oppressors.
But a slave who loathes his condition, and detests his
oppressors, will be refractory and disobedient. A late writer
in the " Charleston Mercury" admits this when he remarks
(" William Jay's Letter to Bishop Ives," 1848, p. 12) : —

-•• " It has been the policy of this State not to admit the teaching
to the slaves, either of reading or writing. We all know why this
is so. It needed no great scope of argument to satisfy those who
framed our laws, that the expansion of intellect, the hundred influ
ences which education generates, would be very inconsistent with
habits of obedience, which was the corner-stone of the institution."
Such a slave will also try to escape at every fair opportunity ;
and, being able to write passes or forge free papers, the
chances for successful escape are very much increased. The
owner's hold upon him becomes daily more and more pre
carious, and consequently the slave's value as property daily
diminishes. So true is this, that in Louisiana a buyer may
legally refuse to take a slave, if he has only " absented him
self from his master's house twice for several days, or once
for more than a month." The " Civil Code " (Art. 2496,
2505) declares that the "vice of character," as it is called,
which, is proved by either of these Acts, renders the slave
absolutely useless, or renders his use so inconvenient or im
perfect that it must be supposed no one would buy a slave
who was known to have this vice.
Every particle of instruction given to a slave beyond what
is consistent with his remaining a passive and obedient,
working machine, is so much money taken from the master's
pocket. Nobody wants to invest his money in a slave who
is refractory or disobedient, or who runs away at every
opportunity, — unless, indeed, he buys the stock, in conse
quence, at very much under par ! The value of Douglass
as a slave decreased just as fast as his manhood increased;
and Capt. Price now candidly avows, that he hesitated some
time before he invested seven hundred dollars in William
W. Brown ; for William was a noted runaway ! The love
of money impels the slaveholders to keep their slaves in
ignorance. Not only this, but an educated slave, who loathes his con
dition and hates his oppressors, is an unsafe member of a
household or a community. His means for taking a fearful
vengeance are ample, and what consideration shall stay his
hands ? None but an educated slave can plan or head an
2

10
insurrection. Such are the ones who always do take active
part' in rebellions. The house-servants constitute everywhere
the most educated class. None are more dreaded than they,
for this reason in part, and partly because of their living
under the same roof with their masters. In a pamphlet pub
lished in Charleston, S. C. in 1822, p. 14, by Gen. Thomas
Pinckney, speaking of house-servants, he remarks : —
" They are the most dangerous. Their intimate acquaintance
with all the circumstances relating to the interior of the dwellings,
the confidence reposed in them, and the information they unavoid
ably obtain from hearing the conversation and observing the habitual
transactions of their owners, afford them the most ample means for
treacherous bloodshed and devastation. The success, therefore, of
servile conspiracies mainly depends on this class for taking off, by
midnight murder, their unsuspecting owners ; and the late trials,
by exhibiting so large a portion of this description among the
ringleaders of the conspiracy, afford a melancholy proof of their
promptitude to become actors in such scenes." — William Jay's
Letter, fyc. p. 9.
The love1 of life itself, the desire for the safety of their wives
and children, impels the slaveholders to keep their slaves in
ignorance. Two of the strongest motives which can be brought to bear
upon man, the love of money and the love of life, are there
fore constantly urging the slaveholder to darken the minds
of his slaves. If the former of these motives leads to the
commission of so much wrong everywhere, what will not
both motives together accomplish to the injury of the slave ?
But the slaveholders have not been willing to trust wholly to
these motives, strong though they are. In many of the States,
it is a penal offence to teach a slave to read or write ; and,
where laws of this kind do not exist, custom, as universal,
powerful, and remorseless as the law, accomplishes the same
wrong. The following are some of these laws : —
The "Revised Statutes" of North Carolina, chap. 34,
sec. 74 (" Revision of Stat." 1830, chap. 6, § 1), provide that
" Any free person who shall hereafter teach, or attempt to teach,
any slave within this State to read or write, the use of figures

11
excepted, or shall give or sell to such slave or slaves any books or
pamphlets, shall be liable to indictment in any court of record in
this State having jurisdiction thereof; and, upon conviction, shall,
at the discretion of the court, if a white man or woman, he fined
not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than two hundred
dollars, or imprisoned ; and, if a free person of color, shall be fined,
imprisoned, or whipped, at the discretion of the court, not exceed
ing thirty-nine lashes, nor less than twenty lashes."
Chap. Ill, sec. 27 (Statute, 1830, chap. 6, § 2), provides
that, —
" If any slave shall teach, or attempt to teach, any other slave
to read or write, the use of figures excepted, he or she may he
carried before any justice of the peace, and, on conviction thereof,.
shall be sentenced to receive thirty-nine lashes on his or her hare
back." In South Carolina, the "Negro Act" (1740, § 45;
" 2 Brev. Dig." 243) provides that —
" All and every person and persons whatsoever who shall here
after teach, or cause any slave or slaves to he taught to write,ror
shall use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing
whatsoever, hereafter taught to write ; every such person and per
sons shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred
pounds current money."
In Alabama ( Statute, 1832, chap. 8, § 10 ; " Clay's
Digest," p. 543, §24),—
" Any person or persons who shall attempt to teach any free
person of color, or slave, to spell, read, or write, shall, upon con
viction thereof by indictment, be fined in a sum not less than two
hundred and fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars."
In Georgia ( " Penal Code approved Dec. 23, 1833,"
13th div., sec. 18 ; " Prince's Digest," p. 658 ; " William A.
Hotchkiss's Codification," 1845, p. 772), —
" If any person shall teach any slave, negro, or free person of
color, to read or write either written or printed characters, or shall
procure, suffer, or permit a slave, negro, or person of color, to
transact business for him in writing, such person so offending shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be punished

12
by fine, or imprisonment in the common jail of the county, or
both, at the discretion of the court."
In Mississippi (".Howard & Hutchinson's Laws," p. 673),
" No slave or free person of. color can be employed in the setting
of types in any printing office."
In Missouri, the " Revised Statutes " (chap. 8, sec. 10,
p. 117) provide that, —
" When an apprentice is a negro or mulatto, it shall not be the
duty of the master to cause such colored apprentice to be taught
to read or write, or a knowledge of arithmetic ; but he shall be
allowed, at the expiration of his term of service, a sum of money
in lieu of education, to be assessed by the county court."
The Act of 1847 (approved Feb. 16, § 1) reads, —
" No person shall keep or teach any school for the instruction
of negroes or mulattoes in reading or writing in this State."
Other similar laws might be produced ; but these suffice
to exhibit, in a clear light, the opportunities presented for
the mental instruction of slaves ! In some States, it is
unlawful to teach even a free colored person to read or
write !
That these laws have been almost universally respected
and obeyed, there is no room to doubt. No one has given
more attention to this subject than the Rev. Chas. C. Jones,
of Savannah, Ga. In 1842 he published, at Savannah, a
work, containing the result of his researches, entitled " The
Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States."
In this work, p. 115, he says, " The statutes of our respec
tive Slave States forbid all knowledge of letters to the
negroes; and, where the statutes do not, custom does. It
is impossible to form an estimate of the number of negroes
that read. My belief is, that the proportion would be
expressed by an almost inconceivable fraction. The
greatest number of readers is found in and about towns and
cities, and among the free negro population some two or
three generations removed from servitude." — As a confir
mation of this testimony of Mr. Jones, we know no greater

13
proof that the degraded class in any community is almost
wholly uneducated, than that a large portion of the privileged
class is so. The law of compensation is divine. We cannot
degrade or brutalize our fellow-men, without degrading or
brutalizing ourselves. Now, we find that, in the Slave States,
almost one tenth of the free white population over twenty
years of age are unable to read and write ! To some per
sons this may seem a small proportion ; but, in the Free
States, with all our ignorance, there are less than one in one
hundred and fifty ! and Horace Mann, the best authority on
this subject, says that " at least four fifths of these are for
eigners, who ought not to be included in the computation."
Li Connecticut, out of 163,843 free persons over twenty
years of age, there are only 526 who are unable to read and
write ; while, in the model Slave State of South Carolina,
out of only 111,663 free white persons over twenty years of
age, there are 20,615 who cannot read and write ! " In
South Carolina," says Theodore Parker, " out of each 626
free whites more than twenty years of age, there are more
than 58 wholly unable to read or write ; out of that number
of such persons in Connecticut, not quite two " ! More than
the sixth part of the adult freemen of South Carolina are
unable to read the vote they deposit in the ballot-box ! And
Gov. Clarke, of Kentucky, declared in his message to the
legislature in 1837, that one third of the adult population
of that State were unable to write their names ! While
such is the state of the freemen, it is impossible that any
considerable number of the slaves should become educated.
With these facts before us, it is impossible not to admit the
correctness of Mr. Jones's conclusion. Only an " almost
inconceivable fraction " of three millions of slaves can read
or write ! These are taught by their owners, or with their
connivance ; and of them we shall speak hereafter. But,
taken as a mass, the slaves are truly described by a writer in
the " Marysville (Tennessee) Intelligencer" as being "de
graded, stupid savages." We may add, not naturally
degraded and stupid, but made and kept so in open viola
tion of their rights as human beings, for the sake of gain !

14

' ',' CHAPTER III.

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE SLAVES.

" Their depravity, their spiritual ignorance and destitution, are amazingly and awfully
great." — Reo. C. C. Jones's Catechism ; preface, p. 4. >

" When the charge of the intellectual and moral degrada
tion of the slaves is preferred against us," says Mr. Jones*
(" Religious Instruction," p. 107), (c we are inclined to put the
best face on affairs, knowing that this is the darkest feature
and the most vulnerable point." , ¦:
" Their notions of the Supreme Being (ib. p. 125) ; of the
character and offices of Christ and of the Holy Ghost ; of a
future state ; and of what constitutes holiness of life, are
indefinite and confused. Some brought up in a Christian
land, and in the vicinity of the house of God, have heard of
Jesus Christ ; but who he is, and what he has done for a
ruined world, they cannot tell. The Mohammedan Africans
remaining of the old stock of importations, although accus
tomed to hear the gospel preached, have been known to ac
commodate Christianity to Mohammedanism. ' God,' say \
* We quote from Mr. Jones's work just referred to. His work contains
a summary of all that has been done for the religious instruction of the
negroes from their first introduction here ; an account of their actual moral
condition, and what he thinks should be done for their elevation. His testi
mony is unimpeachable, and is of the very highest authority. Our faith in
his sincerity is sometimes tried, when we read language like this applied to
the adult slave, p. 117 : "He marrie9 and settles in life; his children grow
up around him, and tread in his footsteps, as he did in the footsteps of his
father before him."
For a loan of this book we are indebted to the kindness of our friend,
William Lloyd Garrison. ,

15
they, ' is Allah, and Jesus Christ is Mohammed : the rehgion
is the same ; but different countries have different names.' "
" True religion they are inclined to place in profession, in
forms and ordmances, and in excited states of feeling ; and
true conversion, in dreams, visions, trances, voices, — all bear
ing a perfect or strildng resemblance to some form or type
which has been handed down for generations, or which has
been originated in the wild fancy of some religious teacher
among them." Page 126 : " Sometimes principles of con
duct are adopted by church members at so much variance
with the gospel that the ' grace of G od is turned into lasciv-
iousness.' For example, that whieh would be an abominable
sin, committed by a church member with a worldly person,
becomes no sin at all if committed with another church mem
ber. The brethren must ' bear one another's burdens, and
so fulfil the law of Christ.' .... To know the extent of their
ignorance, even where they have been accustomed to the
sound of the gospel in white churches, a man should make
investigation for himself: the result will frequently surprise
and fill him with grief. They scarcely feel shame for their
ignorance on the subject of religion, although they may have
had abundant opportunity of becoming wiser. Ignorance
they seem to feel is their lot ; and that feeling is intimately
associated with another, every way congenial to the natural
man, namely, a feeling of irresponsibility : ignorance is a
cloak and excuse for crime." Page 127: " He who carries -
the gospel to them encounters depravity, intrenched in ig
norance, both real and pretended. He beholds the Scrip
ture fulfilled, ' Having the understanding darkened, being
alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is
in them, because of the hardness of their hearts,' Eph. iv.
17 — 19. He discovers deism (!), scepticism (!!), universal-
ism (! ! !)  ' They are wise to do evil ; but to do good
they have no knowledge.' "
" Intimately connected with their ignorance is their super
stition. They believe in second sight, in apparitions, charms,
witchcraft, and in a kind of irresistible Satanic influence.
The superstitions brought from Africa have not been wholly

16
laid aside (p. 128). Ignorance and superstition render them
easy dupes to their teachers, doctors, prophets, conjurers ;
to artful, designing men. When fairly committed to such
leaders, they may be brought to the commission of almost
any crime. Facts in their history prove this. On certain
occasions, they have been made to believe, that, while they
carried about their persons some charm with which they had
been furnished, they were invulnerable.* They have, on
certain other occasions, been made to believe that they were
under a protection that rendered them invincible  • They
have been known to be so perfectly and fearfully under the
influence of some leader or conjurer or minister, that they
have not dared to disobey him in the least particular ; nor to
disclose their own intended or perpetrated crimes, in view of
inevitable death itself; notwithstanding all other influences
brought to bear upon them."-
" The discipline of colored members is involved,, tedious,
vexatious, and disgusting" (p. 131). "Excommunications
and suspensimis are of perpetual occurrence, for crimes shock
ing in character, and of themselves sufficient to show the
general state of morals ; such, for example, as adultery, forni
cation, theft, lying, drunkenness, quarrelling, and fighting.
The first three are their most common vices." Page 135 :
" They are, proverbially, thieves. They bear this character
in Africa ; they have borne it iii all countries whither they
have been carried ; it has been the character of slaves in all
ages, whatever their nation or color. They steal from each
other, from their masters, from anybody  Their veracity
is nominal." Page 136 : " The number, the variety, and
ingenuity of falsehoods that can be told by them in a few
brief moments, is most astonishing  Servants, however,
who will neither steal nor lie, may be found, and in no incon
siderable numbers."

* Sandy Jenkins tried to impress Douglass with the belief, that if he
would always carry a root which he gave him, on his right side, it would
render it impossible for any white man to whip him (" Narrative," p. 70).
And before Wm. W. Brown made his last successful effort to escape, he paid
the old slave fortune-teller, Frank, twenty-five cents for his advice.

IT
Other similar extracts, and touching other vices, might be
given ; but these seem amply sufficient to justify the general
conclusion to which Mr. Jones arrives, p. 153, that " they
are, intellectually and morally, a degraded people, the most
so of any in the United States ; and while, from their univer
sal (?) profession of the Christian system, and their attend
ance upon its ordinances of worship, and the absence of all
fixed forms of idolatry, they cannot strictly be termed
heathen, yet may they with propriety be termed the heathen
of our land." In a sermon preached by him in Georgia,
and published at Savannah in 1831, he calls them " a nation
of heathen in our very midst " ( " Jay's Letter," p. 11 ).
Abundant confirmation of this conclusion exists. The Hon.
Chas. C. Pinckney, in his " Address before the Agricultural
Society of South Carolina " (Charleston, 1S29, second edit.
pp. 10—12 ; Jones's " Relig. Inst." .p. 141), says, " There
needs no stronger illustration of the doctrine of human de
pravity than the state of morals on plantations in general."
" Who would credit it," asks the Committee of the Synod
of South Carolina and Georgia in 1833, " that, in these years
of revival and benevolent effort, in this Christian republic,
there are over two millions of human beings in the condition
of heathen, and in some respects in a worse condition ? From
long-continued and close observation, we believe that their
moral and religious condition is such that they may justly be
considered the heathen of this Christian country." The.
Executive Committee of the Kentucky Union for the Moral
and Religious Improvement of the Colored Race, in their
" Circular to the Ministers of the Gospel in Kentucky," 1834
(Jones's " Relig. Inst." p. 143), say, " We desire not to
represent that condition worse than it is. Doubtless, the
light that shines around them, more or less illuminates their
minds, and moralizes their characters. We hope and believe,
that some of them, though poor in this world's goods, will be
found rich in spiritual possessions in the day when the King
of Zion shall make up his jewels. We know that many of
them are included in the visible church, and frequently
exhibit great zeal ; but it is to be feared, that it is often a
3

18
zeal without knowledge ; and of the majority it must be
confessed, that the light shineth in darkness, and the dark
ness comprehendeth it not. After making all reasonable
allowances, our colored population can be considered, at the
most, but semi-liealhen."
In view of these statements, we cannot but be forced to
the conclusion, that the slaves, as a body, are in an extreme
ly degraded moral and religious condition. That they are
naturally thus, even Mr. Jones denies (" Relig. Instruction,"
p,. 124). He says, "As to moral and religious character,
the negroes are naturally what other men are." That they
are so much more degraded than others must, then, be owing
to their education or their social condition. The inference,
therefore, is unavoidable that they have been thus degraded
by others. The wrong rests upon those who have denied
them the means of education, and who have kept them in
slavery, — upon those who have thus degraded their minds
and souls, in order that their bodies might remain in slavery !
In violation of the slave's dearest rights, all the highest,
noblest, and purest instincts of his nature have been de
stroyed, in order to advance the pecuniary interests of the
man " who gains his fortune from the blood of souls " !
Are those slaves who enjoy moral and religious instruction
any better off ?

19

CHAPTER IV.
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS OF THE SLAVES.

Q. When you hear the minister preach, are you not to listen to him as the minister of
God ; God's messenger to your soul > A. Yes." — Jones's Catechism, p. 140.

" Bv the providence and word of God," says Mr. Jones
(" Religious Instruction," pp. 165, 166), " are we under obli
gations to impart the gospel to our servants. .... We cannot
disregard this obhgation . . . without forfeiting our humanity,
our gratitude, our consistency, and our claim to the spirit of
Christianity itself. Our humanity. . . . The Lord Jesus has
furnished us with the most beautiful and striking illustrations
of this virtue : — ' What man shall there be among you, that
shall have one sheep ; and, if it fall into a pit, will he not lay
hold on it, and lift it out ? ' ' Doth not each one of you loose
his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to water
ing ? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abra
ham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be
loosed from this bond ?'.... Apply the reasoning : ' How
much, then, is a man better than a sheep or an ox ? ' When
our servant's are sick and diseased, we do not suffer them
to want : we physic and nurse them ( ? ). But are not
their soids more precious than their bodies? Much more,
then, should we lift our servants from the pit of ignorance,
moral pollution and death, into Avhich they have fallen.
Much more should we strive to loose them (bound for so
many years ! ) from the bonds of sin and Satan, and lead
away their famishing souls to the water of hfe."

20
" Our gratitude. They nurse us in infancy, contribute to
our pleasures and pastimes in youth, and furnish us with the
means of education. They constitute our wealth, and yield
us all the comforts and conveniences of life. They may, in
a degree, adopt towards us the language of Jacob to Laban,
' Thus I was : in the day the drought consumed me, and the
frost by night, and my sleep departed from mine eyes.' They
watch around our languishing beds in sickness, share in our
misfortunes, weep over us when we die, prepare us for the
burial, and carry us to the house appointed for all the living.
The obligations, the sacrifice, and service are not to be all
on one side, in the relation of master and servant. If we
have been made partakers of their carnal things, our duty is
also to minister unto them in spiritual things,* Rom. xv. 27.
1 Cor. ix. 11. And shall we consider it a great thing to
fulfil this duty ? The kindest and the most grateful return
which we can make them is to put them in possession of the
richest gift of. God to men, the gospel of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ."
How far has the existence or utterance of such sentiments
as these resulted in securing to the slaves a sound moral and
religious instruction ? What kind of teachers and what kind
of instruction are thought to be consistent with proper feel
ings of gratitude and humanity on the part of masters ? We
have just seen the deep moral degradation of the very great
majority of the slaves. Still " there are at the present time,"
says Mr. Jones (p. 100), " tens of thousands connected by a
credible profession to the church of Christ, and the gospel is
reaching them to a greater extent and iff greater purity and
power than ever before."
By whom is the gospel thus preached to them in purity
" and power ? Who is it that " ministers unto them in spiritual
things," and " leads away their famishing souls to the water
of life"?
" Those who would keep the Bible from their fellow-
" If they make you partakers of their temporal things (of their strength
and spirits, and even of their offspring), you ought to make them partakers
of your spiritual things.'' — Bishop of London in 1727 {Jones, p. 20).

21
creatures are the enemies of God and man. The Bible
belongs of right to every man. It is the property of the
world." Thus speaks the Protestant defender of slavery,
Charles C. Jones (" Catechism," p. 80). But to prevent a
slave from reading the Bible is not by any means to keep
the Bible from him ! In what a Catholic spirit he thus
exhorts the slaves ! (" Catechism," p. 79,) " What benefit
will this precious book be to us, unless we diligently study
it, and embrace opportunities of receiving instruction from it,
such as are afforded us in the house of God, in the sabbath-
school, and in the Bible-class ? ' Search the Scriptures '
is the Redeemer's command." * " We cannot," he says
(" Religious Instruction," p. 167), " cry out against the Pa
pists for withholding the Scriptures from the common people,
and keeping them in ignorance of the way of life ; for our
inconsistency is as great as theirs, if we withhold the Bible
from our servants, and keep them in ignorance of its saving
truths, which we certainly do while we will not provide ways
and means of having it read and explained to them " ! So
readily, at the bidding of slavery, will Protestants surrender
the most distinctive feature of Protestantism !
It is obvious, that, if any religious instruction is to be
imparted to slaves, it must be given them by others. But it
is in the power of the owner to forbid all such instruction.
" The whole arrangement of the religious instruction of the
negroes, as to teachers, times, places, matter and manner, is
in our own power," says Mr. Jones (ib. p. 98).
The Presbytery of Georgia, in the memorial before alluded
to, says — \
* How carefully does Mr. Jones teach the slaves " to search the Scrip
tures" ! (" Catechism," p. 103.)
" Q. Is it not our duty, on the sabbath, to go to the house of God, to the
meeting for prayer, to the sabbath-school, and wherever we may worship
God and learn his will ? — A. Yes.
" Q. What was done with the man that gathered sticks on the sabbath-
day, not caring for God's commandment ? — A. He was stoned.
"Q. Is sabbath-breaking a great sin in the sight of God?— A. Yes.
(Ib. p. 104) He who breaks the sabbath robs God of his own ; for the day is
the Lord's."

22
" The law of the land makes and can make no provision for
their religious instruction. That instruction is committed to
owners, as the instruction of children is to parents; and they can
give or tuilhhold it at pleasure. We owners and ministers are
' the almoners of divine mercy to them,' and, if we do not open
the door of salvation, they may grope their way into a miserable
eternity ; for they have no power of any kind to originate and
establish and carry forward church organizations and associations
for their own benefit. They are entirely dependent upon us for
the gospel of salvation."
" We may," says Mr. Jones (" Religious Instruction,"
p. 158), " according to the power lodged in our hands, forbid
religious meetings and rehgious instruction on our own plan
tations ; we may forbid our servants going to church at all,
or only to such churches as we may select for them ; we
may literally shut up the kingdom of heaven against men,
and suffer not them that are entering to go in ! "
Wherever an owner is willing to permit such instruction,
it must still be carried on wholly by oral communications.
" This immense mass of immortal beings," says Mr. Jones,
" is thrown for religious instruction upon oral communica
tions entirely" (ib. p. 157). That any oral instruction ofthe
adult or aged slaves is worth but little he evidently admits,
because he says (ib. p. 229), " If a people are to be in
structed orally, let the instruction be communicated to them
in early life ; " and " the great hope of permanently benefit
ing the negroes is laid in sabbath-schools, in which children
and youth may be trained up in the knowledge of the Lord."
Our minds are so constituted, that, unless our powers of \
memory have been strengthened by constant or frequent use
in youth, we cannot in after-life either receive or retain much
benefit from oral instruction. And if this is true of the free
man, how much more is it true of the slave ! Consequently,
the only method of instructing the slaves, which law or cus
tom or both do not forbid, is the very last, — the poorest
method for their real good which can be devised !
There are colored preachers at the South, " and some of
them," says Mr. Jones, "are able to read" (ib. p. 175).

23
The following anecdote, illustrative of their capacity to im
part knowledge, is told by Charles Lyell. When in Louis
ville, Ky. he attended a Methodist Church. " The preacher
was a full black, spoke good Enghsh, and quoted Scripture
well." " It appeared," says Prof. Lyell, " from his explana
tion of ' Whose superscription is this ? ' that he supposed the
piece of money to be a dollar note, to which Csesar had put
his signature."
Some, probably most of them, are slaves. We have now
before us the advertisement of a runaway slave who claimed
to be a Methodist preacher ! The Alabama Baptist Asso
ciation bought one of its missionaries, named Csesar, in 1828,
and owned him till the time of his death ! He hved to be
76 years old. A writer in the " Georgia Christian Index "
begins an obituary notice of him thus, " A good colored man
has fallen in Israel ; " and ends by saying, " The writer can
truly say that his labors have been much blest." Mr. Jones
gives the names of several other slave preachers. Still, how
ever, they are discountenanced.
The "Revised Statutes" of North Carolina (chap. Ill,
sec. 34 ; " Revision of Statute," 1831, chap. 4, sec. 1) pro
vide that —
" It shall not be lawful, under any pretence, for any slave or
free person of color to preach or exhort in public, or in any man
ner to officiate as a preacher or teacher in any prayer-meeting or
other association for worship where slaves of different families are
collected together ; and if any free person of color shall be thereof
duly convicted, on indictment, before any court having jurisdiction
thereof, he shall for each offence receive not exceeding thirty-nine
lashes on his bare back ; and when any slave shall be guilty of a
violation of this section, he shall, on conviction before a single
magistrate, receive not exceeding thirty-nine lashes on his bare
back." In Alabama (Stat. 1832, chap. 8, sec. 24; "Clay's Di
gest," 545, sec. 35), —
" If any slave or free person of color shall preach to, exhort,
or harangue any slave or slaves or free persons of color, unless in
the presence of five respectable (!) slaveholders, any such slave or

24
free person of color so offending shall, on conviction before any
justice of the peace, receive, by order of said justice of the peace,
thirty-nine lashes for the first offence, and fifty lashes for every
offence thereafter ; and any person may arrest any such slave or
free person of color, and take him before a justice of the peace for
trial, — Provided that the negroes so haranguing or preaching
shall be licensed thereto by some regular body of professing Chris
tians immediately in the neighborhood, and to whose society or
church such negro shall properly belong."
In Georgia, the Act approved Dec. 23, 1833, sec. 5
(" Prince's Digest," 808 ; " Hotchkiss's Codification," 840,
841), provides that —
" No person of color, whether free or slave, shall be allowed to
preach to, exhort, or join in any religious exercise with, any per
sons of color, either free or slave, there being more than seven
persons of color present," &c.
In Mississippi, the law declares (How. and Hutch. 178)
that —
" It shall not be lawful for any slave, free negro or mulatto to
exercise the functions of a minister of the gospel under the penalty
of thirty-nine lashes, r — Provided that it shall be lawful for any
master or owner to permit his slave to preach upon his own pre
mises, but not to permit any other slaves but his own to assemble
there on such occasion."
In Missouri, the Act approved Feb. 16, 1847, sec. 2, pro
vides that —
" No meeting or assemblage of negroes or mulattoes for the
purpose of religious worship or preaching shall be held or permitted,
where the services are performed or conducted by negroes or mu
lattoes, unless some sheriff, constable, marshal, police officer, or
justice of the peace shall be present during all the time of such
meeting or assemblage, in order to prevent all seditious speeches
and disorderly and unlawful conduct of every kind."
" Negro preachers- are discouraged," says Mr. Jones
(" Religious Instruction," p. 157), " if not suppressed, on the
ground of incompetency, and liability to abuse their office
and influence to the injury of the morals of the people, and
the infringement of the laws and peace of the country. I

25
would not go all the lengths of many on this point ; for, from
my own observation, negro preachers may be employed and
confided in, and so regulated as to do their own color great
good, and community no harm." R>. p. 274 : " The ap
pointment of colored preachers and watchmen by the white
churches, and under their particular supervision, in many dis
tricts of country, has been attended with happy effects ; and
such auxiliaries, properly managed, may be of great advan
tage." Doubtless, when thus " properly managed," they
are of great advantage ! " I shall never forget," says Mr.
Jones (ib. p. 215), " the remark of a venerable colored
preacher, made with reference to the Southampton tragedy"
(i.e. Nat. Turner's insurrection in Southampton, Va. in 1832).
"• With his eyes filled with tears, and his whole manner indi
cating the deepest emotion, said he, ' Sir, it is the gospel that
we, ignorant and wicked people, need. (!) If you will give
us the gospel, it will do more for the obedience of servants
and the peace of community than all your guards and
guns and bayonets.' This same Christian minister, on re
ceiving a packet of inflammatory pamphlets through the
post-office, and discovering their character and intention,
immediately called upon the mayor of the city, and delivered
them into his hands. Who can estimate the value in com
munity of one such man acting under the influence of the
gospel of peace ? "
Not only are negro preachers thus discountenanced, unless
they are the abject tools of the slaveholders, but only a cer
tain class of white teachers are allowed. The following
extract is taken from the " Georgia Christian Index : " —
"Preachers tor the Slaves. — We think the instruction
of the blacks in the South should be committed wholly to white
men; and they should be Southern men, in whom the masters
have confidence. If the preacher is himself a slaveholder, as are
Mr. Jones and Mr. Law, they will command the greater confidence,
and have access to the larger number of plantations."
" The field of labor among the negroes in the South,"
says Mr. Jones (" Religious Instruction," p. 196), " is one,
4

26
in many respects, of no ordinary difficulty; and it is the
dictate as well of benevolence as of prudence to inquire into
the character and qualifications of those who enter it. They
should be Southern men; men entitled to that appellation;
either those who have been born and reared in the South, or
those who have identified themselves with the South, and are
familiarly acquainted with the structure of society ; in a word,
men having their interests in. the Smith. Such men would
possess the confidence of the community ; for they would not
act, in their official connection with the negroes, in such a
manner as to breed disturbances, which would inevitably
jeopard their own lives, and tend to the utter prostration of
their families and interests." , Ib. p. 235 : " The missionaries
should be Southern men, or men . . . identified in views, feel
ings, and interests with the South, and who possess the con
fidence of society." We should (ib. p. 197) " know who
their teachers are, and what and when and where they are
taught." -, • , ......
The object of these laws and precautions evidently is
wholly to exclude, as religious teachers of the slaves, all
persons except slaveholders, or those who are fully identified
with or subject to them. Only slaveholders and their tools
can be " God's messengers " to the souls of the slaves !
¦ The moral and religious teaching of the slaves is exclusively
vested in that class of men whose interest it is to uphold aud
strengthen slavery ! A slaveholder must have the strongest
inducement to make his teaching of such a quality as directly
to increase the market value of his hearers ; and yet the
slaves are receiving from the hallowed lips of their owners
the gospel of love and human brotherhood in greater purity
and power than ever before !

21

CHAPTER V.
DIRECT RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES.

" Hath He not brought you out of a land of darkness and ignorance, where your fore
fathers knew nothing of him, to a country where you may come to the knowledge of the only
true God, and learn a sure way to heaven ? " — Right Rev. Bishop Meade's Instructionto Slaves.
" The religious instruction of your people will promote your own interests for time and
eternity." — Rev. C. C. Jones's Teaching to Slaveholders (" ReL InsU" p. 275).

We might safely presume, that religious owners would in
struct their slaves in such doctrines as they deemed essential
to the salvation of their own souls, and that such instruction
would not materially vary from that given elsewhere on the
same points. But abundant proof exists. The Right Rev.
Levi S. Ives has published " A Catechism to be taught orally
to those who cannot read ; " New York, 1848. In the pre
face, he says it was the result of a winter's visit to a large
Southern plantation, and was adapted by him, " in a course
of actual experiment, to the capacity of colored children,
from four to twelve years of age." There are twenty les
sons in this little book. He teaches, among other things,
about the fall, original sin, the atonement, the trinity, and the
sacraments. Elsewhere (" Spirit of Missions," Nov. 1842)
he has expressed the conviction, that, if the planters of North
Carolina would adopt it, and see to its faithful inculcation,
the next generation of blacks in that State, " at a very small
expense, would sufficiently understand the truth as it is in
Jesus, without knowing a letter of the alphabet."
Dr. Jones's Catechism is really, what it professes to be, a
" Catechism of Scripture doctrine, as well as practice," and
contains a very much more elaborate exposition than Bishop

»

28
Ives's book. Altogether, it must be a much more service
able book to " owners and ministers."
We shall therefore chiefly content ourselves with showing
what the slaves are taught it is their duty to do, and to
refrain from doing, and what motives to duty are urged upon
them. " As ministers or missionaries to the negroes," says Mr.
Jones (" Rei. Inst." p. 270), " in the discharge of our official
duty, and in our intercourse with the negroes, we should have
nothing to do with their civil condition. We are appointed
of God to preach ' the unsearchable riches of Christ ' to our
perishing fellow-men. We are to meditate upon the duties
and responsibilities of our office, and to give ourselves wholly
to it." Ib. pp. 193, 194 : " We separate entirely their reli
gious and their civil condition, and contend that the one may
be attended to without interfering with the other. Our prin
ciple is that laid down by the holy and just one, ' Render
unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the
things that are God's.' And Christ and his apostles are our
example. Did they deem it proper and consistent with the
good order of society to preach the gospel to servants ? They
did. In discharge of this duty, did they interfere with their
civil condition ? They did not. They expressed no opinion
whatever on the subject, if we except that which appears in
one of the Epistles to the Corinthian Church (1st Epist.
chap. vii. ver. 19 — 23). There the Apostle Paul considers a
state of freedom preferable to one of servitude, and advises
slaves, if they can lawfully obtain their freedom, to do it ;
but not otherwise. He does not treat the question as one of
very great moment, in comparison to the benefits of the
gospel. ' Art thou called being a servant, care not for it ;
but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather ; for he that is
called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman,'
&c. May we not follow in the footsteps of our Saviour
and his apostles, and that with perfect safety too ? Yea, and
without proceeding as far as did the Apostle Paul ? (!) We
maintain that in judicious religious instruction there will be
no necessary interference with their civil condition. The

29
religious teacher must step out of his way for the purpose."
The Presbytery of Georgia declares in its memorial, that, if
the church will undertake the religious instruction of the
slaves, —
" The minds of ministers and members will be drawn off from
abstract questions of a civil and a political nature, with which, as
Christians engaged in evangelizing the world, we have little to do ;
and they will be presented with a way whereby they may practi
cally gratify all their benevolent sympathies for the negroes, in the
best manner possible. Our attention, as a church, will be turned
to the great question before us, and indeed before all other de
nominations, and which should take precedence of all other ques
tions touching the negroes, Shall this people be saved or lost ? "
" The New Testament," says the Rev. Theodore Clapp
(Sermon, pp. 25, 26, and these are his present sentiments),
" decides in the plainest terms that Christians are bound to
acquiesce in and support those laws and regulations con
cerning slavery which are enacted by the respective civil
governments under which they live. The legislature must
determine who shall be kept in bondage, and what shall be
their condition and privileges. The pulpit must not interfere
in this important and delicate matter  Let him (the
clergyman) at all times preach unconditional submission to
civil laws and institutions."
. At the outset, therefore, the religious teachers of the slaves
disclaim all desire or intention to interfere with the condition
of servitude. Their appropriate and only work, they say, is
the saving of souls ! * That their brother's soul is brqtalized
and deadened, in consequence of slavery, is to them no rea
son why they should interfere with slavery ; for slavery is a
* "Were it now revealed to us," says Mr. Jones (ib. p. 180), " that the
most extensive system of instruction which we could devise, requiring a
vast amount of labor, and protracted through ages, would result in the
tender mercy of our God in the salvation of the soul of one poor African, we
should feel warranted in cheerfully entering upon our work, with all its
costs and sacrifices ; for our reward would exceed all our toil and care above
the computation of any finite mind." Badly educated, misguided, we
believe Mr. Jones to be ; but these are the words of honest, sincere convic
tion.

30
civil condition, which God, in his mysterious providence, has
allowed to exist ! But, though it is thus improper to " inter
fere" with the civil condition of the slaves, that religious
teacher (as Ave shall shortly see) does not " step out of his
way," but merely does his duty, who preaches to them that
submission to their civil condition, and faithful service for
their masters, is demanded of them by God ! They cannot
interfere to injure the institution of slavery ; but very materially
io strengthen- it falls within their legitimate province ! To
condemn slavery would be to condemn the providence of
God; but in strengthening slavery, they are preaching "the
unsearchable riches of Christ " to their perishing fellow-men !
The Right Rev. William Meade, Bishop of the Protestant
Episcopal Church for the diocese of Virginia, who has also
devoted a great deal of attention to the religious instruction
of slaves, a few years since collected and published a vol
ume of sermons and tracts, designed to aid the almoners of
Divine Mercy in their work of salvation. The grand motive
to duty is thus presented to the slaves, pp. 94, 95 (" Slavery
and the Slaveholder's Religion as opposed to Christianity,
by Samuel Brooke," p. 29, &c.) : —
" Besides, when people die, we know but of two places they
have to go to, and that is heaven or hell ; so that whoever misses
the one must go to the other. Now, heaven is a place of great
happiness, which God hath prepared for all that are good ; where
they shall enjoy rest from their labors, and a blessedness which
shall never have an end. And hell is a place of great torment and
misery, where all wicked people will be shut up with the devil
and other evil spirits, and be punished for ever because they will i
not serve God. If, therefore, we would have our souls saved by
Christ ; if we would escape hell and obtain heaven, we must set
about doing what he requires of us, that is, to serve God. Your
own poor circumstances in this life ought to put you particularly
upon this, and taking care of your souls j for you cannot have the
pleasures and enjoyments of this life like rich free people, who
have estates and money to lay out as they think fit. If others will
run the hazard of their souls, they have a chance of getting wealth
and power, of heaping up riches, and enjoying all the ease, luxu
ry, and pleasure their hearts should long after. But you can have

31
none of these things ; so that, if you sell your souls for the sake of
what poor matters you can get in this world, you have made a very
foolish bargain indeed. Almighty God hath been pleased to make
you slaves here, and to give you nothing but labor and poverty in
this world, which you are obliged to submit to, as it is his will
that it should be so. And think within yourselves what a terrible
thing it would be, after all your labors and sufferings in this life,
to be turned into hell in the next life ; and, after wearing out your
bodies in service here,, to go into a far worse slavery when this is
over, and your poor souls be delivered over into the possession of
the devil, to become his slaves for ever in hell, without any hope
of ever getting free from it. If, therefore, you would be God's
freemen in heaven, you must strive to be good and serve him here
on earth. Your bodies, you know, are not your own : they are at
the disposal of those you belong to ; but your precious souls are
still your own, which nothing can take from you, if it be not your
own fault. Consider well,- then, that, if you lose your souls by
leading idle, wicked lives here, you have got nothing by it in this
world, and you have lost your all in the next. For your idleness
and wickedness is generally found it, and your bodies suffer for it
here; and, what is far worse, if you do not repent and amend,
your unhappy souls will suffer for it hereafter." , :v
The Rev. Alexander Glennie, Rector of All-Saints Parish,
Waccamaw, S.C. has for several years been in the habit of
preaching expressly for slaves. In 1844, he published in
Charleston a selection of these sermons, under the title of
" Sermons preached on Plantations to Congregations of Ne
groes." This book* contains twenty-six sermons; and in
twenty-two of them there is either a more or less extended
account or a reference to eternal misery in hell as a motive
to duty. He thus describes the day of judgment (Serm. 15,
Matt. xxv. 31, p. 90) : —
" When all people shall be gathered before him, 'he shall sep
arate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from
the goats ; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the
goats on the left.' That, my brethren, will be an awful time,
when this separation shall he going on ; when the holy angels, at
the command of the great Judge, shall be gathering together all
* For a loan of this book we are indebted to our friend Parker Pillsbury.

32
the obedient followers of Christ, and be setting them on the right
hand side of the judgment-seat, and shall place all the remainder
on the left. Remember that each of you must be present ; remem
ber that the great Judge can make no mistake ; and that you shall
be placed on one side or on the other, according as in this world
you have believed in and obeyed him or not. How full of joy and
thanksgiving will you be, if you shall find yourselves placed on the
right hand ! but how full of misery and despair, if the left shall be
appointed as your portion ! "
" But what shall he say to the wicked on the left hand ? To
them he shall say, ' Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' He will tell them to
depart : they did not while here seek him by repentance and faith ;
they did not obey him ; and he will drive -them from him. He
will call them cursed."
Page 42 (Sermon 7, Rom. vi. 28) : " The death, which is the
wages of sin, is this everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. It is a fire which shall last for ever; and the devil and
his angels, and all people who will not love and serve God, shall
there be punished for ever. The Bible says, ' The smoke of
their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever : ' the fire is not
quenched ; it never goes out : ' their worm dieth not : ' their
punishment is spoken of as a worm, always feeding upon them,
but never consuming them : it never can stop."
Mr. Jones orally catechizes* the slaves in the same man
ner : —
Page 83 : " Q. Are there two places only spoken of in the
Bible to which the souls of men go after death? — A. Only two.
Q. Which are they ? — A. Heaven and hell.
Pp. 91, 92: Q. After the Judgment is over, into what place do \
the righteous go ? — A. Into heaven.
* " A Catechism of Scripture Doctrine and Practice for Families and
Sabbath Schools, designed also for the Oral Instruction of Colored Persons,
by Charles C. Jones," 6th edit. ; Charleston, 1845. In his preface, Mr. Jones
says, "The Catechism has been prepared expi-esslt/ for the religious instruc
tion of the negroes ; and it has been extensively tried and approved by those
engaged in that good work." It is unquestionably much more used than
any other. It has already passed through six editions. It really merits this
position. — For a perusal of this book we are indebted to the kindness of our
friend Samuel Brooke, of Ohio.

33
Q. What kind of a place is heaven ? — A. A moat glorious and
happy place.

Q. Shall the righteous in heaven have any more hunger or
thirst, or nakedness or heat or cold ? Shall they any more have
sin or sorrow, or crying or pain or death ? — A. No.
Q. Repeat, 'And God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes.' — A. ' And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying ;
neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things are
passed away.'
Q. Will heaven be their everlasting home ? — A. Yes.
Q. And shall the righteous grow in knowledge and holiness
and happiness for ever and ever ? — A. Yes.
Q. To what place should we wish and strive to go, more than
to all other places ? — A. Heaven.
- Pp. 93, 94: Q. Into what place are the wicked to be cast? —
A. Into hell. ' ' ' '-"r : '
Q. Repeat, ' The wicked shall be turned.' — A. ' The wicked
shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.'
Q. What kind of a place is hell ? — A. A place of dreadful
torments. Q. What does it burn with ? — A. Everlasting fire.
Q. Who are cast into hell besides wicked men? — A. The devil
and his angels.
Q. What will the torments of hell make the wicked do ? —
A. Weep and wail, and gnash their teeth.
Q. What did the rich man beg for when he was tormented in
the flame ? — A. A drop of water to cool his tongue.
Q. Will the wicked have any good thing in hell? the least
comfort? the least relief from torment ? — A. No.
Q. Will they ever come out of hell? — A. No: never.
Q. Can any go from heaven to hell, or from hell to heaven ? —
A. No.
Q. What is fixed between heaven and hell ? — A. A great gulf.
Q. What is the punishment of the wicked in hell called ? —
A. Everlasting punishment.
Q. Will this punishment make them better ? — A. No.
Q. Repeat, ' It is a fearful thing.' — A. 'It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God.'
Q. What is God said to be to the wicked ? — A. A consuming
fire. 5

34
•Q. What place should we strive to escape from above all
others? — A. Hell."
The slaves are taught that they must do what God requires
of them, if they would escape never-ending torments in hell.
How strict an account of their stewardship does God require
at their hands ! He, they are taught, has made them slaves,
and has given them nothing but labor and poverty for their
lot in thi3 life. Will he require much, where he has given
little ? Bishop Meade continues (Brooke's " Slavery," pp.
30, 31, 32) : —
" Having thus shown you the chief duties you owe to your great
Master in heaven, I now come to lay before you the duties you
owe to your masters and mistresses here upon earth ; and for this
you have one general rule that you ought always to carry in your
minds, and that is, to do all service for them as if you did it for
God himself. Poor creatures ! you little consider, when you are
idle and neglectful of your masters' business, when you steal and
waste and hurt any of their substance, when you are saucy and im-.
pudent, when you are telling them lies and deceiving them; or
when you prove stubborn and sullen, and will not do the work
you are set about without stripes and vexation ; you do not con
sider, I say, that what faults you are guilty of toioards your mas
ters and mistresses are faults done against God himself, who hath
set your masters and mistresses over you in his own stead, and
expects that you will do for them just as you would do for him.
And, pray, do not think that I want to deceive you, when I tell
you that your masters and mistresses are God's overseers; and
that, if you are faulty towards them, God himself will punish you
severely for it in the next world, unless you repent of it, and strive
to make amends by your faithfulness and diligence for the time to
come ; for God himself hath declared the same.
" Now, from this general rule, — namely, that you are to do all
service for your masters and mistresses as if you did it for God
himself, — there arise several other rules of duty towards your
masters and mistresses, which I shall endeavor to lay out in order
before you. ;
" And, in the first place, you are to be obedient and subject to
your masters in all things  And Christian ministers are com
manded to ' exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters,
and to please them well in all things, not answering them again, or

35
gain-saying.' You see how strictly God requires this of you, that
whatever your masters and mistresses order you to do, you must
set about it immediately, and faithfully perform it, without any
disputing or grumbling, and take care to please them well in all
things. And for your encouragement he tells you, that he will
reward you for it in heaven ; because, while you are honestly and
faithfully doing your master's business here, you are serving your
Lord and Master in heaven. You see also that you are not to
take any exceptions to the behavior of your masters and mistresses,
and that you are to be subject and obedient, not only to such as
are good and gentle and mild towards you, but also to such
as may be froward, peevish, and hard. For you are not at liberty
to choose your own masters ; hut into whatever hands God hath
been pleased to put you, you must do your duty, and God will
reward you for it. • •
" 2. You are not to be eye-servants. Now, eye-servants are
such as will work hard, and seem mighty diligent, while they think
anybody is taking notice of them ; but, when their masters' and
mistresses' backs are turned, they are idle, and neglect their busi
ness. I am afraid there are a great many such eye-servants
among you, and that you do not consider how great a sin it is to
be so, and how severely God will punish you for it. You may
easily deceive your owners, and make them have an opinion of you
that you do not deserve, and get the praise of men by it ; but
remember that you cannot deceive Almighty God, who sees your
wickedness and deceit, and will punish you accordingly. For- the
rule is, that you must obey your masters in all things, and do the-
work they set you about with fear and trembling, in singleness of
heart, as unto Christ ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as
the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart ; with
good-will doing service as to the Lord, and not as to men. . If,
then, you would but say within yourselves, ' My master hath set me
about this work, and his back is turned, so that I may loiter and
idle if I please, for he does not see me ; but there is my great
Master in heaven, whose overseer my other master is* and his eyes

* " Let us ever remember the name that Hagar gave to God, ' Thou God
seest me,' and act as in his presence. Let us be afraid to steal or lie
or curse, or break the Sabbath, or do any wicked thing. God mil see and
know." — Jones's " Catechism," p. 28. .
'? Ought not you to try and keep the fear of God always before your«yes ?
Do not be tempted to say, as too many wicked people do, ' Oh ! nobody will

36
are always upon me and taking notice of me, and I cannot get
anywhere out of his sight, nor be idle without his knowing it ; and
what wil become of me, if I lose his good-will and make him angry
with me ? ' — if, I say, you would once get the way of thinking
and saying thus upon all occasions, you then would do what God
commands you, and serve your masters with singleness of heart,
that is, with honesty and sincerity, and do the work you are set
about with fear and trembling, not for fear of your masters and
mistresses upon earth, for you may easily cheat them, and make
them believe you are doing their business when you do not, but
with fear and trembling, lest God your heavenly Master, whom you
cannot deceive, should call you to account, and punish you in the
next world for your deceitfulness and eye-service in this.
" 3. You are to be faithful and honest to your masters and mis
tresses, not purloining or wasting their goods or substance, but
showing all good fidelity in all things  Do not your masters,
under God, provide for you ? And how shall they be able to do
this, to feed and to clothe you, unless you take honest care of every
thing that belongs to them ? Remember that God requires this of
you; and, if you are not afraid of suffering for it here, you cannot
escape the vengeance of Almighty God, who will judge between you
and your masters, and make you pay severely in the next world for
all the injustice you do them here. And though you could manage
so cunningly as to escape the eyes and hands of man, yet think
what a dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God,
who is able to cast both soul and body into hell !
" 4. You are to serve your masters with cheerfulness, reverence,
and humility. You are to do your masters' service leith good-will,
doing it as the will of God from the heart, without any sauciness
or answering again. How many of you do things quite otherwise,
and, instead of going about your work with a good will and a
good heart, dispute and grumble, give saucy answers, and behave
in a surly manner ! There is something so becoming and engaging
in a modest, cheerful, good-natured behavior, that a little work
done in that manner seems better done and gives far more satis-

know it ; nobody will see it.' Femeniber that God is always looking at you.
He sees all that you do : he hears every word that you say : he knows all
that you think about : and he can in a moment strike you dead : he is able
to destroy both soul and body in hell. Knowing these things, fear him, so
as not willingly to offond him." — Rev. Alexander Glennie's Sermons, p. 32.
See al30 to same point, Bishop Ives's " Catechism," p. 13, 14, 42.

37
faction than a great deal more that must be done with frettino-,
vexation, and the lash always held over you. It also gains the
good-will and love of those you belong to, and makes your
own life pass with more ease and pleasure. Besides, you are to
consider that this grumbling and ill-will does not affect your
masters and mistresses only. They have ways and means in their
hands of forcing you to do your work, whether you are willing
or not. But your murmuring and grumbling is against God, who
hath placed you in that service, who will punish you severely in the
next world for despising his commands."
If the slave who wastes his master's goods and substance
will not be able to escape the vengeance of Almighty God,
what will become of the master who impoverishes and dark
ens the mind of his brother-man ? Who commits the greater
injustice, — the man who robs another of his mind, or the
man who robs another of his money ?
Mr. Glennie is equally explicit in his teaching. His fourth
Sermon is on the text, Eph. vi. 7, " With good-will doing
service, as to the Lord, and not to men," pp. 21, 22 : —
" In this part of the word of God, servants are taught with what
mind they ought to do their service. They are told to do what is
required of them ' with good-will ; ' and to do it, ' as to the Lord,
and not to men.'
" What a blessed book the Bible is, my brethren ! It speaks
comfort to all people in every station of life ; it shows how every
one must live here so as to please our heavenly Father. He, the
Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, has in his word for
gotten none of the children of men. All may learn from that holy
book how their souls may be saved through the merits of the death
of Christ. And, in addition to this, every one, in whatever con
dition he may be, will find in that holy book what his peculiar
duties are. Thus, ministers are taught in the Bible how they
ought to preach the gospel, and how they ought to live, so as to
glorify their Saviour Jesus Christ. The rich are taught in the
Bible how they must do good with their riches ; and the poor, how
they must be contented with the portion that God has given them ;
and both rich and poor are taught how to lay up' treasure in
heaven. Parents are told in the Bible how they must bring up
their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and
children, how they must obey their parents. Masters are taught

38
in the Bible how they must rule their servants, and servants how
they must obey their masters. Truly, this holy word of God is a
blessed gift indeed ; and how greatly blessed shall we all be, if we
diligently seek the help of the Holy Spirit, that we may be ' doers
of the word, and not hearers only ' ! I will now read to you the
whole of this passage out of God's holy word, which is written
especially for your instruction : — ' Servants, be obedient to them
that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trem
bling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ ; not with eye-
service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will
of God from the heart : with good-will doing service, as to the Lord,
and not to men ; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man
doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond
or free.' This passage from the Bible shows to you what God re
quires from you as servants ; and there are many other passages
which teach the same things. You should try and remember these
parts of the Bible, that you may be able ' to do your duty in that
state of life unto which it has pleased God to call you.' For,
although a bad servant may not wish to know what God requires
of him, yet a Christian servant will desire to know this, and to do
his will in every thing."
How easy it must be for those who cannot read to learn
from the holy book what God requires of them ! Mr. Glen-
nie assures his hearers, that not one of them will be able to
say, in the day of judgment, " I had no way o'f hearing and
learning about my God and Saviour " ! (p. 137). May they
not all listen to such words of comfort as fall from his lips ?
And how full of comfort to their souls must that book be
which tells them that God intended to make them slaves,
and that they must be faithful and obedient to their oppress
ors, if they wish to avoid endless punishment in hell !
Pp. 22, 23 : " Our heavenly Father commands that you, who
are servants, should ' be obedient to your masters according to the
flesh ; ' that is, to your earthly master, the master that you serve
here while in the body. Here is a very plain command : ' Ser
vants, be obedient ; ' be obedient to your masters. A bad servant
will not try and obey this command. A worldly-minded servant,
who is not living in the fear of God, will neglect this command.
But you, who call yourselves children of God, will do his will, and

39
be obedient to your earthly master. You can every day give
proof that you wish to serve God, by your ready, your cheerful
obedience. " You are here directed to be obedient to your master ' with
fear and trembling ; ' that is, you ought to feel so anxious to dis
charge your duty faithfully as to feel afraid of giving offence by
any conduct that looks like disobedience ; for, by disobedience, you
not only offend your earthly master, but you sin against God ; and
of this every Christian servant will be afraid.* A bad servant will
be afraid only of the punishment which he will receive, if his dis
obedience should be found out. But a Christian servant must
look up always to his heavenly Master. Therefore, if you love
God, whose children you were made at your baptism, you will do
every day all that you have to do, with fear and trembling ; that
is, in the fear of God ; knowing that he would be angry with you,
if you neglected your duty. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shed his blood for you, you will do your daily work with fear
and trembling, lest, by any act of disobedience, you bring reproach
on him whose name you bear. If you desire that the Holy Spirit
should abide in your hearts, you will not willingly be disobedient,
being afraid that this Comforter and Sanctifier would forsake you,
if you paid so little attention to the plain word of God."
How full of comfort must the Bible be to the slaveholder !
How gratifying to him the reconciliation between God and
mammon ! How interesting to a reverend father must be
the reflection, that, just in the proportion as he serves his
God, by imparting to his hearers gospel truth, he is serving
mammon, and putting money in the purses of his employers,
by making his hearers more valuable as slaves !
Page 23 : " You are here commanded to be obedient, ' in single
ness of your heart, as unto Christ : ' that is, do not be double-
minded, professing to be one thing, but really being another ; but,
in your duty to your master, have a single hearty an honest, upright,
and true heart, as unto Christ ; knowing that he sees your heart,
and will not be pleased with double-dealing."
Page 24 : " This part of the Bible goes on speaking of the same
matter in different words ; it gives ' line upon line and precept
upon precept ; ' because it is what all of us ought to keep in
mind, that we must engage in our several duties with a desire
to please God, and with a fear of sinning against him. It says,

40
' not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart.' Do not attend to your work,
only when your earthly master's eye is upon you; but remember
that the eye of your heavenly Master is always upon you. Do
your work as serving Christ, look upon your daily tasks as the will
of God, and do them from the heart, with a hearty desire to please
God. A bad servant is an eye-servant, doing the work required
of him so long as his master's eye is upon him : he has no
regard to Christ our Saviour ; and, instead of the will of God, he
thinks only of his own will, and the desires of his own evil heart.
But you, who profess to be the servants of Jesus Christ, will, if
you are indeed his, do all your duty faithfully, whether the eye
of man is upon you or not ; you will feel that such is the will of
God ; and you will daily watch and pray, that, by the help of the
Holy Spirit, you may ' do the will of God from the heart.'
" The word of God goes on teaching you the same thing. It
says, ' with good-will doing service as to the Lord, and not to
men.' A bad servant will very often do his service with a very
bad will ; he will try many ways to deceive his master, and will do
as little for him as he can. You, however, who call yourselves
the servants of Christ, will, if you indeed belong to him, aim at
doing your service ' with good-will ; ' you will pray that your will
may be subject to the will of God, so that you may ' do service'
cheerfully, ' as to the Lord, and not to men.' "
We candidly confess, that we have not sufficient faith to
believe that the Rev. Rector of All-Saints Parish would, if
he were a slave, be a good servant, and do service as unto
the Lord. We do verily believe, that both he and .Bishop
Meade would follow the desires of man's unregenerate and
evil heart, and do their utmost to escape from this unwelcome.
service of Christ. But what a curious subject for reflection, >
that the saving of negro souls and of negro overseers in All-
Saints Parish must keep pace one with another !
The Rector concludes his Sermon with these important
suggestions : —
Page 25 : " This passage of Scripture ends by telling you to
remember that the day of judgment is coming, when every one, in
every condition of life, shall receive according to what he has
clone in the body. It says, 'Knowing that whatsoever good thing
any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he

41
be bond or free.' We are here told, that in the day of judgment,
the inquiry will be, What have we done in this world ? how did
we live in this world? It matters not, we see, in what condition
we have been here ; it matters not whether we be bond-servants
or freemen ; it matters not whether we be among the high and
the rich, or among the low and the poor, we shall in that day
receive according as we now live. If we now live as obedient fol
lowers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we shall, through
him who loved us, inherit everlasting life. But if we are not true
believers in him, if we are disobedient to his word, we can in
herit only everlasting misery. With regard to you, the disobedient
servants amongst you, the unfaithful, the deceitful, the ungodly
servants, unless they repent and turn from the service of the devil
to the service of God, shall surely ' be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of
his power.' Whilst the obedient servants amongst you, the faith
ful, the true, the godly servants, who are living ' as the servants of
Christ,' ' doing service as to the Lord, and not to men,' shall,
if they continue steadfast unto the end, be blessed for ever."
"* We read in the Bible, that " God is no respecter of per
sons ; " that " he hath made of one blood all the nations of
men;" " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" and
that " all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to
you, do ye even so to them." Would not the slaves be led
to neglect of duty and insubordination by hearing such sen
tences ? This effect, says Mr. Jones (speaking in reference
to these sentences, " Rei. Inst." p. 197), " might result from
imperfect and injudicious rehgious instruction  But who
will say that neglect of duty and insubordination are the
legitimate effects of the gospel, purely and sincerely imparted
to servants ? " How judicious is the instruction given by
Bishop Hedding ! How purely and sincerely does Bishop
Meade thus continue imparting the gospel ! p. 116 (Brooke's
« Slavery," &c. pp. 32, 33) : —
" ' All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you,
do ye even so unto them ; ' that is, do by all mankind just as you
would desire they should do by you, if you were in their place and
they in yours.
" Now, to suit this rule to your particular circumstances, sup-
6

42
pose you were masters and mistresses, and had servants under you,
would you not desire that your servants should do their business
faithfully and honestly, as well when your back was turned as
while you were looking over them ? Would you not expect, that
they should take notice of what you said to them ? that they should
behave themselves with respect towards you and yours, and be as
careful of every thing belonging to you as you would be your
selves ? You are servants : do, therefore, as you would wish to be
done by, and you will be both good servants to your masters and
good servants to God, who requires this of you, and will reward
you well for it, if you do it for the sake of conscience, in obedience
to his commands."
From the same command of Christ, Mr. Jones instructs
the slaves that they must not steal any of their own earnings,
and must inform their masters when any of their fellow-
slaves intend to steal ! (" Catechism," pp. 114 — 116.) He
never for an instant imagines (to use the words of the Rev.
Dr. Jonathan Edwards in 1791), that " to hold any man in
slavery is to be every day guilty of robbing him of his liberty,
or of man-stealing" ("The Church as it is," p. 8). How
solemnly would Bishop Freeman declare to the slaves, that
thieves can never enter the kingdom of God, without think
ing of the law of North Carolina, which provides that no
slave shall be " permitted, on any pretence whatever, to raise
any horses, cattle, hogs, or sheep " (" Rev. Stat." chap. Ill,
§ 25) , without the same being liable to be seized and sold,
and the proceeds distributed, one half towards the support of
the poor of the county, and the other half to the informer !
(Ib. chap. 89, § 24.) \
A friend once said that she was always grieved at receiv
ing any expression of gratitude. She was grieved to think
that the mere performance of duty was so uncommon as to
cal] forth gratitude. In a somewhat similar manner, we feel
more distinctly than ever how great is the degradation of the
slaves, when such arguments as these can be addressed to
them by intelligent men, with the expectation of producing
conviction! How degraded must that slave be who does
not feel or who cannot expose these wicked perversions of a

43
beautiful command, and who cannot ask, in indignant tones,
of these truly reverend fathers in God, " If you were the
slave, would you consider yourself bound to work for your
master faithfully ? " Verily, " We owners and ministers "
are " the almoners of Divine mercy " to the suffering
slave !
Mr. Glennie declares, that God requires, them patiently to
submit to all .the wrongs of slavery, as being afflictions sent
by him for the good of tfceir souls ! —
Page 145 : "Is it strange that any person who is loved by our
Lord should endure sickness or pain or sorrow of any kind ? No :
this is what the whole Bible teaches. We read in one place,
' Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth.' And in another place, ' As many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten.' The Bible also tells us the reason of this,
which is, that the children of God may be taught to repent more
of their sins, and to be more submissive and obedient to God; . . .
that they may think less about this world, and may be more
diligent in getting ready for heaven. For these good reasons,
God chastises his people ; and whenever you become sick, or are
visited with sorrows, you should try and look up to God as chas
tising you for your sins, and should pray much to him for his
Spirit, that you may be patient like our Saviour, when he suffered
for our sins, that you may improve by his chastening, and grow
more like him in holiness."— Pp. 128, 129: "Whenever, there
fore, the sorrows of this life are pressing you sore, think of this
saying of our Saviour, ' Every branch which beareth fruit, he
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.' If you are indeed
followers of. Jesus, it will at such times comfort you to think that
a Father's hand is upon you, chastising you, — in love chastising
you to make you partakers of his holiness."
Mr. Glennie also frequently represents Christ as having
appeared on earth as a servant, in order still more to recon
cile his hearers to their lot (pp. 2, 3, 89). Nay, so anxious
does he seem to be to induce his hearers to believe that
Christ really endured the wrongs of a slave, that he some
times goes beyond the Bible record. Thus, in describing
Christ's sufferings before Pilate, he says (p. 9), " They spit
in his face, and beat him with their hands ; they scourged

44
him, making long furrows in his back with the ivhip 
How grievous were the sufferings of our dear Lord ! "
But he is not content with telling them they must patiently
endure their wrongs : he also declares to them, that, unless
they love those who wrong them, they are " going along the
broad road that leads to hell" ! He says (pp. 115, 116) : —
" That we may all understand how the case stands with us,
whether we are in the broad road leading to destruction, or in the
narrow road leading to heaven, let us see what our Lord says about
his sheep, and the mark by which they are known." — Page 117 :
" Our Lord says, ' By this shall all men know that ye are my disci
ples, if ye have love one to another.' Do ye hear his voice in this ?
Are you trying to love your neighbor as yourselves ? Are you try
ing to do to others as you would have them do to you ? Do you,
for Jesus Christ's sake, love your enemies ? Do you bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you and persecute you ? In this way, again, you
may try yourselves, and see whether you are the sheep of Jesus
Christ." — Page 93 : " If, in the great day, you would be placed
on the right hand, you must, from love to Jesus, be kind to one
another, and be ready to help any one as much as you can 
In your daily work, you should try and keep the Lord before
you, and do it as to him, and not to man  When any one
offends you, you should, from love to Jesus, forgive him and pray
for him."
Bishop Meade is equally explicit, pp. 131, 132 (Brooke's
" Slavery," etc. pp. 33, 34). Senator Dickinson regrets that
he was not born in a Slave State, so congenial is slavery to
his soul ! But the bishop, if he believes in his own argu
ment, must be sorrowful that he is not himself a slave, so
easy does he say is the slave's road to heaven ! —
" Take care tha.t you do not fret or murmur, grumble or
repine at your condition ; for this will not only make your life
uneasy, but will greatly offend Almighty God. Consider that it is
not yourselves, it is not the people that you belong to, it is not the
men that have brought you to it, but it is the will of God, who
hath, by his providence made you servants, because, no doubt, he
knew that condition would be best for you in this world, and help
you the better towards heaven, if you would but do your duty in it.

45
So that any discontent at your not being free or rich or great, as
you see some others, is quarrelling with your heavenly Master, and
finding fault with God himself, who hath made you what you are,
and hath promised you as large a share in the kingdom of heaven
as the greatest man alive, if you will but behave yourself aright, and
do the business he hath set you about in this world honestly and
cheerfully. Riches and power have proved the ruin of many an
unhappy soul, by drawing away the heart and affections from God,
and fixing them on mean and sinful enjoyments; so that, when
God, who knows our hearts better than we know them ourselves,
sees that they would be hurtful to us, and therefore keeps them
from us, it is the greatest mercy and kindness he could show us.
" You may perhaps fancy, that, if you had riches and freedom,
you could do your duty to God and man with greater pleasure than
you can now. But, pray, consider that, if you can but save your souls
through the mercy of God, you will have spent your time to the best
of purposes in this world ; and he that at last can get to heaven
has performed a noble journey, let the road be ever so rugged and
difficult. Besides, you really have a great advantage over most
white people, who have not only the care of their daily labor upon
their hands, but the care of looking forward and providing neces
saries for. to-morrow and next day, and of clothing and bringing
up their* children, and of getting food and raiment for as many of
you as belong to their families, which often puts them to great
difficulties, and distracts their minds so as to break their rest, and
take off their thoughts from the affairs of another world. Whereas
you are quite eased from all these cares, and have nothing but your
daily labor to look after, and, when that is done, take your needful
rest. Neither is it necessary for you to think of laying up any
thing against old age, as white people are obliged to do ; for the
laws of the country have provided, that you shall not be turned off
when you are past labor, but shall be maintained, while you live,
by those you belong to, whether you are able to work or not.*
* "What a beautiful commentary on this teaching is afforded us by Doug
lass ! (" Narrative," p. 4:7.) Speaking of his grandmother, he says, — " She
had served my old master faithfully from youth to old age. She had been
the source of all his wealth ; she had peopled his plantation with slaves ;
she had become a great-grandmother in his service. She had rocked him in
infancy, attended him in childhood, served him through life, and at his
death wiped from his icy brow the cold death-sweat, and closed his eyes for
ever. She was, nevertheless, left a slave, — a slave for life, — a slave in the
hands of strangers. And in their hands she saw her children, her grand-

46
And these are great and real advantages, for which, if you con
sider things rightly, you cannot but thank Almighty God, who hath
so wisely provided for your well-being here and your eternal hap
piness hereafter."
God has made some men slaves, in order the better to help
them towards heaven ! How admirably has the plan of the
All-wise succeeded ! The slaves are a nation of heathen in
our very midst, daily and hourly (if we may believe their re
ligious teachers) descending to everlasting perdition. From
our very souls we are sick of the expression, " the providence
of God," as thus cantingly used ! Wherever a great wrong
is committed by man, there the wrong is made part of God's
mysterious providence ! Are the poor oppressed, — it is a
part of God's providence ! Are bloody wars carried on for
man's selfish ends, — they are part of God's providence !
Nothing is too wicked, nothing too infamously mean, for that
Being to do whose essence is love, whose law is just. We
denounce the African slave-trader as a fiend, and, with ap
propriate religious ceremonies, hang him by the neck until
he is dead, so deep is our detestation of a pirate ; and yet,
at the same time, we thank God, that, in his infinite wisdom,
he has devised and executed the plan of negro-slavery, as the
true way of Christianizing and elevating Africa ! The slave
owner is said to have it in his power to shut up the kingdom
of heaven against his slaves, and the power is said to have
been exercised ; and Mr. Jones seems to think that the race,
children, and her great-grandchildren, divided, like so many sheep, without
being gratified with the small privilege of a single word as to their or her \
own destiny. And, to cap the climax of their base ingratitude and fiendish
barbarity, my grandmother, who was now very old, having outlived my old
master and all his children, having seen the beginning and end of all of
them, and her present owners finding she was of but little value, her frame
already racked with the pains of old age, and complete helplessness fast
stealing over her once-active limbs, they took her to the woods, built her a
little hut, put up a little mud chimney, and then made her welcome to the
privilege of supporting herself there in perfect loneliness ; thus virtually
turning her out to die " ! Who that has read Douglass's account of his
grandmother, of which this is a small extract, has not been moved both to
pity for the slave, and loathing for slavery ? Who has not asked with him,
" Will not a righteous God visit for these things " ?

47
taken as a whole, are thus shut out. And yet the slaves are
called upon by right reverend bishops to fall on their knees,
and devoutly thank God that he has made them slaves, in
order the better to help them towards heaven ! Truly
wonderful is it, that (" Rei. Inst." p. 153) " they are living
in manifold and gross sins ; their iniquities are aggravated
and great before the Lord, and not the least of them is their
neglect and contempt of the spiritual mercies and privileges
ivilhin their reach " !
-We conclude our extracts from Bishop Meade's book with
the following (Brooke's " Slavery," pp. 34, 35) : —
" There is only one circumstance which may appear grievous,
that I shall now take notice of, and that is correction.
" Now, when correction is given you, you either deserve it, or
you do not deserve it. But whether you really deserve it or not,
it is your duty, and Almighty God requires that you bear it pa
tiently. You may perhaps think that this is hard doctrine ; but,
if you consider it right, you must needs think otherwise of it. Sup
pose, then, that you deserve correction, you cannot but say that it
is just and right you should meet with it. Suppose you do not,
or at least you do not deserve so much, or so severe a correction,
for the fault you have committed, you perhaps have escaped a great
many more, and are at last paid for all. Or suppose you are quite
innocent of what is laid to your charge, and suffer wrongfully in
that particular thing, is it not possible you may have done some
other bad thing which was never discovered, and that Almighty
God who saw you doing it would not let you escape without pun
ishment one time or another ? And ought you not, in such a case,
to give glory to him, and be thankful that he would rather punish
you in this life for your wickedness than destroy your souls for it
in the next life ? But, suppose even this was not the case (a case
hardly to be imagined), and that you have by no means, known or
unknown, deserved the correction you suffered, there is this great
fiomfort in it, that, if you bear it patiently, and leave your cause in
the hands of God, he will reward you for it in heaven, and the
punishment you suffer unjustly here shall turn to your exceeding
great glory hereafter."
Douglass's aunt Hester disobeyed God's commands, when
she paid no heed to the orders of Capt. Anthony, — God's

48
overseer. Accordingly, says Douglass (" Narrative," p. 7),
who was an eye-witness of the transaction, the latter " took
her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to waist,
leaving her neck, shoulders, and back entirely naked. After
crossing her hands, he tied them with a strong rope, and led
her to a stool under a large hook in the joist, put in for the
purpose. He made her get upon the stool, and tied her hands
to the hook. She now stood fair for his infernal purpose.
Her arms were stretched up at their full length, so that she
stood upon the ends of her toes. He then said to her, —
' Now, you d  d b  h ! I'll learn you how to disobey
my orders ! ' And, after rolling up his sleeves, he com
menced to lay on the heavy cowskin ; and soon the warm,
red blood (amid heart-ending shrieks from her, and horrid
oaths from him) came dripping to the floor." * Poor, ignor
ant, degraded aunt Hester ! She little thought that God had
ordered her not to visit her companion ; and that, instead of
shrieking, she ought rather to be giving glory to Him who
was punishing her in this world, in order to save her soul in
the next !
Bishop Ives thus instructs the slave-children under his
charge f (" Catechism ") : —
Page 27 : " Q. You said that at your baptism you were made
inheritors of the kingdom of heaven ; but will you get eternal
life in heaven, if you do not strive to go there ? — A. No ; but I
shall be sent down to hell.
Q. How are you to strive or try to go to heaven ? — A. I must
have nothing to do with the devil and his works ; which I gave up
at my baptism. \
* A slave may die in consequence of " moderate correction," as that term
is understood in some of the Slave States.
The Constitution of Georgia, Art. i, sec. 12, reads thus (Hotchkiss's
•'Codification," p. 71, 1845): — "Any person who shall maliciously dis
member or deprive a slave of life shall suffer such punishment as would be
inflicted in case the like offence had been committed on a free white person,
and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection of such slave, and unless
such death should happen by accident in giving such slave moderate cor
rection." t Our friend Francis Jackson procured us this book.

49
Q. Iri what way are you to shun the devil and his works ? —
A. By keeping within me no bad thoughts ; by speaking no bad
words ; and by doing no bad things.
Q. What do you mean by keeping within you no bad thoughts ?
A. I mean that I must not hate anybody, nor wish to hurt any
body, nor wish to do any wrong.
Page 30 : Q. What do you mean by doing no bad things, such
things as the devil tempts you to do ? — A. I mean that I must not
hurt anybody; must not disobey my parents, nor disobey my
master, nor disobey God.
Q. But can you iiot disobey your parents and your master
withotlt their knowing it ? — 'A. Yes ; but God knows it ; fof God
always sees me';
Q. What else must you do to get to heaven ? — • A; I must be
lieve all that God has told me about the way to- get there.
• Pp. 35, 36 : Q. How are you to show that you love your neigh
bor as yourself? — A. I am to show it by always doing my duty
to my neighbor, as God has commanded me.
Q. Who is your neighbor ? — A. Everybody who lives with
me and around rile,- arid has the control over me.
OJ. Can you name some persons? — A. My playfellows, my
master and mistress, arid my parents. .
Q. How1 are you; to show your love to your master and mistress
and your parents ? — A. I am never' to lie to them, to steal from
them, nor speak bad words abc-ui them, but always to do as they
bid me.
Page 47! Q< How' do others sin against you ? -^ A. By cursing
me, felling lies about me, or striking" mfc
Q. What must you do to those' who thus siri against you ? —
A. I riiust forgive1 them.-
Q. What if you do riot forgive them' ? — A. Then God will not
forgive rrie'.- ¦ \
Q-.- Why ? — ' A.- Because I pray to him to forgive me, just as I
forgive others.
Page 48 : Q: How itS yori to forgive othersy when they trespass
against yoii? — A. I ara not to hurt them,- becanse they hurt me;
but I must pray for them, and try to do them good.
Q. What rf you1 dd to thefrt jiisit as they do to you ? — A. Then
God will not forgive my sins, but will punish me.-
Page 43 : Q.. What do yoii pray for; when yovr say in the Lord's
prayer, fThy will be' done"'? --A. I pray that my will arid every
body's will may submit to God's will.
7

50
Q. Where does God make his will known to us? — A. In his
word and in his acts.
Page 44 : Q. What are God's acts by which he makes his will
known to us? — A. Every thing that happens to us is God's act.
Q. How are you to submit to God's will as made known in his
acts? — A. When God sends trouble or sickness or death, I am
to feel that God does right."
Mr. Jones thus catechizes the slaves (" Catechism," pp.
129—131) : —
¦ " Q. What command has God given to servants concerning obe
dience to their masters? — A. ' Servants, obey in all things your
masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers,
but in singleness of heart, fearing God.'
Q. What does God mean by masters according to the flesh ? —
A. Masters in this world.
Q. WTiat are servants to count their masters worthy of? —
A. « All honor.'
' Q. How are they to do the service of their masters ? — A. ' With
good will, doing service as unto the Lord, and not unto men.'
Q. How are they to try to please their masters ? — A. ' Please
them well in all things, not answering again.'
Q. Is a servant who is an eye-servant to his earthly master an
eye-servant to his heavenly Master ? — A. Yes.
Q. Is it right in a servant, when commanded to do any thing, to
be sullen and slow, and answer his master again? — A. No.
Q. If the servant professes to be a Christian, ought he not
to be as a Christian servant, an example to all other servants of
love and obedience to his master? — A. Yes.
Q. And, should his master be a Christian also, ought he not on
that account specially to love and obey him? — A. Yes.
Q. But suppose the master is hard to please, and threatens and .
punishes more than he ought, what is the servant to do ? — A. Do
his best to please him.
Q. When the servant suffers wrongfully at the hands of his
master, and, to please God, takes it patiently, will God reward him
for it ? — A. Yes.
Q. Is it right for the servant to run away, or is it right to harbor
a runaway ? — A. No.
• Q. What did the Apostle Paul to Onesimus, who was a run
away ? Did he harbor him, or send him back to his master ? —
A. He sent him back to his master with a letter.

51
Q. Is it any praise to a servant to be punished for his faults, or
ought he to think hard of it ? — A. No. •
Q. Are servants at liberty to tell lies, and deceive their mas
ters? — A. No.
Q. Are they at liberty to steal from their masters? — A. No.
Q. What ought they to show in their whole character and con
duct ? — A. « All good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of
God our Saviour in all things.'
Q. If servants will faithfully do their duty and serve God in
their stations as servants, will they be respected of men, and blessed
and honored of God as well as others? — A. Yes.
Q. Will servants have to account to God for the manner in
which they serve their masters on earth? — A. Yes."
Mr. Jones thus expounds the tenth commandment (" Cate
chism," pp. 118— 120) : — "'
"Q. How does God require me to love my neighbor? — A. As
myself. . •
Q. Ought I not therefore to be glad when I see him have and
enjoy every good thing? — A. Yes. "
Q. But suppose I am not glad, and desire the very things he
has, and begrudge his having them, what do I ? — A. I covet.
Q. Is it not my duty to be contented with such things as I have,
without coveting what my neighbor has ? — A. Yes.
Q. What did the Apostle Paul say he had learned? — A. 'I
have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.'
Q. Repeat, ' Godliness with contentment.' — A. ' Godliness with
contentment is great gain ; for we brought nothing into this world,
and it is certain we can carry nothing out ; and, having food and
raiment, let us be therewith content.'
Q. From whom 'cometh down every good gift and every perfect
gift? — A. From God. .; ...->
Q. Who is exalted as head above all, and giveth riches and
honor and greatness and strength, and also casteth down and mak
eth poor whom he pleaseth ? — A. God. .'-.-...
Q. If I work and am industrious, and walk uprightly with God,
will he suffer me to want any good thing ? — A. No.

Q. Does this commandment forbid the very thought itself ol evil
against our neighbor ? — A. Yes.

52
We are to be contented with our own condition and circum
stances, as appointed unto ns by our infinitely wise and gracious
Father in heaven."
Tlius discourseth that eminent son of Massachusetts, the
Rev. Theodore Clapp, after seventeen years' experience of
the blessedness of slavery (Sermon, p. 66) : -^r
" Let all Christian teachers show our servants the importance
qf being submissive, obedient, industrious, honest, and faithful tp
the interests of their masters. Let their minds be filled with sweet
anticipations of rest eternal beyond the grave. Let them be trained
to direct their views tp that fascinating and glorious futurity, where
the sins, sorrows, and troubles of earth will be contemplated under
the aspect of means indispensable to pur everlasting progress in
knowledge, virtue, and happiness. I would say to every slave in
the United States, You should realize that a wise, kind, and merci
ful Providence has appointed for you your condition in life ; and,
all things considered, you could not be more eligibly situated. The
burden of your care, toils, and responsibilities is much lighter
than that which God has imposed on your master. The most
enlightened philanthropists, with unlimited resources, could not
place you in a situation more favorable to your present and ever
lasting welfare fhan that which you now occupy. Ypu have your
troubles. So have all. Remember how evanescent are the pleasures
and joys of human life."
Judicious religious instruction, therefore, makes the slaves
faithful, diligent, and honest, and very materially promotes
discipline ; and it produces these results much more perfectly
than any other motive which can be used. The cowskin
and the paddle are doubtless serviceable ; but that South
Carolina planter told the truth who said to Dr. Brisbane
(Brooke's <* Slavery," p. 35), that religion was worth more
to him with his slaves than four wagon-loads of cowskins !
A judiciously awakened conscience, an earnest wish on the
part of the slave to do what he believes to be the will of Gpd,
in order to escape never-ending torments in hell, constitute
a much more forpible and constant incitement and restraint
than that of fear. When we reflect that <( ignorance and
superstition render them easy dupes to their teachers,"

53
a,nd that the more ignorant and superstitious they are, the
more easily they may be, duped, it is evident that this reli
gious restraint is easily created, and daily increases in
strength- How infinitely more powerful, then, is such a
motive than the fear of bodily suffering ! It is equally easy
and vastly more efficacious tp ply judicious rehgious instruc
tion than to ply the cpwskin or the paddle !
It is evident also, that the religious instruction of slaves
increases their market-value, and greatly promotes the safety
of the commiinity, t? Experience teaches us," says the Right
Rev. D?- Gibson, " the great value pf those servants who are
truly religious, compared with those who have np sense of
religion " (" Rei. Inst." p. 22). No persons feel this more
sensibly ffian the slaveholders. ^ Even men of the world,"
sayg the Presbytery of Georgia, *' thrpw wide the door of
apcess to ffieir negrpes." The fourth of a series of resolu
tions reported to the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia
in 1833 reads, " We deem religious instruction to master
and servant every way conducive to our interests for this
world and for that which is to come " (ib. p. 74). With the
proceedings of a convention held in Charleston, S.C. in 1845,
to consider the subject of tbe religious instruction pf slaves,
were published letters from several persons, describing the
effect actually produced by such instruction. One person
writes, " The deeper the piety of the slave, the more valua
ble is he in every sense of tbe word." Another says, " A
regard to self-interest should lead every planter to give his
people religious instruction." " On such large plantations,"
says Mr- Jorjes (" Eel. Inst." p. 239), " as a mere matter of
gain, a religious instructor should be employed." By reli
gious instruction (ib, p. 208), " the pecuniary interests of
masters will be advanced as a necessary consequence" — Page
2Q4 : "¦ Js it not conceded, that a truly pious servant gives
less trouble, and is more profitable, than one who is not ? Is-
there one master in a thousand who does not desire such
servants ? Is it not true, that the most pious servants exert
the happiest influence in promoting honesty and good order
on. plantations and in. conmiunities ? " — Page 210: " The

54
religious instruction of the slaves will contribute to safely.
' The thing that hath been, it is that which may be ; ' and
although, as a slaveholding country, we are so situated that,
so far as man can see, the hope of success on the part of our
laboring class, in any attempt at revolution, is forlorn ; yet
no enemy (if there be an enemy) should be despised, how
ever weak, and no danger unprovided for, however appa
rently remote  It is, then, but a prudent foresight, a
dictate of benevolence and of 'wisdom, to originate, and set
in operation, means that may act as a check upon, if not a
perfect preventive, of evil. I am a firm believer in the effi
cacy of sound religious instruction as a means to the end
desired." Ib. p. 212 : " Besides the general and special influences of
the gospel now adverted to, safety will be connected with
the very dispensation of il. . . . The presence of white instruct
ors, settled ministers, or missionaries, in their private as well
as public religious assemblies, and free intercourse with the
people and with their influential men and leaders, exert a
restraining influence upon any spirit of insubordination that
may exist, and at the same time give opportunities for its
detection. The negroes are as capable of strong personal
attachments to their religious instructors as are any other
people, and of their oivn will are inclined to make confidential
communications" !
Such is the quality of the religious instruction imparted to
slaves ; such is the way in which their famishing souls are
led away to the water of life ! To escape everlasting tor
ments in hell, a slave must submit to remain in slavery !
He must neither murmur nor repine at his lot, but rather
give thanks to God for his loving-kindness and tender mercy
in removing from his path so many temptations to sin ! He
must obey his master in all things, and do the work assigned
to him faithfully and diligently, " in singleness of heart, as
unto Christ " ! He must act honestly, and never waste any
of " the comforts and conveniences of hfe " which he pro
cures for his master. No accumulation of injuries or depri
vations can excuse him for running away ; but he is bound

55
to endure all his wrongs with cheerfulness and patience, and,
leaving his cause in the hands of God, look to Heaven alone
for his reward ! Who is there that does not feel irresistibly
impelled, with Bishop Ives, to cease " wailing over the ima
ginary suffering" of the slaves, and to unite with him in
" the heart-felt exclamation, ' How happy are the people that
are in such a case ! yea, blessed are the people who have the
Lord for their God' " ? (Bishop Ives's " Address to the Con
vention in his Diocese ; " Jay's " Letter," p. 3). Who
cannot say to the slaves, with Mr. Glennie (p. 58), " Your
advantages are indeed great : . . . oh ! make full use of your
privileges, and show that you thank God by serving him " ?
To teach untruths is a greater .wrong to a man's soul than
merely to keep him in ignorance. How much more pitifully
wicked is it, then, to teach such untruths only or mainly as
must advance the pecuniary interest of the oppressor !

56

CHAPTER VI.
INDIRECT INSTRUCTION. — NO. LEGAL MARRIAGE OF
SLAVES.

" Marriage unites all which ennobles arid beautifies Ufe." — De Wette.
il Negro marriages are neither recognized nor protected by law"."— '¦ Rev. C. C. Jorles.

BEsroES the direct instruction thus imparted to slaves, there
is an indirect instruction much more powerful and effective
in securing their degradation.
" Marriage," says De Wette, " is genuine only when
single and permanent. It is then also the first and most
important institution of human existence ; the foundation of
all civilization and culture ; the root of church and state.
It is the most intimate covenant of heart formed among man
kind ; and thousands are first made aware by it that they
have within them a nobler impulse and a nobler want than
to labor, to acquire, and to enjoy. It is the union of manly
strength with feminine gentleness ; the tempering of mascu
line rudeness by female delicacy ; and, for innumerable per
sons, the only relation in which they feel the true sentiments
of humanity. It gives scope for every human virtue, since
each of these is developed from the love and confidence
which here predominate. It unites all which ennobles and
beautifies life, — sympathy, kindness of will and deed, grati
tude, devotion, and every delicate, intimate feeling. As the
only asylum for true education, it is the first and last sanc
tuary of human culture. As husband and wife, through
each other, become conscious of complete humanity, of every

57
humane feeling and every humane virtue ; so children, at
their first awakening in the fond covenant of love between
parents, both of whom are tenderly concerned for the same
object, find an image of complete humanity, leagued in free
love. The spirit of love, which prevails between them, acts
with creative power upon the young mind, and awakens
every germ of goodness within it. This invisible, uncalcu-
lated, and incalculable influence of parental life acts more
upon the child than all the efforts of education by means of
instruction, precept, and exhortation."
How true and yet how faint a picture of the vast influence
for good of the institution of marriage! But if marriage
thus unites all which it ennobles and beautifies life ; if, as a
means of education, its influence is unealculated and incal
culable, what must be the moral degradation of that people
to whom marriage is denied ? Must not the degradation
also be unealculated and incalculable ? And yet such is the
condition of the slaves ! Not content with depriving them of
all the higher and holier enjoyments of marriage, by degrad
ing and darkening their souls, the slaveholders deny to then-
slaves even that slight alleviation to their misery whieh would
result from their marriage-relations being protected.
It is obviously true, that (Jones's " Catechism," p. 112)
" all the comfort and happiness of the marriage-state, and all
the good flowing from it, to families and the world at large,
depend upon its sacredness and purity." Without these.
there can be no marriage. No less true is it, that the insti
tution ("Rei. Inst." p. 132) " depends, ^for its perpetuity,
sacredness, and value, largely upon the protection given to
it by the law of the land." But the law gives no protection
whatever to the marriage of slaves!
" Slaves cannot marry," says the Civil Code of Louisiana
(Art. 182), " without the consent of their masters ; and their
marriages dp npt prpduce any pf the civil effects which result
frpm such cpntract."
"With the consent of their masters, slaves may marry, and
their moral power to agree to such a contract or connection as that
of marriage cannot be doubted ; but, whilst in a state of slavery,
8

58
it cannot produce any civil effect, because slaves are deprived of
all civil rights " (6 Martin's Rep. 550.)
"As the State," says a writer in the "Carolina Baptist,"
" constitutionally and legally is ignorant of the marriage of slaves,
it is equally ignorant of its dissolution. It leaves this whole matter
where it ought to be, that is, untouched, and with the owners them
selves. If there be an abuse of this power, the remedy is not with
the State, but social, religious, and ecclesiastical " (" The Church
as it is," p. 77).
" Negro marriages" says Mr. Jones (" Rei. Inst." pp.
132, 133), " are neither recognized nor protected by law. The
negroes receive no instruction on the nature, sacredness, and
perpetuity of the institution : at any rate, they are far from
being duly impressed with these things. They are not re
quired to be married in any particular form, nor by any
particular persons. Their ceremonies are performed by their
own watchmen or teachers, by some white minister, or, as it
frequently happens, not at all  There is no special dis
grace nor punishment visited upon those who criminally
violate their marriage vows,* except what may be inflicted
by owners, or, if the parties be members, by the church in
the way of suspension and excommunication." — Page 119 :
" The relation is liable to disruption in a variety of forms, for
some of ivhich there is no remedy." — Page 133: ." Families
are, and may be, divided for improper conduct on the part
of either husband or wife, or by necessity, as in cases of the
death of owners, division of estates, debt, sale, or removals ;
foi' they are subject to all the changes and vicissitudes of
property. Such divisions are, however, carefully guarded
against and prevented, as far as possible, by owners, on the

* Mr. Jones thinks (*' Rei. Inst." p. 135), that "the crime of infanticide "
among the slaves is " restrained in good measure ... by the moral degrada
tion of the people, that takes away the disgrace of bastardy." We remember
hearing from Prof. Greenleaf the account of a successful defence, on this
ground, of a female slave in this State, who was tried for committing
this offence. A female slave, it was argued, could not feel shame at the
birth of an illegitimate child, and therefore her affection as a mother would
prevent her from committing the crime. But experience has demonstrated,
that a slave-mother may be led to take her child's life from very love itself.

59
score of interest, as well as of religion and humanity. Hence,
as may well be imagined, the marriage-relation loses much
of the sacredness and perpetuity of its character. It is a
contract of convenience, profit, or pleasure, that may be
entered into and dissolved at the will of the parties, and that
without heinous sin."
What a pitiful and wicked mockery it is thu3 to expound
to slaves the seventh commandment ! (Jones's " Catechism,"
pp. 110, 111) :
" Q. Should persons be married in a public or in a private
way ? — A. In a public way.
Q. And by whom should the ceremony be performed ? — A. By
a minister or some other lawful person.
Q. Is God really present to witness the marriage? — A. Yes.
Q. How near of kin may a man marry? — A. His first cousin.
Q. After marriage, can husband and wife separate whenever
they please ? — A. No.
Q. Has any person whatever power to separate them if he
pleases? — A. No.
Q. What saith our Saviour, ' What, therefore, God hath joined ' ?
A. ' What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder.' Q. Can husband and wife ever separate ? — A. Yes.
Q. In how many ways ? — A. In two only.
Q. What is the first? — A. When either of them commits
adultery. Gj. What is the second? — A. When either of them dies.
Q. After one dies, may the other lawfully marry again ? — -
A. Yes.
Page 112 : Q. How will God punish those who break this com
mandment in the world to come? — A. In everlasting fire."
How sacred is the marriage of slaves ! They cannot even
go through the form, without the consent of their owners.
And if the owner of two bodies consents to the performance
of the ceremony " by a minister or some other lawful per
son," and God himself " is really present to witness the
marriage," the law, notwithstanding, declares the so-called
marriage to be as complete a nullity as the union of any
other kind of live-stock ! It declares that those whom God

60
hath joined may be put asunder, whenever the owner pleases ;
as if, wishing to raise money to pay his debts, he finds it
more convenient to sell the wife at auction to pledging his
bank-stock ; or if, wishing to remove, he thinks it will be
better economy to take his stock with him than sell out, per
haps at a sacrifice, and buy again an inferior article ! In
order to be able to live with his wife at all, Henry Brown
was obliged to hire her of her owner for fifty dollars a year ;
and, when her master became short of funds, he sold the
wife and three children, before Brown's very face, to a Me
thodist minister, — one of those holy men who are " called
of God " and " solemnly set apart " to preach to all men the
gospel of love ! So sacred is the marriage of slaves !
There is no such thing as a sacred marriage among slaves.
Marriage, with them, at its best estate, is but concubinage.
The relation must be entered into when and as the owner
orders ! It is changed whenever, in his good pleasure, he
wills that it shall change ! It ends when he wills that it shall
end ! Wherein is the union among the human stock, on the
Southern plantations, regarded as more sacred and lasting
than the union among the brute stock ? In both cases, the
law considers the union as a merely animal relation, for an
animal purpose, — the increase, perhaps the improvement, of
the breed ! So sacred is the marriage of slaves !
The following advertisements, and hundreds of similar
ones might be cited, throw hght on the subject; —
From the " Richmond Enquirer," Feb. 20, 1833 :
" Stop the Runaway ! ! ! — §25 Reward. Ran away from the
Eagle Tavern, a negro fellow, named Nat. He is no doubt at
tempting to follow his wife, who was lately sold to a speculator,
named Redmond. The above reward will be paid by Mrs. Lucy
M. Downman, of Sussex county, Va."
From the " Richmond (Va.) Compiler," Sept. 8, 1837 :
" Ran away from the Subscriber — Ben. He ran off with
out any known cause, and I suppose he is aiming to go to Ms
wife, vjho was carried from the neighborhood last winter.
John Hunt."

61
From the " Lexington (Ky.) Intelligencer," July 7, 1838 :
"$160 Reward. — Ran away from the subscribers, living in
this city, on Saturday, 16th inst. a negro man, named Dick, about
37 years of age. It is highly probable said boy will make for
New Orleans, as he has a wife living in that city, and he has been
heard to say frequently that he icas determined to go to New
Orleans. Drake & Thompson.
"Lexington, June 17, 1838."
"650 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber, his negro
man, Pauladore, commonly called Paul. I understand Gen. R.
Y. Hayne has purchased his wife and children from H. L. Pinck-
ney, Esq. and has them now on his plantation at Goosecreek,
where, no doubt, the fellow is frequently lurking. T. Davis."
The wife has been sold to the speculator in human flesh !
The sacred relation has been for ever sundered by God's
overseer ! The husband has been orally taught to say, —
" Thou shalt not commit adultery," and to consider such to
be a divine command. But he is strong and healthy, and
his master orders him to live with another woman. What
is he to do ? If he obeys, he commits adultery, and disobeys
God's commands. Truly a difficult matter to settle !
What ardent prayers will the church send up to heaven,
that their brother may have strength given to him to enable
him to save his soul alive ! What earnest entreaties ! How
solemnly will the church remonstrate with its member against
the commission of so great a sin ! And, when prayers, en
treaties, remonstrances, have all been tried and have failed,
how sternly will the church proceed to the last extremity, —
excommunication ! ' If the man who marries his deceased
wife's sister must be cut off from " membership in the Sa
viour's body " as impure,* how much more must that man
be cut off who is faithless during his wife's lifetime ?
How admirably does the Savannah River Baptist Associa
tion harmonize the worship of God and mammon, and recon-

* a -

¦ ' The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church recently expelled.
a minister from both the ministry and the church, for marrying a sister of
his deceased wife." — The Church as it is, p. 76.

62
cile obedience to the commands of the master with obedience
to God ! This Association, in reply to the question (Brooke's
" Slavery," p. 38), —
" Whether, in a case of involuntary separation, of such a charac
ter as to preclude all prospect of future intercourse, the parties
ought to be allowed to marry again,"
Answer —
" That such separation among persons situated as our slaves
are, is civilly a separation by death ; and they believe, that, in the
sight of God, it would be so viewed. To forbid second marriages
in such cases would be to expose the parties, not only to stronger
hardships and strong temptation, but to church-censure for acting
in obedience to their masters, who cannot be expected to acquiesce
in a regulation at variance with justice to the slaves, and to the
spirit of that command which regulates marriage among Chris
tians. The slaves are not free agents ; and a dissolution by death
is not more entirely without their consent, and beyond their con
trol, than by such separation."
A similar decision was made by the Shiloh Baptist Asso
ciation in Virginia. This question was presented for solu
tion (" The Church as it is," pp. 76, 77), —
" Is a servant, whose husband or wife has been sold by his
or her master into a distant country, to be permitted to marry
again?" The query was referred to a committee, who made the
following report ; which, after discussion, was adopted : —
"That, in view of the circumstances in which servants in this
country are placed, the committee are unanimous in the opinion,
that it is better to permit servants thus circumstanced to take
another husband or wife."
Convenient truth ! A different rule would lessen the pro
ductiveness of the master's stock ! Can any man who owns
the body of his sister be expected to acquiesce in a regulation
which would deprive his property of half its value !
But, suppose the master wishes to sell the female slave for
purposes of licentiousness, or suppose the master is himself
impure, is this agreeable to the order of Divine Providence ?

63
Does any one say that either law or public opinion protects
the female slave from the brutality of her master ? The
great frequency of outrages of this kind is demonstrated by
the tens of thousands of slaves, more or less white, who are
found at the South. It was a Southerner who said, that the
best blood of Virginia flowed in the veins of her slaves !
From the " Richmond (Va.) Whig : "
" 8100 Reward will be given for the apprehension of my ne
gro (?) Edmund Kenney. He has straight hair, and complexion so
nearly white, that it is believed a stranger would suppose there was
no African blood in him. He was with my boy Dick a short
time since in Norfolk, and offered Mm for sale, and was appre
hended, but escaped under pretence of being a white man !
" January 6, 1836. Anderson Bowxes."
From the " Republican Banner and Nashville Whig " of
July 14, 1849 :
" 8200 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber, on the 23d
of June last, a bright mulatto woman, named Julia, about 25 years
of age. She is of common size, nearly white, and very likely.
She is a good seamstress, and can read a little. She may attempt
to pass for white, — dresses fine. She took with her Anna, her
child, 8 or 9 years old, and considerably darker than her mother.
.... She once belonged to a Mr. Helm, of Columbia, Tennessee.
" I will give a reward of §50 for said negro and child, if delivered
to me or confined in any jail in this State, so I can get them ; $100,
if caught in any other Slave State, and confined in a jail so that I
can get them ; and $200, if caught in any Free State, and put in
any good jail in Kentucky or Tennessee, so I can get them.
" Nashville, July 9, 1849. A. W. Johnson."
The following three advertisements are taken from Ala
bama papers :
" Ran away trom the Subscriber, working on the planta
tion of Col. H. Tinker, a bright mulatto boy, named Alfred. Alfred
is about 18 years old, pretty well grown, has blue eyes, light flaxen
hair, skin disposed to freckle. He will try to pass as free-born.
" Green County, Ala. S. G. Stewart."

64
"§100 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber, a bright
mulatto man-slave, named Sam. Light sandy hair, blue eyes,
ruddy complexion, — is so white as very easily to pass for a free
while man. Edwin Peck.
"Mobile, April 22, 1837."
"Ran away, on the 15th of May, from me, a negro woman,
named Fanny. Said woman is 20 years old ; is rather tall ; can
read and write, and so forge passes for herself. Carried away with
her a pair of ear-rings, — a Bible with a red cover ; is very pious.
She prays a great deal, and was, as supposed, contented and happy.
She is as v:hite as most white women, with straight light hair, and
blue eyes, and can pass herself for a white woman. I will give
§500 for her apprehension and delivery to me. She is very intel
ligent. John Balch.
"Tuscaloosa, May 29, 1845."
From the " Newbern (N.C.) Spectator : "
" §50 Reward will be given for the apprehension and delivery
to me of the following slaves, — Samuel and Judy, his wife, with
their four children, belonging to the estate of Sacker Dubberly,
deceased. " I will give $10 for the apprehension of William Dubberly, a
.slave belonging to the estate. William is about 19 years old,
quite white, and would not readily be taken for a slave.
" March 13, 1837. John J. Lane."
The next twp advertisements we cut from the " New
Orleans Picayune " of Sept. 2, 1846 :
"$25 Reward. — Ran away from the plantation of Madame
Fergus Duplantier, on or about the 27th of June, 1846, a bright
mulatto, named Ned, very stout built, about 5 feet 11 inches high, '
speaks English and French, about 35 years old, waddles in his walk.
He may try to pass himself for a white man, as he is of a very
clear color, and has sandy hair. The above reward will be paid
to whoever will bring him to Madame Duplantier's plantation,
Manchac, or lodge him in some jail where he can be conveniently
obtained." " $200 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber, last No
vember, a white negro man, about 35 years old, height about 5 feet
8 or 10 inches, blue eyes, has a yellow woolly head, very fair skin,

65
(particularly under his clothes). . . Said negro man was raised in
Columbia, S.C. and is well known by the name of Dick Frazier. . . .
He was lately known to be working on the railroad in Alabama,
near Moore's Turn Out, and passed as a white man, by the name
of Jesse Teams. I will give the above reward for his delivery in
any jail, so that I can get him; and I will give S500 for sufficient
proof to convict, in open court, any man who carried him away.
"Barnwell Court House, S.C. J. D. Axxen.
" P.S. Said man has a good-shaped foot and leg, and his foot •
is very small and hollow."
In the " New Orleans Bee " of June 22, 1831, P. Bahi
advertises as a runaway " Maria, with a clear, white com
plexion." Ellen Craft is as white as our own sisters. Wm.
W. Brown (" Narrative," p. 34), describing a gang of slaves
who were under his charge, and destined to supply the New
Orleans market, thus speaks of one who attracted the atten
tion of the passengers and the crew : —
" It was a beautiful girl, apparently about twenty years of age,
perfectly white, -with straight, light hair, and blue eyes. But it
was not the whiteness of her skin that created such a sensation
among those who gazed upon her : it was her almost unparalleled
beauty. She had been on the boat but a short time before the
attention of all the passengers, including the ladies, had been called
to her ; and the common topic of conversation was about the beauti
ful slave-girl."
A friend, a resident for some time in New Orleans, de^
scribes to us a very beautiful slave he saw there, who had
light curling hair, blue eyes, and almost a blonde complexion.
After having been kept as a mistress by her owner, he finally
sold her to pay his debts ! No isolated case is exhibited by
Wm. W. Brown when he relates the history of poor Cynthia !
Is any sickly sentimentalist shocked at these recitals ?
Be of stout heart ! Do not Christian bishops, and hundreds
of other reverend fathers, — the messengers of God's ever
lasting truth to our souls, — assure us that slavery, "as it
exists," is right; and that, consequently, the fundamental
maxim of slavery, "the child follows the condition of the
mother," is right also ! Why, then, should not the children
9

66
of slave-women by white fathers be rightfully slaves ? Of
what consequence, then, is the pollution of the soul of the
mother, compared with the fact of her increased value as a
commodity ? How utterly insignificant is the fact that a
father holds his own children in slavery, compared with the
advantages notoriously derived from such an improvement
in the slave-stock ? In sober, literal truth, the brother owns
the body of his sister, and the sister that of her brother, — so
sacred is the marriage-state of slaves ! If the father wishes
to repair the wrong he has done, the law forbids his teaching
his own child to read or write ! If he is poor, too poor to
pay his debts, a creditor may seize his child in its very cradle,
and sell it at auctipn to pay the debt ! It .ought not to be
otherwise ! Is it not agreeable to the order of Divine Provi
dence, that a child should be sold to pay his father's debts ?
How fitting it is for Mr. Jones and Bishop Freeman to teach
such a vendible commodity to say, " Thou shalt honor thy
father and thy mother " !
Does any reader still doubt whether an owner thus has
uncontrolled authority over the body of his female slave ?
Let him read the following extract from an opinon of the
Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina, — the Old
North State, whence Bishop Ives has long since ceased to
weep over the " imaginary sufferings " of the slaves ! To
avoid a chastisement, a female slave ran off, and, on her re
fusal to stop when called, was shot at and wounded. Judge
Ruffin, in delivering the opinion of the court (State vs. Mann,
2 Dev. Rep. 263), says : —
" The inquiry here is, whether a cruel and unreasonable battery
on a slave by the hirer is indictable ? ... In criminal proceedings,
and, indeed, in reference to all other persons but the general owner,
the hirer and possessor of a slave, in relation to both rights and
duties, is, for the time being, the owner. .
" With slavery it is far otherwise. The end is the profit of the
master, his security, and the public peace. The subject is one
doomed in his own person, and in his posterity, to live without
knowledge, and without capacity to make any thing his own, and
to toil that others may reap the fruits.

67
" What moral considerations shall be addressed to such a being
to convince him what it is impossible but that the most stupid
must feel and know can never be true, that he is thus to labor
upon a principle of natural duty, or for the sake of his own personal
happiness ? Such services can only be expected from one who has
no will of his own, who surrenders his will in explicit obedience
to that of another. Such obedience is the consequence only of un
controlled authority over the body. There is nothmg else which
can operate to produce the effect. The power of the master must
be absolute to render the submission of the slave perfect. I most
freely confess my sense of the harshness of this proposition. I feel
it as deeply as any man can. And, as a principle of moral right,
every person in his retirement must repudiate it. But, in the
actual condition of things, it must be so. There is no remedy.
This discipline belongs to slavery." *
Judge Ruffin had not enjoyed the benefit of the instruction
imparted some years later by Bishops Ives and Freeman. If
he had, he would not thus have followed the dictate of a
" desperately wicked " heart, and have repudiated the dis
cipline of slavery as morally wrong ! . , :
The Rev. Robert J. Breckenridge, of the Presbyterian
Church, himself a slaveholder, was a delegate to the State
Emancipation Convention recently held in Kentucky. In a
speech made by him before the Convention, he is reported to
have said (" Louisville Examiner "), that —
" The system of slavery denies to a whole class of human'beings
the sacredness of marriage and of home, compelling them to live
in a state of concubinage ; for, in the eye of the law, no colored
slave-man is the husband of any wife in particular, nor any slave-
woman the wife of any husband in particular ; no slave-man is the
father of any children in particular, and no slave-child is the child
of any parent in particular."
Who will venture even to conceive, much less compute, the
deep degradation caused by the denial of marriage to the
slaves ?
* Colored persons are not competent witnesses on the trial of a white
man. Any white man, therefore, can, with perfect impunity, commit any
excess whatever upon any slaves, so long as they or their companions alone
are witnesses. So carefully does the law guard the honor of the female
slave ! 

68

CHAPTER VII.

" SOUL-DRIVING.'

" A negro speculator, or a soul-driver as they are generally called among slaves." — Wm.
W. Brovm's Narrative, p. 39.

If we would most effectually degrade a man, we need only
trample on the highest and holiest of all his rights, — his
right to himself; we have only to make him the subject of
barter and sale, a thing for speculators to make money on,
for jockeys to deceive about, and for buyers to depreciate.
And yet how few act as if they admitted this truth, or even
faintly realized the enormity of this wrong !
Slaves, as subjects of property, are continually spoken of
and treated as horses and cows, and other live-stock ! Tens
of thousands of advertisements might be adduced to prove
this. We have room only for a very few proofs. The Civil
Code of Louisiana provides : — ¦
"Art. 2500. The latent defects of slaves and animals are
divided into two classes, — vices of body and vices of character.
"Art. 2501. The vices of body are distinguished into absolute
and relative. ........
" Art. 2502. The absolute vices of slaves are leprosy, madness,
and epilepsy.
"Art 2503. The absolute vices of horses and mules are short
wind, glanders, and founder."
In the " National Intelligencer " of May 2, 1843, the ad
ministrators of Alexius Boarman advertise for sale " twelve
or thirteen likely young negroes, among whom are two car-

69
penters ; four head of horses, two yoke of oxen, several head
of cows, all the sheep and hogs belonging to said deceased."
The same paper of December 2, 1843, contains the follow
ing:— " Public Sale op very valuable Negroes aud Stock. —
The subscriber will offer at public sale at his residence, near Blad-
ensburg, Prince George's County, Maryland, on Wednesday, the
20th of December next, if fair, if not, the next fair day thereafter,
forty-five or fifty very valuable young negroes, consisting of men
and women, boys, girls, and children.
" At the same time and place, he will offer his entire stock of
blood horses, together with some farm, stock. • i
" The terms of sale will be a credit of nine and eighteen
months ; the purchaser giving bond with approved security, bear
ing interest from the day of sale.
"Sale to commence at 10 o'clock, a.m. Samuel Spriog.
" The Marlborough Gazette will copy till day of sale."
In the same paper of January 25, 1843, directly under an
advertisement for sale of " a girl about 18 years of age, who
is honest, industrious, and a good cook, fine washer and
ironer, and a good seamstress," we find the notice of a
" Blooded colt at auction. — A thorough bred colt, two years
old the coming spring, got by Farmer, dam by Lafayette " !
D. H. Candler, the sheriff of Montgomery County, Md. in
an advertisement now before us, states that he has seized on
execution, and will sell " for cash only " at the Court House
door in Rockville, " one stallion, Red Buck, and one negro boy,
John " / * To bring the case nearer home : — in the " New
England Weekly Journal" of August 27, 1733, printed in
Boston, we find the following advertisement : —
" Several likely Young Negroes, best Barbadoes sugars,
very good Bohea tea, bag Hollands, fine cambric muslins, and
sundry other merchandise, to be sold by Hugh Hall, Esq." f
* The original of this advertisement may be seen at the Anti-Slavery
office, Boston, 21, Cornhill, pasted on one side of a copy of the newspaper
called " Spirit of Liberty " ! How appropriate a heading !
t For this and other advertisements from Boston papers, I am indebted
to my friend "Wendell Phillips.

70
In the " Boston Gazette " of October 21, 1734 : —
" To be Sold by  , Several likely young negroes, lately
imported, — as men, women, boys. Also choice raisins of the sun,
gunpowder, Newcastle glass, in crates and boxes."
Not only are slaves thus placed on the same level with
other property, but they are treated in the same manner.
As our horse-jockeys not infrequently color their horses, or
put on false tails, for the sake of enhancing their value, so
similar arts are practised by the slave-jockeys of the South !
Wm. W. Brown thus describes a part of his duties, whilst
hired to the slave-trader Walker (" Narrative," pp. 42, 43) :
" In the course of eight or nine weeks, Mr. Walker had his cargo
of human flesh made up. There was in this lot a number of old
men and women, some of them with gray locks. We left St. Louis
in the steamboat Carlton, Captain Swan, bound for New Orleans.
On our way down, and before we reached Kodney, the place where
we made our first stop, I had to prepare the old slaves for market.
I was ordered to have the old men's whiskers shaved off, and the
gray hairs plucked out, where they were not too numerous, in which
case he had a preparation of blacking to color it, and with a black
ing-brush we would put it on. This was new business to me, and
was performed in a room where the passengers could not see us.
The.-e slaves were also taught how old they were by Mr. Walker ;
and, after going through the blacking process, they looked ten or
fifteen years younger ; and I am sure that some of those who pur
chased slaves of Mr. Walker were dreadfully cheated, especially in
the ages of the slaves which they bought." — Pp. 45, 46 : " The
next day we proceeded to New Orleans, and put the gang in the
same negro-pen which we occupied before. In a short time the
planters came flocking to the pen to purchase slaves. Before the
slaves were exhibited for sale, they were dressed and driven out
into the yard. Some were set to dancing, some to jumping, some
to singing, and some to playing cards. This was done to make
them appear cheerful and happy. My business was to see that
they were placed in those situations before the arrival of the pur
chasers, and I have often set them to dancing when their cheeks
were wet with tears."
Can such treatment result in any thing but brutalizing
every noble faculty ? If advertisements of stallipns and bpys,

71
blood-horses and men and women, blooded colts and young
slave-girls, are considered so very similar as to be placed-
in the same paragraph, or alongside each other, how great a
difference can there be in the treatment by the public of the
two kinds of stock ? Is the auction-block a scene for culti
vating the affections of a poor slave-girl ? Are the coarse
and unfeeling jests there perpetrated calculated to increase
her purity, or strengthen her moral sensibiUties ? Treat a
man as you would have him to be, is a good maxim. Re
spect him, and he will respect himself. Continually disregard
his holiest and best purposes, and in time he will do the
same. What but pecuniary profit does the speculator in horses
look to ? What other object has the speculator in men,
women, and children, in view? Whatever mammon bids
the slave-trader do, will be done. How much more than
this, or will any thing more than this, be done ? Will such
a person consider as of any consequence the broken hearts
of husbands and wives, of parents and children, who are
torn by this terrible trade from all they hold dear in life, so
long as their bodies are sound, strong, and healthy ; so long
as the investment retains its market-value ? Of what con
sequence is deep, heart-felt agony to a speculator ? Is he
whose idol is gold to be turned from his purpose merely by the
foolish wailing of a woman whose heart-strings are break
ing ? Do the cries of children made orphans, and of parents.
made childless, by his acts, move the heart of that man who
makes his living by buying parents and children, husbands and
wives, at the lowest prices, and by selling them, " singly or
in lots to suit," to whomsoever will give the highest price ?
The following is a well-known extract from an Address
(p. 12) published by the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky to
the churches under their care, in 1835 : —
" Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives,
are torn asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. These
acts are daily occurring in the midst of us. The shrieks and the
agony often witnessed on such occasions proclaim, with a trumpet-
tongue, the iniquity of our system. There is not a neighborhood

72
where these heart-rending scenes are not displayed. There is not
a village or road that does not behold the sad procession of mana
cled outcasts, whose mournful countenances tell that they are
exiled by force from all that their hearts hold dear."
In the " New Orleans Bulletin," we find the following
(" Slavery as it is," p. 168) : —
"Negroes for Sale. — A negro woman, 24 years of age, and
has two children, one eight, and the other three years. Said
negroes will be sold separately or together, as desired. The woman
is a good seamstress. She will be sold low for cash, or exchanged
for groceries. For terms apply to Mathew, Bliss, & Co.
1, Front Levee."
, A similar advertisement will be found in the " New Eng
land Weekly Journal" (Boston), April 9, 1733; printers,
S. Kneeland and T. Green : —
"A very likely Negro Woman, that has a child of about
six weeks old, to be sold, either with or without the child. Inquire
of the printers hereof."
The following was a standing advertisement, a few years
since, in the Charleston (S. C.) papers : —
" One hundred and twenty Negroes for Sale. — The
subscriber has just arrived from Petersburg, Virginia, with one
hundred and twenty likely young negroes, of both sexes and every
description, which he offers for sale on the most reasonable terms.
" The lot now on hand consists of plough-boys; several likely and
well-qualified house-servants, of both sexes ; several women with
children ; small girls, suitable for nurses ; and several small boys,.
without their mothers. Planters and traders are earnestly re
quested to give the subscriber a call previously to making pur
chases elsewhere, as he is enabled, and will sell as cheap or cheaper
than- can be sold by any other person in the trade.
" Hamburg, S.C. Sept. 28, 1838. Benjamin Davis."
This is taken from the " Jackson (Tenn.) Telegraph,"
Sept. 14, 1838 : —
"Committed to the Jail of Madison County, a negro
woman, who calls her name Fanny, and says she belongs to Wm.

73
Miller, of Mobile. She formerly belonged to John Givins, of this
county, who now owns several of her children.
David Shropshire, Jailer."
How strong was that poor mother's love ! She had toiled
all the way from Mobile to the county where her children
lived, and the laws of a Christian country consigned her to
the jail ! Perhaps, in her loneliness, she remembered some
oral instruction like this (Jones's " Catechism," pp. 125, 126) :
" Q. Should mothers and fathers very tenderly love their chil
dren ? — A. Yes.
Q. And, as they receive their children from the Lord, is it not
their duty and privilege to present them unto the Lord in his own
appointed ordinance, and to train them up for his church and ser
vice ? — A. Yes. ......
Q. What should they teach them to do every night and morn
ing ? — A. Pray to God.
Q. What book should parents early make their children ac
quainted with, and out of which diligently instruct them ? — A.
The Holy Bible.
Q. Is it the duty of parents to pray with and for their children
continually ? — A. Yes.
Q. Is it their duty to warn their children of bad company, and
keep them out of it ? — A. Yes."
Poor slave-mother ! very tenderly indeed did you love
your children. But, in your agony, you forgot that it was.
wicked to run away, — even for the sake of teaching them
to pray night and morning ! How thankful, then, ought you
to be to God, that, in his great mercy, he was willing to
punish your transgression in this world, instead of the next !
We never so deeply feel the brutalizing effects of slavery
as when we reflect upon its peculiarly degrading influences
upon woman. On some accounts, we would gladly pass over
this point in silence ; but so atrocious a wrong should rest
upon the heart of every one.
It is an established maxim of trade, that the supply even
tually equals the demand. If the trade happens to be in
men and women ; in one way or another, men and women
10

74
will be supplied to meet the demand. There is a great de
mand for slaves in the Southern and South-western States,
because slave-labor is very profitable there. " The domestic
cannot compete with the South-western demand for slaves,"
says a writer in the leading Democratic paper of Virginia
("Richmond Enquirer," Nov. 13, 1846). The slaves in
the South and West do not increase fast enough to supply
the demand. The foreign slave-trade is piracy. The only
resource, therefore, which is left to those States is a domestic
slave-trade with the Northern Slave States ; where, to meet
the demand, they resort to breeding slaves ! Woman is
degraded into a breeder !
Mr. Gholson, pf Virginia, in his speech in the legislature pf
that State, Jan. 18, 1832 (see "Richmond Whig"), says: —
" It has always (perhaps erroneously) been considered by steady
and old-fashioned people, that the owner of land had a reasonable
right to its annual profits ; the owner of orchards, to their annual
fruits ; the owner of brood mares, to their product ; and the owner
oi female slaves, to their increase. We have not the fine-spun
intelligence nor legal acumen to discover the technical distinc
tions drawn by gentlemen. The legal maxim of ' Partus sequitur
ventrem ' is coeval with ths existence of the rights of property
itself, and is founded in wisdom and justice. It is on the justice
and inviolability of this maxim that the master foregoes the service
of tbe female slave ; has her nursed and attended during the period
of her gestation, and raises the helpless and infant offspring. The
value of the property justifies the expense; and I do not hesitate
to say, that in its increase consists much of our wealth."
Hon. Thomas M. Randolph, of Virginia, formerly gover
nor of that State, in his speech before the legislature in 1832,
said : —
"It is a practice, and an increasing practice, in parts of Vir
ginia, to rear slaves for market. How can an honorable mind, a
patriot, and a lover of his country, bear to see this ancient do
minion converted into one grand menagerie, where men are to be
reared for market,, like oxen for the shambles ! "
President Dew, of William and Mary's College, speaking
of the annual exportation of slaves from Virginia, says : —

75
*' A full equivalent being thus left in the place of the slave, this
emigration becomes an advantage to the State, and does not check
the black population as much as at first view we might imagine ;
because it furnishes every inducement to the master to attend to
the negroes, to encourage breeding, and to cause the greatest num*
ber possible to be raised," &c.
" Virginia is, in fact, a negro-raising State for other States."
Henry Clay, in his speech before the Colonization Society
in 1829, says : —
"It is believed that nowhere in the farming portion of the
United States would slave-labor be generally employed, if the
proprietor were not tempted to raise slaves by the high price of
the Southern market, which keeps it up in his own."
" It is a melancholy fact," says the same writer in the
" Richmond (Va.) Enquirer," Nov. 13, 1846, " that negroes
have become the only reliable staple of the tobacco-growing
sections of Virginia, the only reliable means of liquidating
debts foreign and domestic."
The following advertisement is taken from the " Charles
ton (S.C.) Mercury " (" Slavery as it is," p. 175) : —
" Negroes for Sale. — A girl, about twenty years of age
(raised in Virginia), and her two female children, one four and the
other two years old ; is remarkable strong and healthy, never hav
ing had a day's sickness, with the exception of the small-pox, in
her life. The children are fine and healthy. She is very fvrolific
in her generating qualities, and affords a rare opportunity to any
person who wishes to raise a family of strong and healthy servants
for tlieir own use.
" Any person wishing to purchase will please leave their address
at the Mercury office."
Does any reader exclaim there must be some mistake ; it is
impossible that such a notice could be inserted in the leading
political paper of South Carolina ? Will he feel any more
convinced by reading this, taken from the " Boston Evening
Post" of September 10, 1744? —
" To be Sold, — A likely negro wench, about 25 years of age,
that can do all sorts of household work, especially cookery ; is very
hearty and strong ; has proved her faculty al propagation, and is'
very fluent in the English language. Inquire of the printer."

76
Slavery is said to have existed in a mild form in Massachu
setts ! And yet we find in our own history parallels to some
of the most brutal atrocities which can be perpetrated on any
human being. So essentially the same is the character and
effect of slavery, wherever it exists ! Does any one, and who
does not, feel deep disgust at these recitals ? Let us rather
feel disgusted at the system which leads to such atrocities !
Let not our indignation rest upon the story of the wrong,
but upon the wrong itself and its perpetrators.
Does any one say these are solitary instances of atrocity ?
Doubtless such advertisements are rare, but not unique.
Others of the same kind, and still more atrocious, might be
adduced. But which constitutes the greater atrocity, — to use
men and women as " stallions " and " brood mares," or to
speak or print the damning deed ? If the latter shows hard
ened feeling, what does the former prove ? If these adver
tisements were the only ones of the kind which could be
cited, still they tell a story of brutal putrage, which is hap
pening in this Christian land, every day, hpur, and minute,
to tens of thousands of human beings ! Other advertisements,
showing the brutality of the examinations to which women
are frequently subjected, might be cited. But for these we
must refer the reader to other anti-slavery documents ; for
enough of the disgusting details has been exhibited to estab
lish our position.
To obtain any thing like an adequate conception of the
brutalizing influence upon the slaves of this trading in their
bodies and the bodies of their children, we must first see to,
what an extent it is carried. We shall confine our attention \
chiefly to those who make a business of the matter, " to
gentlemen dealing in slaves ; " leaving almost wholly un
noticed the vast number of instances of buying and sellino-
slaves between private individuals, chaffering between neigh
bors, for their private ends ! Not that this latter kind of
slave-trade is any less degrading in its effects, but only be
cause proofs in relation to the other are more accessible, and
are amply sufficient, for our purpose.

77

CHAPTER VIII.

"DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE.'

" The traffic in slaves is irreconcilable with the principles of justice and humanity." —
Treaty of Ghent.

No description of ours can give any adequate idea of the
extent of this terrible trade. It is as regular a branch of
business as any other that can be named. The city of
Washington licenses persons to " traffic in slaves for profit " !
The trade is carried on between Maryland, Virginia, North
and South Carolina, Kentucky, — or the slave-raising States,
— and Alabama, Mississippi, and the other slave-consuming
States. Depots, or private jails, are erected at convenient
places. In the "American Beacon" (published at Norfolk, Va.),
Jan. 24, 1S48, appear the two following advertisements : —
"Negro Repository. — The undersigned has, at a very con
siderable expense, erected, and fitted up in a style of comfort and
convenience, a commodious two-story building on Union-street,
second door east of Church-street, for the safe keeping and accom
modation of negroes, both male and female' (the apartments being
entirely separate), which are brought to this market for sale. This
building is admirably adapted to the object proposed, having airy
and pleasant rooms, and every convenience which could be de
sired, besides large yards, walled in high, a capacious cistern, &c.
which, whilst they secure the comfort of the negro, likewise guar
antee the most ample security for his safe keeping.
" In addition to boarding negroes for sale, the undersigned
proposes keeping on hand from time to time, for sale, such negroes

7S
as may be in demand in this market, embracing every description
of house and field-hands, male and female, young and old, that
may be called for, and upon terms entirely accommodating,
" Besides the boarding and the selling of negroes, he will also
make exchanges, giving or receiving such boot as the difference in
age, character, qualifications, and appearance may notify.
" The highest cash market prices paid for negroes of both sexes
at all times. Wm. W. Hall."
" Cash for Negroes. — I will pay the highest cash for likely
young negroes of both sexes, from 10 to 30 years of age. All
those that have such to dispose of would do well to give me a
call before selling. I will also attend to shipping of negroes to
any of the Southern ports, free of charge, when left with me ; as I
have a private jail for the safe keeping of servants. For further
information, inquire at my office at Union Hotel, Union-street, or
through the post-office. G. W. Apperson."
The following is taken from a New Orleans paper : —
" Slave Depot. — J. Buddy. — Slave-yard and boarding-
house, 159, Gravier-street, second door from Carondelet.
" House-servants and field-hands for sale at all times. Slaves
will be received on board or sold on favorable terms. The build
ing is a large three-story brick house, and very commodious as a
slave depot. Particular attention will be paid to the health and
cleanliness of all slaves placed in this yard."
From the " Missouri Republican," St. Louis, July 13,
1849: —
" Removal. — Blakey & McAfee have removed to No. 93, Olive-
street, six doors west of their old stand. They are prepared at all
times to pay the highest prices for negroes. Tliey have also a good\
secure yard, with a strong jail attached, and are prepared to board
negroes sent to this market for sale. Persons having negroes for
sale will please call and see us. Those wishing to purchase can
find what they want at our yard. Blakey & McAfee,
I?6. 93, Olive-street."
Hon. Horace Mann has described to us the slave-pen in
the city of Washington ; and another member of Congress
informs us, that the United States jail in the District of Co
lumbia is frequently used for the purpose of storing human

79
beings for sale ! Thus, in the " National Intelligencer "
(Dec. 19, 1844), we find the folio wing notice : —
"For Sale, — A likely young negro, in the jail of Washing
ton. He is a most excellent teamster, and well acquainted with
the care of horses. Persons wishing to purchase will apply to
Mr. Ball, at the jail, where the boy may be seen, and further in
formation given."
The activity of this "trade may be inferred from these ad
vertisements, which constitute but a small portion of what
might be produced.
In the " National Intelligencer," March 28, 1836, three
slave-traders in the District of Columbia advertise for twelve
hundred negroes, and a fourth offers to buy any number !
Here is one of the advertisements : —
" Cash for Five Hundred Negroes, including both sexes,
from ten to twenty-five years of age. — Persons having likely ser
vants to dispose of will find it their interest to give us a call, as
we will give higher prices in cash than any other purchaser who is
now or may hereafter come into the market.
Franklin & Amfield, Alexandria."
In a later number of the same paper are the following : —
" Cash for Negroes. — I will give cash and liberal prices for
any number of young and likely negroes, from eight to forty years
of age. Persons having negroes to dispose of will find it to their
advantage to give me a call at my residence, on the corner of
Seventh-street and Maryland Avenue, and opposite Mr. Williams's
private jail. William H. Richards."
" Cash tor Negroes. — The subscriber wishes to purchase a
number of negroes for the Louisiana and Mississippi market.
Himself or an agent at all times can he found at his jail, on
Seventh-street. Wm. H. Williams."
In a later number, June 24, 1843, Mr. Richards is not so

"Cash for Negroes. — The subscriber wishes to purchase
twenty or thirty negroes, and will pay the highest market price.
Persons having negroes to sell will find it to their interest to give
him a call before they sell. I can be always found at my residence,

80
corner of Seventh-street and Maryland Avenue. All communica
tions through the post-office will be promptly attended to.
Wm. H. Richards."
In a still later number, July 22, 1843, appears this : —
" Cash ! Cash ! — The subscriber wishes to purchase any num
ber of negroes for the Southern markets. The subscriber will at
all times give the highest market price in cash for likely negroes,
mechanics and house servants included. Himself or agent can at
all times be seen at the corner of Seventh-street and Maryland
Avenue. All communications will receive prompt attention.
Thomas Williams."
The following are samples of some pf the advertisements
of Maryland traders. The original of all of these advertise
ments will be found at the Anti-Slavery office, Boston. We
begin with one of Hope H. Slatter : —
" Negroes Wanted. — Having returned from New Orleans, I
will now pay the highest cash prices for all likely negroes that
are slaves for life and good titles. All communications will be
promptly attended to. Hope H. Slatter, Pratt-street.
"N.B. On the 7th day of June, 1844, Jonathan M. Wilson
(my former agent), by mutual consent, withdrew from my employ
ment, and is no longer my agent. Hope H. Slatter.
"Baltimore, July 29."
" Cash for Five Hundred Negroes, at the old establish
ment of Slatter's, No. 244, Pratt-street, Baltimore, between Sharp
and Howard-streets, where the highest prices are paid, — which is
well known. We have large accommodations for negroes, and
always buying. Being regular shippers to New Orleans, persons
should bring their property where no commissions are paid, as the .
owners lose it. All communications attended to promptly by ad
dressing H. F. Slatter."
" Negroes Wanted. — I have removed from my former resi
dence, West Pratt-street, to my new establishment on Camden-
street, immediately in the rear of the railroad depot, where I am
permanently located. Persons bringing negroes by the cars will
find it very convenient, as it is only a few yards from where the
passengers get out. Those having negroes for sale will find it to
their advantage to call and see me, as I am at all times paying the
highest prices in cash. J. S. Donovan, Baltimore, Md."

81
" Negroes Wanted. — O. C. & S. Y. Harris, of Upper Marl
boro', wish to purchase any number of negroes, for which they will
give the highest market price in cash. They will be in Port To
bacco once in every week. Any communications left in their
absence with Mr. Lyne Shackelford will be promptly attended to."
" Negroes Wanted. — The highest market prices will be
given for negroes at all times. Persons having negroes for sale
will please call at my office, No. 26, Conway-street, between
Charles and Hanover. Communications promptly attended to.
" Also negroes will be received and kept at twenty-five cents
per day. B. M. Campbell.
" April 7, 1846."
" Negroes Wanted. — Persons wishing to sell their negroes
will find it to their advantage to give me a call before selling else
where. I have all tlie facilities that the trade will admit of in the
New Orleans and other markets. Such being the case, I can give
as much as any one else, which I am determined to do. Any com
munication addressed to me, either in Baltimore or Port Tobacco,
will be attended to immediately. John G. Campbell,
"Jan. 1, 1847. ' Agent for B. M. Campbell."
" Take Notice. — Persons wishing to dispose of their servants
would do well to give me a call before they sell to the traders.
By paying a small commission to an agent, they can get from $75
to $100 more; as I receive monthly from Neiv Orleans, Savan
nah, Georgia, and Charleston, S.C. the full market prices for slaves.
" Scott's Intelligence Office, No. 10, Exchange Place."
The following is taken from the "Wilmington (Va.) Jour
nal" of Sept. 3, 1847 : —
" Negroes Wanted. — I wish to purchase a large number of
negroes, of both sexes, from the age of 14 to 30, for which I will pay
the highest cash market price. As I intend making a long stay in
Wilmington for that purpose, persons from the country would find
it to their advantage to bring such slave-property to town as they
have to dispose of. Also wanted some good carpenters, black
smiths, coopers, and bricklayers. — Apply to me, at the Carolina
Hotel. Ansley Davis, of Petersburg, Va.
"Wilmington, May 7, 1847."
The following is extracted from an advertisement of Lewis
A. Collier, a trader in Richmond, Va. : —
11

82
" Notice. — This is to inform my former acquaintances and the
public generally, that I yet continue in the slave-trade, at Rich
mond, Virginia, and will at all times buy and give a fair market
price for young negroes. Persons in this State, Maryland, or
North Carolina, wishing to sell lots of negroes, are particularly
requested to forward their wishes to me at this place. Persons
wishing to purchase lots of negroes are requested to give me
a call, as I keep constantly on hand at this place a great many
for sale; and have at this time the use of one hundred young
negroes, consisting of boys, young men, and girls. I. will sell
at all times at a small advance on cost, to suit purchasers. I
have comfortable rooms, with a jail attached, for the reception
of the negroes ; and persons coming to this place to sell slaves
can be accommodated, and every attention necessary will be
given to have them well attended to ; and, when it may be desired,
the reception of the company of gentlemen dealing in slaves will
conveniently and attentively be received. My situation is very
healthy, and suitable for the business. Lewis A. Collier."
The " St. Louis Daily Union " of August 26, 1847, con
tains the following : —
" One Hundred Negroes Wanted. — The subscriber wishes
to purchase one hundred negroes, of both sexes, for which I will
pay the highest price, in cash. I can be found at all times at No.
104, Locust-street, by Gerard's stable. Wm. Johnson."
" Negroes Wanted. — For two hundred negroes, the highest
prices will be paid by B. W. Powell, City Hotel, or
51, Front-street."
The " Daily Reveille " (St. Louis), of the same date, con
tains the following : — i
" Wanted to purchase, thirty or forty young negroes, by
Curle & Goddin, 79, Olive-street."
The following is taken from the " St. Louis Republican : "
" Negroes Wanted and Boarded. — The highest cash price
paid for young likely negroes, at 104, Locust-street, between Third
and Fourth, adjoining Gerard's stables.
"N.B. Our house will be well secured, and afford the advan
tages of a jail surrounded by walls, and a basement cell in it.
White & Tooly,"

83
The following two are found in the " Evening Mercury "
of Jan. 14, 1848, published in New Orleans : —
" Slaves Wanted. — Wanted, to purchase, slaves of every
description, at the New Orleans depot, No. 156, Common-street,
for which liberal prices will be paid. Slaves will also be sold on
commission, and purchasers are invited to call and see a well-
selected lot of slaves offered at low prices.
Elihu Creswell."
" Slaves Wanted. — E. Creswell, No. 163, Gravier-street,
will pay the most liberal price for slaves of all descriptions ; and
those who have slaves for sale will do well to give him a call
before selling to others. He will also exchange slaves, sell slaves
on commission ; and those who wish to purchase will do well to
give him a call before buying elsewhere, as he keeps on hand a
good selection of slaves, sold under full guarantee, and good refer
ence for titles given."
The foregoing advertisements give us some faint idea of
the demand for slaves. Those which follow are of slaves for
sale. We cannot commence more appropriately than with
these, taken from the " New Orleans Picayune : " —
" Slaves for Sale. — Hope H. Slatter, who has retired from
the trade, has sold to me his establishment in Baltimore, and leased
for a number of years his old stand at the corner of Esplanade and
Moreau-streets, at which place I shall keep up a large and general
assortment of slaves for sale, imported direct from Maryland and
Virginia. Walter L. Campbell,
Successor to Hope H. Slatter."
"Negroes, Negroes. — Just received, and for sale at No. 7,
Moreau-street, Third' Municipality, a large and likely lot of ne
groes, consisting of field-hands, house-servants, and mechanics.
Will be receiving new lots regularly from Virginia during the
season. Wm. F. Talbott."
The same paper of Oct. 18, 1846, contains the following
two: —
"Slaves for Sale, No. 165, Gravier-street. — The subscriber
has always on hand a number of slaves, consisting of house-servants,
field-hands, and mechanics, which will be sold low, for cash or

84
negotiable paper. Persons desirous of purchasing will find it to
their interest to call and examine. The subscriber will also receive
and sell on consignment any negro that may be entrusted to his
care. " He would also respectfully notify persons engaged in the slave-
trade, that he is prepared to board them and their slaves on the
most reasonable terms.
Wm. H. Merritt.
" Reference : J. Barelli, C. J. Mansoni."
" Negroes for Sale. — We, the subscribers, have for sale, at
our establishment, No. 159, Gravier-street (block in the rear of St.
Charles Exchange), a iarge lot of valuable slaves, suitable for plan
tation, house-servants, &c. &c. Persons desirous of purchasing
will find it to their interest to call and examine.
" We will "also receive and sell on consignment any negroes that
may be entrusted to us. We would also respectfully notify owners
of negroes, and persons engaged in the slave-trade, that we are
prepared to board negroes, and furnish traders with rooms, &c.
" Our house is roomy, airy, and dry. Terms reasonable.
John Buddy.
Wm. H. Merritt."
Mr. Wm- H. Bolton, whose name is appended to the next
advertisement, is from Tennessee : —
*' Negroes for Sale. — I have again returned to this market,
with eighteen or twenty likely negroes. I have located on the
corner of Main and Adams-streets. I have plough-boys, men,
women, and girls, and some very fancy ones. I intend to keep a
constant supply through the season, and will not be undersold by
any in market. My motto is, ' the swift penny ; the slow shilling '
I never get.
" I will also pay the highest cash price for young negroes.
"November 21, 1846. W. H. Bolton."
To what uses these " very fancy " girls are put may be
inferred from the following advertisement,* taken from the
"Norfolk Herald:" —

* We cut this advertisement from the "Boston Daily Republican" of
Aug. 30, 1849.' It previously appeared in the " Providence Journal."

85
" Notice. — For sale, a colored girl, of very superior qualifi
cations, who is now in Mr. Hall's jail in Norfolk. She is what
speculators call a fancy girl ; a bright mulatto, fine figure, straight,
black hair, and very black eyes ; remarkably neat and cleanly in
her dress and person. I venture to say, that there is not a better
seamstress, cutter and fitter of ladies' and children's dresses in
Norfolk, or elsewhere, or a more fanciful netter of bead bags,
money-purses, &c.
" Any lady or gentleman in Norfolk or Portsmouth, who may
wish to purchase a girl of this description (whom I consider the
most valuable in Virginia), may take her and try her a month or
more at my risk, and, if she does not suit and answer the descrip
tion here given, may return her to Mr. Hill.
" The cause of offence for which I intend, though reluctantly,
to sell her, is, that she has been recently induced by the persua
sions of some colored persons to make her escape with them to
the North, in which she failed, and is now for sale. — Apply to the
subscriber, in Suffolk, or to James Murdaugh, Esq. or to C. C.
Robinson, of Portsmouth, for further information. Joseph Holladay."
Tennessee can also claim the honor of having such careful
traders as Mr. J. S. Curtis : —
" One Hundred " A No. 1 " Negroes. — I have on hand one
hundred negroes, men, women, boys, and girls, at my depot, in
Gaine's brick building, immediately back of Howard's Row, be
tween the Gayoso and Herron House. I have judicious men
purchasing in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Middle Tennessee,
and will keep constantly on hand a large number.
" Persons wishing to purchase will do well not to trade, without
first calling to see my stock. J. S. Curtis.
" Memphis, November 20, 1846."
The "Spirit of Liberty" contains the following: —
" Southern Planters, wishing to purchase negroes, would
do well to give me a call before they make their purchases, as it
would be greatly to their advantage. Negroes purchased and sold
on reasonable commission. Apply at
Scott's Intelligence Office, No. 10, Exchange Place."
In the " Daily Richmond Enquirer," Sept 1, 1847, we
find this : —

86
" Negroes at Auction. — On Monday, the 6th of September
(Albemarle Court day), at Charlottesville, there will be sold at
public auction about sixty valuable negroes, of every description.
"August 31."
In the same paper, Jan. 25, 1848, we find this : —
" Twenty Negroes. — Will be sold Friday, 28th inst. at
10 o'clock, twenty likely young negroes, viz. ten able-bodied men,
three boys, four women, and three girls.
" Will be added to the above sale, a negro-man, 40 years of age,
who is a first-rate carpenter by trade, also a rough blacksmith.
" Benj. Davis, Auctioneer, No. 3, Wall-street."
The following is taken from the " Alabama Argus," pub
lished at Dayton, Ala. : —
" For Sale Sixty Negroes. — By order of the Hon. the Or
phans' Court of Marengo County, the undersigned, administrator of
the estate of Moses W. Alexander, deceased, will, on Monday, the
5th of February, 1849, at the plantation of said Moses W. Alex
ander, deceased, in the Cane Brake, one mile south of Col. Pick
ens's mills, offer at public sale, to the highest bidder, a lot, number
ing sixty, of the likeliest and best negroes ever sold in the South.
They are all family negroes, — not bought up by speculators from
every State in the South, but raised by different men, in families
from five to twenty each. Among this stock of negroes are some
able-bodied, stout, and valuable negro-men, and several likely young
boys, from 10 to 18 years of age; also some likely negro-women,
girls, and children. Among the same, A No. 1 cotton-pickers ;
a good weaver ; and also one negro, who is a very good carpenter
and blacksmith. — Terms of sale, twelve months' credit, with ap- ,
proved security. J. M. Alexander, Administrator.
" January 5."
The following advertisement is before us ( " Spirit of
Liberty"): —
" Valuable Slaves at Auction. — I will sell on Saturday,
the 14th inst. in front of the Market-house, one woman and her
child. The woman is about 24 years old ; and the child, a girl,
about 5 years of age. The woman accustomed to house-business,
also to the farm. The negroes are very likely, and warranted

87
sound. They will be sold on a credit of sixty days for negotiable
paper satisfactorily endorsed.
" Nov. 5. Charles Phelps, Auctioneer."
The following is taken from a paper published at Ope-
lousas (La.) : — '
" Auction Sale. — The undersigned will offer for sale, through
the ministry of a public auctioneer, on her plantation, near Ca-
rancro, in the parish of St. Landry, on Monday the 5th day of
February next, and the following days, one hundred choice slaves,
of both sexes and different ages, among which is a good blacksmith
and several other mechanics. These slaves will be sold sepa
rately, and under full and satisfactory guarantee of titles. — 8 ox
carts, 69 work-oxen, 20 mules, 20 work-horses, 1,500 barrels of
corn, 12,500 cypress pickets.
Conditions of Sale. — The slaves will be sold on a credit of one
and two years from the day of sale ; purchasers giving sufficient
security to the satisfaction of the vendor, and the slaves remaining
specially mortgaged until final payment of principal and the inter
est which may accrue thereon, at the rate of eight per cent per
annum from time due until final payment. The conditions of the
sale of the movable property will be made known on the day of
sale. Widow Hypolite Cbetien.
" Opelousas, January 3d, 1849."
Literally speaking, tens of thousands of such advertise
ments as these might be adduced. You can hardly open a
Southern paper without finding several.
Part of the trade is carried on by water. _ This part of the
trade is regulated by Act of Congress (Act March 2, 1807,
sect. 8 — 10), and slavers sail apparently with commendable
regularity. The following notice is taken from the " Nation
al Intelligencer " a few years since : —
" Alexandria and New Orleans Packets. — Brig Tribune,
Samuel C. Bush, master, will sail as above on the 1st January ;
brig Isaac Franklin, William Smith, master, on the 15th January;
brig Uncas, Nathaniel Boush, master, on the 1st February. They
will continue to leave this port on the 1st and 15th of each month,
throughout the shipping season. Servants that are intended to be
shipped will at any time be received for safe keeping at twenty-five
cents a day. John Amfield, Alexandria."

88
The two following advertisements are taken from the
"American Beacon" of January 24, 1848, published at
Norfolk, Virginia. They are advertisements of the same
person, who, as we have just seen, offers to "attend to ship
ping of negroes to any of the Southern ports : " —
" For New Orleans. — Virginia and Louisiana Line Packets.
The fast-sailing packet barque Bachelor, Page, master, will sail
for the above port from the 20th to the 27th inst. For freight,
cabin or steerage passage, for which she has good accommodations,
apply to G. W. Apperson."
" For New Orleans. — Virginia and Lousiana Line Packets
will commence their regular trips to the above port the 20th Sep
tember, and continue monthly throughout the season. They con
sist of the following vessels, to wit, barque Parthian, Capt. G. W.
Allen ; barque Bachelor, Capt. Hiram Horton ; barque Phcenix,
Capt. Nathaniel Boush.
" The above vessels are all of the first class, and commanded by
long and experienced commanders. — For further information, ap
ply to G. W. Apperson."
This Capt. Nath. Boush is probably the same man who
figures in Mr. Amfield's advertisement. But Southern tra
ders by no means have a monopoly of this coastwise slave-
trade. The barque Parthenon, Mellish, master, cleared
from the port of New York, October 10, 1846, for Richmond,
Virginia, avoivedly " to load ivith slaves for the port of New
Orleans." How business-like is the following letter from a North
Carolina slave-trader to his consignee in New Orleans ! (" A
Reproof of the American Church," p. 22) : —
"Halifax, N.C. November 16, 1839.
" Dear Sir, — I have shipped in the brig Addison, prices as
below : — No. 1, Caroline Ennis, $650 ; 2, Silvy Holland, $625 ;
3, Silvy Booth, $487.50; 4, Maria Pollock, $475; 5, Emeline
Pollock, $475 ; 6, Delia Averit, $475.
" The two girls that cost $650 and $625 were bought before I
shipped my first. I have a great many negroes offered to me ;

89
but I will not pay the prices they ask, for I know they will come
down. I have no opposition in market. I will wait until I hear
from you before I buy, and then I can judge what I must pay.
Goodwin will send you the bill of lading for my negroes, as he
shipped them with his own. Write often, as the times are critical,
and it depends on the prices you get to govern me in buying.
" Yours, &c.
G. W. Barnes.
" Mr. Theophilus Freeman, New Orleans."
The number of slaves thus bought and sold can never be
known with perfect accuracy. Hon. John G. Palfrey, in his
excellent Papers on the Slave Power (p. 83), estimates the
number annually sold from the more northerly Slave States
at not less than forty thousand1. We think his estimate
within the truth. ....
In the course of a single year, 1835-6, no less than forty
thousand slaves are said to have been sold out of Virginia
alone ! (" Niles's Reg." Oct. 8, 1836.) The " New York
Journal of Commerce " of Oct. 12, 1835, contained a letter
from a Virginian, whom the editor calls " a very good and
sensible man," asserting that twenty thousand slaves had
been driven to the South from Virginia during that year, of
which nearly one fourth was then remaining. But 1S35
and 1836 were years of great speculation. In 1837 the
consequent severe pressure in the money market was attri
buted by a committee of the citizens of Mobile (Ala.) in
part to over-trading in slaves. Their report states, that
purchases by Alabama of that species of property from other
States since 1833 have amounted to about ten million dollars
annually. :
' The slaves increase in about the same ratio in all of the
Slave States. If the warmer latitudes of the extreme South
are more congenial to them, and favor their increase more
than the climate of Virginia, this effect is, at least, fully
balanced by the great amount and unhealthy character of
much of the labor on the sugar, rice, and cotton plantations,
and by the great extent to which slave-breeding is earned in
the more northern States. The following table exhibits the
12

90

rates of increase of the slaves, every ten years, from 1790 to
1840:— •' :• ' "' ¦

1790—1800

1800—1810

1810—1820

1820—1830

1830—1840

27

33

29

30

23

Accordingly, for the fifty years ending in 1840, the slaves
increased on an average a little over twenty-eight per cent
every ten years. We adopt this as a fair statement of what
should be their decennial natural increase in all the States ;
and, by natural increase, we mean increase from births. The
following tables explain themselves : —
SLAVE-EXPORTING STATES.

1 Name of State, 'i ¦

Slaves
in 1830.

Slaves
in 1840.

Number
which ought
to have been
in each State
in 1840.

Decrease
every ten
years.

Annual
decrease.

Dis. of Columbia .
North Carolina . .
South Carolina . .

3,292
102,294 6,119
469,757235,601315,401 165,213
681,904

2,605
89,737 4,694
448,987245,817327,038 182,258
829,210

4,214
130,936 7,833
601,289301,569
403,713 211,473872,837

1,619
41,199 3,139
152,302 65,75276,67529,21543,627

162
4,120 313
15,230 5,575 7,6682,922
4,363

Total 

2130,346

403.52S

40,353

SLAVE-IMPORTING STATES.

Name of State.

Slavps
in 1830.

Slaves
in 1840.

Number
which ought
to have been
in each State
in 1840.

Eltra '
decennial increase.

Extra
annual
increase.

217,531 15,501
117,549 65,659
109,588 4,576
25,081

280,944 25,717
253,532 195,211
168,452 19,935
58,240

278,440 19,841
150,462 84,043
140,273 6,857
32,104

2,5045,876
103,070111,168 28,179 14,078
26,136

250 687
10,307
11,117 2,818 1,408
2,614

291,011
29,101
91
The census of 1840, therefore, exhibits an annual unnatural
decrease of over forty thousand of the slave-population in
the exporting States. But this census, at least so far as
statistics touching slaves and free colored persons are con
cerned, is notoriously and grossly incorrect. Either it or
the tables prepared from it in the State Department have been
dishonestly prepared, or very much garbled, apparently
with the intent to prove that slavery was better calculated
to secure the health of the negro race than a state of free
dom. What figures will tell in favor of slavery ? — not,
what figures will tell the truth ? — seems to have been the
principle on which the last census was taken. Such being
the case, we feel confident that the census makes the slaves
in the exporting States decrease as little as possible. In
1830, Virginia had 469,757 slaves. In 1840 she ought to
have had this number, and their natural increase for ten
years, 135,532. Instead of this, all the natural increase is
gone, and 20,770 besides ! All will see that such a state
ment would tell too strongly against slavery to be admitted
into a census got up under such slave-supporting auspices,
unless the statement was really within the truth. >
: We believe, therefore, that the census of 1850, if truly
taken, will exhibit a much larger annual unnatural decrease
of the slave-population in the exporting States. This de
crease, whatever it may really be, has not been owing to
manumissions. It has not been caused by slaves running
away. For the effects of both these causes, the surplus over
40,000 would be a liberal allowance. This unnatural de
crease must, then, be caused by the slave-trade, and the migra
tion of planters with their slaves. The fact is beyond all
question, that every year forty thousand men, women, and
children are torn from their homes and friends, and driven to
the South and West. So truly did the Rev. Theodore Clapp
speak (Sermon, p. 46), when he declared, " Slaves possess the
inappreciable benefits which grow out of the endearing ties
of friendship, kindred, sympathy, and the whole class of
domestic affections. Parents and children, husbands and
wives (it is true), are sometimes separated by being involved

92
in those calamities which sweep away the possessions and
prosperity of the master. But, take it all in all, they are as
free and undisturbed in the enjoyment of their domestic
relations, as the white inhabitants of the Northern States" !
Forty thousand fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and chil
dren are every year carried from the places of their birth,
like so many cattle, although the terrible fact is well known
that at least one fourth of them must die in the process of
acclimation ! * So very tender is man of man, when he
holds his brother in slavery, and makes merchandise of his sis
ter ! So eager is the soul-driver to coin his brother's blood into
dollars ! So ready are those whom " God has appointed
masters " to sacrifice the lives of one fourth of those com
mitted to their charge, in order greatly to advance the market
value of the survivors ! . ¦• ". - •¦¦ ¦ - > '
We have no data from which to infer the number of plant
ers who go South with their slaves. But, allowing that five
hundred thus remove, and that on an average they have
ten slaves each (proper estimates we believe), we have left
thirty-five thousand as the number of human beings who
are every year sold to the speculators in human flesh !
'•' Now, Mr. Barnes's " lot " of his fellow-creatures averaged
in value over five hundred dollars apiece ; and those were
times when, from his account, the market was glutted, and
the prices accordingly low. "Young and likely" negroes
are more easily acclimated, and are better able to work, than
others. Consequently, they are the ones most sought after
by judicious traders. We should consider five hundred
dollars for a young, healthy negro, warranted sound, as
really a low price. But, if we suppose the slaves annually
exported to be worth less than any of Mr. Barnes's lot, —
considering them as worth only $450 apiece, — we have, as
* A writer in the "New Orleans Argus," Sept. 1830, in an article on the
culture of the sugar-cane, says, — " The los9 by death in bringing slaves
from a northern climate, which our planters are under the necessity of
doing, is not less than twenty-five per cent " ! Our tables prove the same
thing. Of. the 40,000 slaves annually carried south, only 29,101 are found
to survive; — a greater sacrifice of life than that caused by the middle pas
sage !

93
tlie sum of money every year invested in the trade in slaves, the
very moderate sum of fifteen millions seven hundred and fifty
thousand dollars ! This is exclusive of the cost of all the pri
vate jails, of transportation by sea and land, food, wages of
drivers, &c. ; which cannot but very largely increase this
sum. This sum, §15,750,000, would, in less than three
years, double the number of miles of railroad which were in
operation in all the Southern States in 1846 (Parker's " Let
ter on Slavery," p. 52). It would, in only two years, more
than double in length all the railroads which w-ere then in
operation in all the Slave States, except Maryland. It costs
every year five millions more to carry on the domestic slave-
trade than it does to fit out and victual all the whale-ships of
the United States ! (" American Almanac, 1843," p. 178.)
Over one fifth of the entire value of the cotton, sugar, rice,
and tobacco raised in the fifteen Slave States in 1839, and
over one third of the value of articles manufactured in the
South, was invested in slaves ! Nearly twice as many slaves
are carried South and West every year as there are men iu
all the Slave States engaged in the learned professions ! — so
terribly prominent is this trade in men and women ! Who
will venture to conceive, much less express, the deep degra
dation which must be caused by a trade of such fearful
character and magnitude ; — degradation not only to the
immediate sufferers, but to all those who may be subjected
to it ?

94

CHAPTER IX.

RUNAWAY SLAVES.

c( It is contrary also to tlie will of God for servants either to run away, or harbor a run
away." — Ren. C. C. Jones's Teaching to Slaves.

The treatment which runaway slaves receive cannot but
greatly degrade, them. Pious as well as worldly masters
consider that their slaves have no more right to run away
than their horses or mules. The Christian slaveholder orally
teaches his slaves, that, by taking this step, they sin in the
sight of God ; for has not Paul most emphatically condemned
the practice ? So careful is he of the souls of those whom
God has committed to his charge !
We frequently find advertisements similar to this, cut from
the " American Beacon" (Norfolk, Va.), Jan. 24, 184S: —
" §50 Reward. — Stop Ruffin and Wyatt. — These men left
my house on Saturday night, January 15, 1848, without any pro
vocation. They have uniformly maintained a good character for
honesty, industry, and sobriety, — were obedient and trustworthy
servants, and no severity nor threats had been offered towards
them ; and I very much fear they have left for some Northern State.
" These slaves were originally owned in Surry, and possibly
may be in the vicinity of their relatives.
George N. Hatch.
" Gaysville, P.O. Prince George County, Va."
Good Mr. Bryant Johnson is very much more indignant.
In the " Macon (Georgia) Telegraph," May 28, is the fol
lowing : —

95
"About the first of March last, tho negro-man, Ransom, left me
^without the least provocation whatever. I will give a reward of
$20 for said negro if taken, dead or alive ; and, if killed in any
attempt, an advance of $5 will be paid. Bkyant Johnson.
" Crawford County, Georgia."
In the extremity of his wrath, he cannot think of the least
provocation whatever whieh he has given his slave. But we
confess we are much more touched by friend Hatch's adver
tisement. Simple-minded creature ! He evidently speaks
more in sorrow and astonishment than in anger. Doubtless
he had uniformly fed, clothed, and housed his servants well,
and had never been severe with or threatened them. How
could they desire to leave him ? They have run away with
out any provocation ! So unnatural, almost impossible, in
the eyes of masters, is any spark of manliness in a slave !
They cannot conceive it possible for a manly love of liberty to
provoke a favored negro to run away. Still, however, even
favored servants are continually escaping from their happy
state ; and, by the methods adopted to retake them, they are
most efficiently taught that they have no more rights than
has a favored hound or a valued horse. Their manliness is
crushed, until at last they really feel themselves to be little
else than items of profit or loss to their owners. The old
slave who, at the point of death, was asked whether he was
not sorry to die, and who replied, " Oh ! no : the loss is mas
sa's," had very faithfully improved the instruction imparted
to his class.
If our horse is stolen from his stable, or our cow strays
from her pasture, we advertise them as " strayed or stolen."
If a slave runs away, his master advertises him, and offers a
reward for his capture. If he is found, the lucky finder
deposits him in jail for safe keeping, to await a favorable
opportunity of sending him back to his master, — of course,
like Onesimus, as a brother beloved. The jailer gets his
legal fees, the finder gets his reward, the master gets his slave,
and the slave most generally receives some " moderate cor
rection" from the cowskin or the paddle. If he will not
listen to the teaching of God's messengers to his soul, who

96
are continually repeating to him (Jones's " Rei. Inst." 188)
" a servant who knows his master's duty, and will not do it,
must be made to do it," how can he complain of his treat
ment ?
So anxious are they at the South that every poor African
should have a good, kind master to attend to the wants of
his soul, and support him in old age, that, if a stray negro is
taken up running at large without an apparent owner, and
for any cause he cannot legally prove his freedom, even
though he does really own himself, he is nevertheless adver
tised, and sold at auption to the highest bidder, to pay the
expenses occasioned by his own capture and detention.
Plow happy must be the people that are in such a case !
Yea, blessed is his condition whose body is fed and whipped,
whose soul is saved and darkened, by his brother man !
The " Revised Statutes " of North Carolina, chap. Ill,
sec. 11, provides that, —
" If any negro who shall be taken up as a runaway, and brought
before any justice of the peace, will not declare the name of his or
her owner, such justice shall in such case, and he is hereby re
quired, by a warrant under his hand, to commit the said negro-
slave to the jail of the county wherein he or she shall be taken
up ; and the sheriff or undersheriff of the county into whose cus
tody the said runaway shall be committed, shall forthwith cause
notice in writing of such commitment to be set up on the Court
house door of the said county, and there continued during the
space of two months ; in which notice a full description of the said
runaway and his clothing shall be particularly set down." — When
the owner is supposed to be a resident in another State, the jailer \
is obliged by sec. 15, " by the first opportunity after such commit
ment, to send a description of such negro or runaway, together
with the account of the time of commitment, and the county
where such runaway is committed, to the press, to he advertised in
the State Gazette." — Sec. 16 provides, that, " whenever any negro-
slave shall be taken up in this State as a runaway, and confined in
any jail for the space of twelve months, and the apprehension and
confinement of said slave have been advertised in the State Ga
zette at least six months, and the owner does not apply to prove
property in said time, then it shall be lawful for the court of pleas

97
and quarter sessions of the county in which said runaway is con
fined, to command their sheriff to expose said negro-slave to public
sale for ready money, giving three months' notice in some public
newspaper in this State, at the Court-house door, and at two other
public places in the said county, of the time and place of sale, and
of the circumstances under which the said slave is to be sold." —
Sect. 17 gives the sheriff "two and a half per centum on the
amount of sale." — Sect. 18 declares that "the bill of sale of
the sheriff shall vest in the purchaser an absolute right to the said
slave." The residue of the amount of sales, after deducting com
missions and prison charges, is directed to be paid to the county
trustee for the use of the county.
Similar laws, authorizing the sale into slavery of negroes
taken up as runaway slaves, who cannot from any cause
prove their freedom, are found in Virginia, South Carolina,
Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Missis
sippi, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. A similar law has
always existed in the District of Columbia, originally enacted,
and since supported, by Northern freemen. Our law, how
ever, differs from the others in offering to the marshal a high
bribe to induce him to sell free negroes, by providiug that
the proceeds of the persons sold may remain in his own pocket,
unless after the sale the master shall be discovered, and shall
claim the balance.
Throughout all the Slave States, the law presumes every
free negro to be a slave, until he can legally prove his
freedom. Consequently, every free negro, out of his own
neighborhood, is presumed to be, and treated as, a runaway
slave, until he can establish his freedom. Under laws of this
\; kind, many free negroes are taken ; and, if from want of
money or friends, or distance from home, or any other cause,
they cannot prove their freedom, as no owner can come
forward and " claim property and pay charges," they must
necessarily be sold into slavery for life !
Very recently, in the columns of the " Washington Union,"
appeared the following notices : —
" NoTrcE. — Was committed to the jail of Washington County,
D.C. on the 5th July, 1846, as a runaway, a negro-man, who calls
13

98
himself John Crew. He is black, about 5 feet 6J inches high, and
about 43 years of age. He says he is free, and was born in Hanover
County, Virginia, and was set free by Mrs. Allen, formerly Mrs.
Watson, of said county ; and that he lived with Jude & Muir, in
Richmond, Virginia ; and that he obtained his free papers in Rich
mond in 1823, when a Mr. Henning was clerk of the court. He
has had right leg broken, which has left a large scar on it. He
has a scar on the right side of his neck, which he says he has
received since he left Richmond.
" The owner or owners of the above-described negro-man are
hereby required to come forward, prove him, and take him away,
or he will be sold for Ms prison and other expenses, as the law
directs. Robt. Ball, Jailer, for
"Aug. 15. A. Htjnteb, Marshal."
" Notice. — Was committed to the jail of Washington County,
D.C. on the 23d of July, 1847, as a runaway, a negro-woman, who
calls herself Ann E. Hodges. She is nearly black, about 5 feet 5j
inches high, and about 22 years of age. Had on, when committed,
a slate-colored Merino dress and a brown calico sun-bonnet. She
says she is free, and served her time out with a Mr. Benjamin
Daltry, of Southampton, Va. ; and that Messrs. Griffin & Bishop, of
the same place, know her to be free. She has two scars on the left
leg, near the knee, from the bite of a dog, one on her left wrist,
and one on the point of her breast-bone, occasioned by a burn.
" The owner or owners of the above-described negro-woman
are hereby required to come forward, prove her, and take her away,
or she will be sold for her prison and other expenses, as the law
directs. Robt. Bale, Jailer, for
"Aug. 23. A. Hunteb, Marshal."
Here is another instance, which happened several years
since : —
" Notice. — Was committed to the jail of Washington County,
District of Columbia, as a runaway, a negro-woman, by the name
of Polly Leiper, and her infant child, William .... Says she was
set free by John Campbell, of Richmond, Va. in 1818 or 1819.
The owner of the above-described woman and child, if any, are
requested to come and prove them, and take them away, or they
will be sold for their jail fees and other expenses, as the law
directs. Tench Ringgold, Marshal.
"May 29, 1827."

99
Many other similar ones might be cited from papers pub
lished in the District. The following is taken from the
" Mobile (Ala.) Register " of July 21, 1837 : —
" Will be Sold Cheap eoe Cash, in front of the Court-house
of Mobile County, on the 22d day of July next, one mulatto-man,
named Henry Hale, who says he is free. His owner or owners, if
any, having failed to demand him, he is to be sold according to the
statute in such case made and provided, to pay jail fees.
William Magee, Shff. M.C."
Here are two from the "Vicksburg (Miss.) Register."
The first is the notice of the committal of a negro. The
second is the advertisement for his sale : — . .-..-.^ ,-¦-
" Sheriff's Sale. — Committed to the jail of Warren County,
as a runaway, on the 23d inst. a negro-man, who calls himself
John J. Robinson ; says that he is free ; says that he kept a
baker's shop in Columbus, Miss, and that he peddled through the
Chickasaw nation to Pontotoc, and came to Memphis, where he
sold his horse, took water, and came to this place. The owner of
said boy is requested to come forward, prove property, pay charges,
'and take him away, or he will he dealt with as the law directs.
"Dec. 24, 1835. Wm. Everett, Jailer."
" Notice is hereby given, that the above-described boy, who
calls himself John J. Robinson, having been confined in the jail of
Warren County as a runaway for six months, and having been
regularly advertised during this period, I shall proceed to sell said
negro-boy at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, at the
door of the Court-house in Vicksburg, on Monday, 1st of August,
1836, in pursuance of the statute in such case made and provided.
" Vicksburg, July 2, 1836. E. W. Morris, Sheriff."
Slavery, as it exists, is not wrong, according to Bishops
Ives and Freeman ; and yet, in the diocese of the former, in
the "Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer," June 27, 183S, this
advertisement appears : —
" Taken and committed to Jail, a negro-girl, named Nancy,
who is supposed to belong to Spencer P. Wright, of the State of
Georgia. She is about 30 years of age, and is a lunatic. The

100
owner is requested to come forward, prove property, pay charges,
and take her away, or she will be sold to pay her jail fees.
Frederick Home, Jailer."
And suppose this supposition is incorrect, and that this poor
woman does not belong to Mr. Wright, but on the contrary
that she is free, how then will stand the case ? A poor free
woman, a lunatic, one who accordingly cannot by any
possibility prove her freedom, being arrested as a runaway,
may be sold as a slave for life, in virtue of the laws of the
Christian State of North Carolina ! And no one is entitled
to pronounce such act to be wrong, unless he can produce a
new revelation from Heaven ! If a slave has performed a
great service to the State or his master, as a reward he is set
free ; and, if the freeman, availing himself of his privileges,
goes out of his own neighborhood, the law, with the sanction
of right reverend fathers in God, consigns him to the auction
block !
But the runaway slave is not always to be taken easily.
Strenuous liberty is often preferred to slavish ease. To meet
such cases, ample provision is made, no less degrading to the
slave. If any one here at the North should advertise that he was
ready to pursue, with dogs trained for the purpose, runaway
apprentices, or prisoners who had escaped from jail, we
should all shudder at the cold-bloodedness of the proposition.
Have we not, in the Old Bay State, just solemnly enacted
that not even the most hardened convicts in our State Prison
shall be whipped ? How, then, can we so far forget our
common manhood as to pursue our brother with blood
hounds ? The slave, unlike the prisoner, has committed no
crime. Unlike the apprentice, he has never consented, either
by himself or his parents, to be a slave. He is held in sla
very against his will, and not as the punishment for any
crime ; and yet, if he ventures to take his freedom, to assert
the highest and holiest of all his rights, he is liable to be
hunted with dogs and maimed with shot ! In this so-called
Christian country, which is spending its millions in regen-

101
erating the heathen, whole communities exist which tolerate
such a fiendish occupation as a slave-hunter ! Communities
do we say ? Has not the nation elevated to its highest post
of honor the individual who first suggested to our govern
ment the idea of importing bloodhounds from Cuba, with
which to track the Seminole Indians, and the fugitive slaves
whom they protected, and with whom they had intermarried ?
How proudly did the star-spangled banner wave its folds
over the gallant men and hounds that pursued and finally
conquered the panting fugitives !
In the " Madison Journal," published at Richmond, La.
Nov. 26, 1847, appears the following : —
" Notice. — The subscriber, living on Carroway Lake, on Hoe's
Bayou, in Carroll Parish, sixteen miles on the road leading from
Bayou Mason to Lake Providence, is ready with a pack of dogs
to hunt runaway negroes at any time. These dogs are well trained,
and are known throughout the parish. Letters addressed to me
at Providence will secure immediate attention.
" My terms are $5 per day for hunting the trails, whether the
negro is caught or not. Where a twelve hours' trail is shown, and
the negro not taken, no charge is made. For taking a negro, $25,
and no charge made for hunting. James W. Hall."
In the " Sumpter County Whig " (Alabama) of Nov. 6,
1845, the following is found : —
" Negro Dogs. — The undersigned, having bought the entire
pack of negro dogs (of the Hay & Allen stock), he now proposes to
catch runaway negroes. His charges will be $3 a day for hunting,
and $15 for catching a runaway. He resides three and one half
miles north of Livingston, near the lower Jones' Bluff road.
"Nov. 6, 1845. William Gambrel."
William W. Brown was hunted by Major Benjamin
O'Fallon, who kept for his professional purposes five or six
bloodhounds (" Narrative," p. 22). Last year, 1848, Mr.
J. Ervin, a native of Fairfield District, South Carolina, a
slave-hunter by profession, was murdered by some runaway
slaves. Owners, sometimes vary the monotony of a planta
tion life by a private hunt on their own account. But, unless

102
they have considerable practice, they make a bungling piece
of work of it. The true object, both of dogs and men, is the
captm-e of the negro, not his death. Gen. Taylor did not
wish to "worry" the Seminoles. We might cite many
notices like the following, cut from the " Raleigh (N.C.)
Register," Aug. 20, 1838 : —
" On Saturday night, Mr. George Holmes, of this county, and
some of his friends were in pursuit of a runaway slave (the pro
perty of Mr. Holmes), and fell in with him in attempting to make
his escape. Mr. H. discharged a gun at his legs, for the purpose
of disabling him ; but, unfortunately, the slave stumbled, and the
shot struck him near the small of the back, of which wound he
died in a short time. The slave continued to run some distance
after he was shot, until overtaken by one of the party. We are
satisfied from all that we can learn, that Mr. H. had no intention
of inflicting a mortal wound."
The hunter, in the following instance, was more skilful or
lucky. The advertisement is found in the " Richmond
Whig and Public Advertiser," Jan. 25, 184S : —
" $50 Reward. — Ran away from the subscribers, on Sunday,
the 8th instant, a negro-man, named George. The said slave is
about 21 years of age, black, about 5 feet 6 inches high, weighs
about 150 pounds, has good teeth, and a round and likely face.
He was purchased at R. H. Dickinson & Bro.'s auction-room, on
the 22d of March, last, from Messrs. Millner & Keen, of Pittsyl
vania Court-house. He was purchased by them (M. & K.) in
Rickingham, N.C. ; and he will in all probability make for that
place, as he ran off last April, and was taken upon his way there, at
Amelia Court-house. The person that took him on that occasion
shot him with small shot on the legs, and the shot-marks are very
perceptible on the hind part or the calves of Ms legs. We will
give $50 for the apprehension and delivery of said boy to R. H.
Dickinson & Bro. in Richmond, Va. if taken up after this date ;
and, if taken up previous to this date, we will pay $25 for his
delivery here, and the expense of bringing him to this place from
where he may be taken up. Kelly, Hundley, & Co.
" Richmond, Aug. 27, 1847."
The Rev. Mr. Jones would probably instruct " George,"
that he was shot because he disobeyed God's commands in

103
and especially because he " robbed God of
his own " in breaking the Sabbath ! But how judicious was
the man who took him up on that occasion ! He only shot
him Avith small shot in the legs !
In the " Macon (Ga.) Telegraph," Nov. 27, 1838, we find
the following account of a runaway's den, and of the good
luck of a " Mr. Adams," in running down one of them
" with his excellent dogs : " —
" A runaway's den was discovered on Sunday, near the Wash
ington Spring, in a little patch of Avoods, Avhere it had been for
several months so artfully concealed under ground, that it was
detected only by accident, though in sight of two or three houses,
and near the road and fields where there has been constant daily
passing. The entrance Avas concealed by a pile of pine straw,
representing a hog-bed, Avhich being removed, discovered a trap-,
door and steps that led to a room about six feet square, comfort
ably ceiled Avith plank, containing a small fireplace, the flue of
which was ingeniously conducted above ground and concealed by
the straw. The inmates took the alarm, and made their escape ;
but Mr. Adams and Ms excellent dogs being put upon the trail,
soon run down and secured one of them, Avhich proved to be a
negro-fellow Avho had been out about a year. He stated that the
other occupant was a Avoman, who had been a runaway a still
longer time. In the den was found a quantity of meal, bacon,
corn, potatoes, &c. and various cooking utensils and Avearing
apparel."The Lord of the sabbath seems to favor the masters ; for Mr.
Adams's hunt occurred on Sunday ! Many other instances
might be given. We adduce only this. The " St. Francis-
ville (La.) Chronicle " of Feb. 1, 1839, gives the folloAving
account of a " negro-hunt" in that parish : —
" Tavo or three days since, a gentleman of this parish, in hunt
ing runaway negroes, came upon a camp of them in the SAvamp on
Cat Island. He succeeded in arresting two of them ; but the third
made fight, and, upon being shot in the shoulder, fled to a sluice,
where the dogs succeeded in drowning him before assistance could
arrive." Does any one say these atrocities must be confined to the

104
extreme South, and that law or public opinion in North
Carolina would forbid them ? How far otherwise is the fact !
The " Revised Statutes" of North Carolina, chap. Ill, sec.
22, provide as folloAvs : — •
" Whereas, many times slaves run aAvay and lie out, hid and
lurking in SAvamps, woods, and other obscure places, killing cattle
and hogs, and committing other injuries to the inhabitants of this
State ; in all such cases, upon intelligence of any slave or slaves
lying out as aforesaid, any two justices of the peace for the county
Avherein such slave or slaves is or are supposed to lurk or .do
mischief, shall, and they are hereby empoAvered and required to
issue proclamation against such slave or slaves (reciting his or
their names, and the name or names of the owner or owners, if
known), thereby requiring him or them, and every of them, forth
with to surrender him or themselves ; and also to empower and
require the sheriff of the said county to take such power Avith
him as he shall think fit and necessary for going in search and
pursuit of, and effectually apprehending, such outlying slave or
slaves ; Avhich proclamation shall be published at the door of the
Court-house, and at such other places as said justices shall direct.*
And if any slave or slaves against whom proclamation hath been
thus issued stay out, and do not immediately return home, it shall
be lawful for any person or persons Avhatsoever to kill and destroy
such slave or slaA'es by such Avays and means as he shall think fit,
without accusation or impeachment of any crime for the same."
This is truly a Christian laAv ! A Avritten proclamation to
men, of Avhom not one in ten thousand can read a letter of
it ! — and yet, after publication of it at the door of the Court
house, and at such other places (if any) as the justices may
* The Act of 1741, of which this law is in part a revision, reads thus,
sec. 45 : " A,Vhich proclamation shall be published on a sabbath-day at the
door of every church jot chapel, or, for want of such, ai the place where divine
service shall be performed in the said county, by the parish clerk or reader, imme
diately after divine service ; and, if any slave or slaves, against whom pro
clamation hath been thus issued, stay out and do not immediately return
home, it shall be lawful for any person or persons whatsoever to kill and
destroy such slave or slaves by such ways or means as he or she shall think
fit, without accusation or impeachment of any crime for the same." — In
those happy clays, Father Taylor would not have been called on to thank
God, that the man who was on the point of strangling his brother according
to law was not troubled by any feeling of sentimentalism !

105
direct, if the slaves do not immediately return, it is laAvful
for any person to kill and destroy them " by such Avays or
means as he shall think fit." And may not bloodhounds be
the most expeditious and fit ?
Is this laAv a dead letter ? Only fifteen days before Bishop
Freeman's sermon Avas delivered, and Bishop Ives enjoyed
" most unfeigned pleasure " at the thought that slavery
existed as it did in North Carolina, the following proclama
tion and advertisement appeared in the " Newbern (N.C.)
Spectator : " —
"State of North Carolina, Lenoir County. — Whereas
complaint hath been this day made to us, two of the justices of
the peace for the said county, by William D. Cobb, of Jones
county, that two negro-slaves belonging to him, named Ben (com
monly known by the name of Ben Fox) and Rigdon, have ab
sented themselves from their said master's service, and are lurking
about in the counties of Lenoir and Jones, committing acts of
felony ; these are, in the name of the State, to command the said
slaves forthwith to surrender themselves, and turn home to their
said master. And we do hereby also require the sheriff of said
county of Lenoir to make diligent search and pursuit after the
above-mentioned slaA-es  And we do hereby, by virtue of an
Act of Assembly of this State concerning servants and slaves, inti
mate and declare, if the said slaves do not surrender themselves
and return home to their master immediately after the publication
of these presents, that any person may kill or destroy said slaves
by such means as he . or they think fit, without accusation or im
peachment of any crime or offence for so doing, or Avithout incur
ring any penalty or forfeiture thereby.
" Given nnder our hands and seals, this 12th of November,
1836. B. Coleman, J.P. [Seal.]
Jas. Jones, J.P. [Seal.]
" $200 Reward. — Ran aAvay from the subscriber, about three
years ago, a certain negro-man, named Ben, commonly known by
the name of Ben Fox, also one other negro, by the name of Rigdon,
who ran away on the 8th of this month.
"I will give the reward of $100 for each of the above negroes,
to be delivered to me, or confined in the jail of Lenoir or Jones
County, or for the killing of them, so that I can see them-
"Nov. 12, 1836. W. D. Cobb."
14

106
In what has preceded, Ave have endeavored to give a faint
but true picture of slaveholding as it most generally exists.
Though Ave have purposely left unmentioned many Avrongs,
Ave have abundantly supported our conclusion. If, as Ave
have seen, every slave, as a man, has a natural, God-given
right to be left free to seek after wisdom, to strive to be
come pure in heart, to cherish his affections, it is a great
Avrong deliberately and carefully to close against him all the
avenues to knoAvledge, to refuse him even the rudiments
imparted to the child that clings to our knees, to refuse him
all moral and religious instruction, or give him such only
as is calculated to make him contented Avith his lot, and
more profitable to his oppressors. It is a great wrong —
Avho can conceive a greater ? — to deny to a Avhole race the
sacredness of marriage, the blessings of home, the joys of
brother and sister, of father and mother, and all the refining,
ennobling influences of these relations. It is a great Avrong,
none can conceive a greater, than to trade in the bodies of
men, to higgle in the market-place about the price of our
brother, to traffic in our sister's flesh and bones as merchan
dise. Slaveholding, as it most generally exists, darkens the
mind, deadens the soul, and brutalizes the affections, of its
victims. It is carefully planned and deliberately executed
murder of the soul. No human heart exists, umvarped by
self-interest, that does not respond to the poor slave's call for
help. We need no neAv revelation from Heaven, Ave need
no book to tell us, that it Avould be Avrong for any one to
darken our minds, to deaden our souls, to brutalize our
affections. No more do Ave need a new revelation from ,
Heaven to convince us, that all men are brethren ; that the
slave Avho toils on the Louisiana plantation is no less our
neighbor than the friend Avhom Ave have knoAvn and loved
from boyhood ; and that Ave should love the slaves as our
selves, not Avith that barren love which consists in saving
their souls by imparting to them a still more barren creed,
but that love Avhich never Avearies, and Avhich sacrifices its
own for another's good.

107

CHAPTER X.
SLAVEHOLDING ALWAYS WKONG.

" No seeming of logic can ever convince the American people, that thousands of our
slaveholding brethren are not excellent, humane, and even Christian men, fearing God, and
keeping his commandments." — Rec. Dr. Joel Parher.

It remains for us to consider the special cases in Avhich
slaveholding is thought by many to be right. All slave
holders are not actors in the cruel system Avhich Ave have
just described. There are in the Southern States, Ave are
ready to beheve, thousands who disregard the laAvs, who
treat their slaves as humanely as is possible, who cultivate to
a considerable extent their mental and moral faculties, and
who Avould unite Avith us in condemning the barbarities Ave
have been considering.
The Rev. Dr. Richard Fuller, of Beaufort, S.C. thus
describes the condition of his slaves ( " Domestic Slavery
considered as a Scriptural Institution," &c. p. 222 ; 1845) :
" In a familiar correspondence like this, I may be pardoned for
saying, that, during twelve years, I have devoted tbe salary given
me, Avhenever at my disposal, to the spiritual instruction of the
slaves, and am now doing so. With reference to my own ser
vants, their condition is as good as I can make it. They are
placed under a contract, which no instrument in Avriting could
make more sacred. By this contract, they, on their part, perform
not one half the work done by free laborers ; and I, on my part,
am bound to employ a missionary to teach and catechize them and
'their children ; to provide them a home and clothes and provisions
and fuel, and land to plant for themselves ; to pay all medical bills ;

108
to guaranty to them all the profits of their skill and labor in their
own time ; to protect them as a guardian, and to administer to the
wants of their children, and of those that are sick and infirm and
aged. Such is their state ; nor have I any idea that they Avould
consent to be removed."
This picture may be deepened as Ave please. Dr. Fuller,
and every slaveholder Avho is like him, may clothe, feed, and
house his slaves as he does himself ; he may watch over their
mental and moral condition Avith as much real solicitude as he
does that of a child ; he may love them almost with a father's
love; and yet, notwithstanding all alleviations, it is Avrong
for him to hold slaves. Slaveholding is always Avrong.
It should be constantly borne in mind, that no man can be
oblisred either to become or continue a slaveholder. No
O
man can make me a slaveholder or a landholder without or
against my consent. Indeed, no gift to me of slaves or land
is perfect, until I have accepted it. No man need accept an
inheritance of slaves, or be a slaveholder any longer than he
pleases to be. Where the law of his State permits, he may
emancipate his slaves. If manumission is actually or vir
tually forbidden, he may take his slaves into a Free State ;
and, by such act alone, they become freemen. With full
power, therefore, at any moment to dissolve the relation,
Dr. Fuller voluntarily continues to hold slaves. All slave-
holding is unnecessary, and none is involuntary on the part
of the owner..
It should also be borne in mind, that a slave, under all
circumstances, Avhether he be caressed or scourged, loved or
hated, overworked or underworked, instructed or debased,
is the property of his master, and, as such, is subject to all
the legal incidents of property. Dr. Fuller's slaves are as
much Dr. Fuller's property as his horse, his Avatch, the coat
on his back, or the books on the shelves of his library ; and,
as property, their happy, elevated condition necessarily de
pends upon the accidents of Dr. Fuller's life, health, and
wealth. When these fail, their condition Avill unquestionably
be either very materiaUy affected for the worse, or altogether
changed.

109
And, first, if his wealth should fail from unforeseen cala
mities ; so that from affluence, it may be, he should be
reduced to real Avant, and be unable to pay the just claims
of his creditors ; the latter may satisfy their claims by a sale of
his slaves. Nothing but payment of the debts could prevent
such a catastrophe. Equally with his horses and theological
library,* his slaves Avould legally constitute a fund out of
Avhich his creditors might satisfy their claims. Husband and
Avife, parent and child, the prattling infant and the old man
of seventy Avinters, might legally be placed upon the auction-
block, and sold to the highest bidder, singly or in lots to suit,
as might seem most calculated to advance the interest of the
creditors. Dr. Fuller's prayers and tears would avail nothing.
Plis kind and humane treatment, continued through so many
years, would then increase the market-value of his slaves ;
and that is all. Nothing that he could do Avould be able to
save them from the auction-block. And Avhat, under such
circumstances, would become of their mental, moral, or even
their physical condition 1 There would not be one chance
in a thousand that all their new masters would be like Dr.
Fuller, or that they would escape the lot of most other
slaves, — a state of hopeless degradation !
Does any one say, that, though the laAv would favor such
a sale by creditors, public opinion would not tolerate it?
We Avill not stop to consider how far the law may be
regarded as an index of public opinion. We simply ask,
If Christian churches may sell slaves at auction, Avhat may
not private individuals do consistently with public opinion ?
We have already given the advertisement for sale by Tho
mas N. Gadsden, a brother, we believe, of Bishop Gads
den, of South Carolina ("Slavery as it is," p. 174), of a
prime gang of negroes belonging to the Independent Church
in Christ Church Parish ; and we Avill adduce only one other
* The Rev. Dr. Furman, of North Carolina, another Baptist clergyman,
like Dr. Fuller wrote a defence of slavery. After his death, his legal repre
sentative advertised for sale at auction his real estate, and " a library of a
miscellaneous character, chiefly theological; twenty-seven negroes, some of
them very prime," &c. (" The Church as it is," p. 73.)

110
similar instance.. Few, if any, theological bodies at the
South seem to have devoted more time, attention, and money
to elevating the moral character of the slaves than the Synod
of South Carolina and Georgia; and yet the Board of Di
rectors of its Theological Seminary do not scruple to invest
the funds of the institution in slaves, or to sell them by auc
tion in order to obtain repayment of a loan. The " Savannah
(Ga.) Republican" of March 3, 1845, contains an advertise
ment, of Avhich the following is an extract : —
" Will be Sold, on the first Tuesday in March, in front of
the Court-house, in the city of Darien, Georgia, between the legal
hours of sale, the following negro-slaves, i.e. Charles, Peggy,
Antonett, Davy, September, Maria, Jenny, and Isaac, levied on as
the property of Henry T. Hall, to satisfy a mortgage, fi. fa., issued
out' of the M'lntosh Superior Court in favor of the Board of Direc
tors of the Theological Seminary of the Synod of South Carolina
and Georgia, against said Henry T. Hall. — Conditions cash.
C. O'Neal, Deputy-sheriff, M.C."
Suppose Dr. Fuller should become insane, or otherwise
unfit to manage his own affairs. Such cases often occur.
Then the control of the slaves Avould pass Avith his other
property into other hands. What Avould insure their con
tinued mental and moral Avell-being ? The laAv Avould not, —
public opinion Avould not ! Every thing would depend on
the character of the legal guardian or trustee ; and even this
could afford no adequate protection. The laAv permits an
owner to do many things Avhich it Avould not suffer a guar
dian or a trustee to do. The legal guardian of Dr. Fuller's
estate Avould hardly be alloAved to suffer his slaves to " per
form not one half the work done by free laborers." The
guardian's rule of conduct Avould be the law, and the common
mode of treatment in the community. If he overstepped this
line, and any pecuniary loss should be the consequence, the
loss Avould fall on him personally. How many guardians or
trustees Avould be willing to run any risk of a criminal prose
cution or a fine or imprisonment, in order to insure the happy
condition of another's man property ? Not one in ten thou
sand ! And yet, unless his guardian Avas Avilling to do this, —

Ill
unless he Avas Avilling to brave the law, and act contrary to
the general customs of society, Dr. Fuller's slaves Avould very
soon lapse into the same degraded condition in Avhich the
slaves about them commonly live. Nothing Avould be more
likely than to find Dr. Fuller's guardian advertising in the
following manner : —
"Negroes to Hire. — On Wednesday, the 26th inst. I will
hire to the highest bidder the negroes belonging to Charles and
Robert Innes. Geo. W. Williams, Guardian."
" Negro'Hirings. — Will be offered for hire, at Capt. Long's
Hotel, a number of slaves, men, Avomen, boys, and girls, belong
ing to the orphans of George Ash, deceased.
Richard W. Barton, Guardian."
The laAv forbids teaching slaves to read and write. Dr.
Fuller may disregard the laAv, and give his slaves careful
instruction, supplying them Avith plenty of books, and alloAv-
ing them time to read in. The law denies marriage to the
slaves, and pays no heed to their family ties. Dr. Fuller
may consecrate with the utmost care the marriage- of his
slaves, and sacredly protect their family relations. The laAV
declares slaves to be, under all circumstances, saleable
articles. Dr. Fuller may think that he treats them as men,
and shudder at the thought of selling them. Thus may he
do in his lifetime ; but it is appointed unto all men to die ;
and what, in the event of his death, will become of his
slaves ?
He may possibly leave a Avill, bequeathing them, upon the
condition that his kind and humane treatment shall be con
tinued, that they shall be taught to read and write, that their
marriages and family relations shall be sacredly respected,
and that they shall never be subject to be sold ; that is, on
the condition that his legatees shall break the law, as he has
done. The only result will be, that the laAv will declare all
such conditions to be utterly void ; and the legatees "will own
the slaves, entirely freed from all such conditions. The leg
atees Avill be under no other restraints than those imposed by
the laAV, public opinion, and their own consciences. The

112
latter restraint only may possibly avail the slaves; and their
happy condition may be continued, if all the legatees are,
like Dr. Fuller, laAv-defying, humane, kind-hearted, and
above Avant ! But hoAv unlikely is it that such will be the
case ! How much more unlikely is it that such a state of
things A\'ill continue ! And yet, unless such a state of things
exists, and continues to exist, Dr. Fuller's slaves must in
evitably become as degraded as the great mass of their
felloAvs. If he should die intestate, then his slaves, as part of his
estate, would have to be duly administered on and distributed
among the heirs-at-law. The administrator, a mere trustee,
could not, as Ave have seen, safely continue Dr. Fuller's plan
of management ; nor can it be supposed that any administra
tor Avould follow it. If it became necessary or expedient
in order to pay debts, husbands AA_ould be separated from
Avives, parents from children, and brothers from sisters. The
AvidoAv (if any) Avould be entitled to a life-estate in one-third
of the slaves, which one-third would be assigned to her in
severalty, even though this might involve a separation of
families ; for the common law of the Slave States makes the
same profession as the common law of England, that it
favors three things, — life, liberty, and dower ! The remain
ing slaves, and the reversion of those assigned to the Avidow,
A\'ould belong to the heirs, and Avould have to be equally
divided between them, not divided by families, or even per
capita, but so that each heir should have an equally valuable
slave-investment, or an equal share in the property of the
deceased. If the heirs should be numerous, or the slaves
few, so that an equal division of them could not be thus
made, they Avould have to be sold, and their proceeds equally
divided. Such sales must be common. The following is
taken from the " Georgia Journal : " —
"To be Sold, — One negro-girl, about 18 months old, belong
ing to the estate of William Chambers, deceased. Sold for the
purpose of distribution.
Jetiiro Dean, ) „ ,,
Samuel Beall J Executors-

113
How often are heirs needy ! Hoav very seldom are they
actuated by the same spirit or governed by the same vieAvs
as their ancestor ! Some of them might be under age, and
regally incapable of acting for themselves ; and yet here, as
in the other case, unless the widoAv and heirs-at-law should
be all of full age, ready to break the law of the State, and
humane, kind-hearted, and above Avant, like Dr. Fuller, his
slaves could not escape the common degradation of their
fellows. Hoav extremely improbable is it that such would
be the situation of the AvidoAv and all the heirs ! How much
more improbable is it that such a state of things Avould con
tinue ! Hoav much more likely is it that Ave should find
some of the heirs disliking an investment in slaves, or wish
ing to be disembarrassed of their care, or desirous to reduce
their stock of negroes, and accordingly selling their portion
of Dr. Fuller's slaves at auction ! In the " Charleston (S.C.)
Mercury " of Sept. 1, 1347, Ave find the following : —
" For Sale, — A young and healthy negro-AVoman, about 24
years of age, Avith her two children, a boy between 5 and 6 years,
and an infant, 6 months old. Sold for no fault but to change the
property, Apply at this office."
This is from the " New Orleans Commercial Bulletin " of
August 27, 1847 : —
" Desirable Virginia House-servant. — By Beard, Cal
houn, & Co. Saturday, 28th inst. at 12 o'clock, will he sold at
auction, at Banks's Arcade, the Griffe servant, Lucy, 19 years; a
trusty house-girl, of fine character, Avasher, ironer, and Ameri
can cook, and sews remarkably Avell. Sold for no fault, as her
owner is leaving the city. Fully guarantied against the vices and
maladies prescribed by laAV. — Terms cash. Act of sale before
J. R. Beard, notary public, at the expense of purchaser."
The " National Intelligencer " of August 1, 1848, contains
the folloAving : —
" Valuable Servant at Private Sale. — We have for sale
a valuable servant-girl, aged about 17 years. She is an excellent
house-servant. Sold for no fault ; the owner about removing to
the country. Ed. C. & G. F. Dyer,
Auctioneers and Commission Merchants."
15

114
The same paper of January 20, 1844, contains the fol-
loAving : —
" For Sale, — Two likely mulatto Avomen ; one middle-aged,
an excellent cook, washer, and ironer, and a good seamstress ; the
other young, and a good seamstress and house-servant ; and both
capable of doing any Avork- required in a family. They are sold
on account of the oioner not having sufficient employment. — Apply
to Mr. Henry Trunnel, Georgetown."
In the same paper, Nov. 2, 1844, Ave find this : —
"A Negho-boy for Sale or Hire. — A boy, 16 years old,
well-grown and active, is for sale, but not to a trader. He has been
employed in, attending to horses, driving a carriage, working in a
garden, &c. and toill be sold only because the owner has too many
servants. He may be had on trial. — Apply at J. B. Holmead's
Auction Rooms."
The boy is not to be sold to a trader ; but there can be no
security that the purchaser will not thus sell him.
The " Spirit of Liberty " contains a notice, from " Scott's
Intelligence Office," ofthe sale of three negro girls, aged 10,
19, and 16 years respectively, and a boy 14 years old. The
notice states, " All the above serA'ants are sold for no faults,
and are just from the country, consigned to me for sale by
their owners, Avho recommend them very highly ; they wish
to reduce their stock of negroes is the cause of their being in
the market for sale."
Perhaps some one or more of Dr. Fuller's heirs may be
indebted. What, in such case, will prevent a creditor from
leA-ying on an undivided share of Dr. Fuller's happy slaves ?
Perhaps the debtor may Avish to convey his property to trus
tees for the benefit of his creditors. We take the folIoAving
advertisement from the " National Anti-Slavery Standard,"
April 15, 1847 : —
" Trustee's Sale. — Plantation and negroes in Washington
County, Mississippi ; and Yazoo city toAvn lot and buildings. On
Monday, the first of February, 1847, I Avill proceed to sell, by
virtue of a certain deed of trust, executed 10th May, 1845, hy
Thomas J. Reed, to mc, as trustee, and duly recorded in the

115
proper county, and at the special instance and request ofthe credi
tors named in said deed, at public sale, to the highest bidder, for
cash, on the premises, the following described lands, situated,
lying, and being in the county of Washington, and State of Mis
sissippi, and described as follows, to wit : 
" Section No. 3, &c. &c
" Also one undivided half of the following named negroes,
slaves for life, held jointly with the heirs of Baine, viz. Sophia,
aged 45^; Nancy, 35 ; Queen, 40 ; Jane, 19; Rachel, 11; Pris-
cella; Jenny, 60; Maria, 30; Lydia, 30; Amanda, 22; Edna,
30; Vina, 36; Betsy, 35; Ellen, 9; Peyton, 8; Bob, 4; Louis,
15 ; Chub, 8 ; Horace, 6 ; Louisa, 1 ; Jim, jr. 4 ; Mary, 4 1-2 ;
Harriet, 6 ; Dick, 9 ; George, 5 ; Billy, 50 ; John Brown, 36 ;
Alexander, 40 ; Louis Johnson, 62 ; Hatton, 35 ; Jim, sen. 42 ;
Frank, 50; John, jr. or Little John, 16; John Mitchell, 47;
Louis Davis, 40; Warren, 40 ; Ben, 36 ; Oliver, 40 ; Louis, jr.
or Charles Louis, 5 ; LaAvson, 35 ; Sam, 19 ; Harvey, 21 ; Flem
ing, 6 ; Amy, 4 ; Bonaparte, 3 ; Catherine (Queen's child), 2.
" And further, all the right, title, and interest of said Reed in
and to the following named slaves, to wit, Henny and her three
children, Dick, Jane, and Peter ; together with all the stock of
horses, cattle, mules, hogs, and farming implements appertaining
to said tracts of land, Avhich is believed to be an entire estate
in fee." The above sale will be for cash, and I Avill convey to the pur
chaser only such title as is vested in me by said deed of trust.
W. S. Mott.
" No postponement on account of the weather."
Other cases might doubtless be put ; but these are sufficient
to enable us to test the question of right and Avrong. And
no labored argument is necessary. Dr. Fuller admits (what
we have already proved) that slaveholding is most generally
wrong, because it is accompanied by the mental and moral
degradation of the slaves. But, by voluntarily retaining the
-ownership of his slaves, he renders just such a degradation
almost inevitable even for them. Without the slightest
necessity for so doing, and solely because he Avishes so to
do, he renders almost certain the hopeless degradation of
his felloAv-man. Such conduct cannot be right, even though
(as doubtless in his case) pursued from right motives. No

116
one has the right unnecessarily to impede our spiritual or
mental culture, even in the slightest degree, — much less
unnecessarily to expose us, almost certainly, to hopeless
degradation. No more have Ave the right, by holding our
fellows in slavery, to render almost inevitable the death of
their souls.
Slaveholding, then, is always Avrong, because it either de
liberately murders the souls of its victims, or else renders
such spiritual death almost inevitable. Nor is slaveholding
ever made right by the fact that the slaves will not consent
to be emancipated ; for no man can rightfully consent to his
OAvn degradation. What man would consent to become
even the favored slave of Dr. Fuller ?

117

CHAPTER XL
r
THE CONSTITUTION AND ITS INTERPRETATION.

The Constitution Is. not what it ought to be, not what ire wish it to be ; not what is
consistent with sound morals, but simply what its words meant in 1789, — nothing more,
nothing less.

The Constitution of the United States was draAvn up by a
Convention, of which Washington was president. The peo
ple, assembled in their State Conventions, adopted the draft,
because it aptly expressed the kind of union they Avished to
have, because it fully and exactly expressed their meaning.
In order, therefore, to ascertain the character of our political
union with the Slave States, Ave have only to ascertain the
true meaning of the vrards of the Constitution, or their plain,
obvious, and common meaning, at the time the Constitution
was adopted. Every Avriter who wishes to be understood
uses his Avords in their usual signification. Every one sup
poses that Ave mean just Avhat our Avords commonly mean
noAv. When Ave read Chaucer, or Shakspeare, or Dr.
Johnson, Ave understand him to mean just Avhat his words
commonly meant at the time he Avrote; unless such meaning
is repelled or qualified by the context, in which case we
adopt this neAV or qualified meaning. In hke manner, the
people of the United States are to be understood to mean,
by the Avords of the Constitution, just what those words
commonly meant when the Constitution was adopted, unless
such meaning is repelled or qualified by the context ; in
which case, a regard for truth obliges us to adopt this new
or qualified meaning.

118
This simple, true, and universally practised rule is thus
laid down by Judge Story (Comm. on Const. Abr. § 210) : —
" Every Avord employed in the Constitution is to be expounded
in its plain, obvious, and common sense, unless the context fur
nishes some ground to control, qualify, or enlarge it. Constitu
tions are not designed for metaphysical or logical subtleties, for
niceties of expression, for critical propriety, for elaborate shades
of meaning, or for the exercise of philosophical acuteness or juridi
cal research. They are instruments of a practical nature, founded
on the common business of human life, adapted to common wants,
designed for common use, and fitted for common understandings.
The people make them ; the people adopt them ; the people must
be supposed to read them, with the help of common sense ; and
cannot be presumed to admit in them any recondite meaning, or
any extraordinary gloss." — Sec. 212 : "Where technical words
are used, the technical meaning is to be applied to them, unless it
is repelled by the context. But the same Avord often possesses a
technical and a common sense.^ In such a case, the latter is to be
preferred, unless some attendant circumstance points clearly to the
former." The Constitution Avas also framed and adopted with refer
ence to the actual political, social, and local condition of the
people. It grew out of their Avants and Avishes. The steps
AArhich finally led to its adoption grew out of one of the many
defects in the articles of confederation. Consequently, to
arrive at the true meaning of the Constitution, Ave must bear
in mind the political, social, and local condition of the people
at the time of its adoption, and, among many other similar
facts, the \-ery general existence of domestic slavery.*
Keeping in view these, the very simplest rules of interpre- '¦
tation, Ave Avill show Avhat the Constitution is according to
the common meaning of its terms ; Avhat its framers intended
to make it ; Avhat, in point of fact, it has been considered to
* This point, and the legality of Colonial and State Slavery, are more
elaborated in an article called " The Constitutionality of Slavery," printed in
the " Massachusetts Quarterly Review ; " a purely legal, uninteresting exa
mination, which needs not to be repeated here.
For a moro extended proof of the constitutionality of slavery, we refer to
"Wendell Phillips's very able Review of Lysander Spooner's Essay. >

119
be in the practice of the government ; and, finally, what it
has been adjudged to mean by that body Avhich it has itself
pointed out as the final arbiter of its meaning. And, if all
these unite in giving the Constitution but one character, Ave,
as reasonable men, seeking the truth, cannot deny that such
is its true character.

120

CHAPTER XII.
THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE COMMON MEAN
ING OF ITS TERMS.

The people made it, the people adopted it, the people must be supposed to read it with
the help of common sense, and cannot be presumed to admit in it any hidden or extra
ordinary meaning.

At the time of the adoption of the Constitution, slavery
existed in all the States except Massachusetts. Hoav far, if
at all, does this. instrument support or countenance the insti
tution ?
Art. 1 , sec. 2 : " Representatives and direct taxes shall be ap
portioned among the several States which may be included within
this union, according to their respective numbers, Avhich shall be
determined by adding to the Avhole number of free persons, includ
ing those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding In
dians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons."
By this section, persons are divided into those Avho are
free and those Avho are slaves ; for to the Avhole number of
free persons are to be added three-fifths of all other persons,
that is, persons not free, or slaves. If Ave adopt the plain,
obvious, and common meaning of the Avords as their true
meaning, this conclusion is incontrovertible.
It is sometimes urged, that by "free person" is meant
" citizen." But the expression cannot be taken in any such
technical sense. Under the expression " free persons " are
included those bound to service for a term of years, and
therefore from it are excluded those bound to service for life,
or slaves.

121
This article, therefore, recognizes slavery as explicitly as
if the Avord slave itself had been used, and gives to the free
persons in a Slave State, solely because they are slave
holders, a larger representation, and consequently greater
political poAver, than the same number of free persons in a
Free State. A bounty on slaveholding !
Art. 1, sec. 9 : " The migration or importation of such persons
as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall
not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand
eight hundred and eight ; but a tax or duty may he imposed on
such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person."
It is clear that this section recognizes a difference between
the meaning of migration and importation., since, if both
words mean the same thing, no reason whatever can be
be assigned why a tax is not permitted in both cases. This
difference, Avhatever it is, must afford a good reason Avhy
persons imported may be taxed, and persons migrating not.
The true meaning of the section seems obvious. A person
Avho migrates does so of his OAvn accord : he cannot be said
to be migrated by any other person. He is Avholly a free
agent. A person who is imported does not import himself,
but is imported by some other person. He is passive. The
importer is the free agent ; the person imported is not a free
agent. Thus the slave-laAvs of Virginia of 1748 * and 1753 f
begin — " All persons Avho have been or shall be imported"
&c. &c. " shall be accounted and be slaves." Whenever
Ave hear an importation spoken of, Ave instantly infer an
importer, an owner, and properly imported. This distinction
betAveen the meaning of the iavo Avords is, then, real. It
affords a good reason for the restriction on the right to tax.
Therefore, Ave say, it is the true distinction. On our con
struction, Congress had power to lay a tax on persons
imported as property or slaves, but had no right to tax free
persons migrating.
By this clause, therefore, Congress Avas prevented, during
twenty years, from prohibiting the foreign slave-trade with
* 5 Hen. Stat. 547. t 6 Ibid. 356.
16

122
any State that pleased to alloAv it. But, by Art. 1, sec. 8,
Congress had the general power " to regulate commerce
Avith foreign nations." Consequently, , the slave-trade vjas
excepted from the operation ofthe general power, with a view
to place the slave-trade, during twenty years, solely tinder the
control of the Slave States. It could not be Avholly stopped,
so long as one State Avished to continue it. It is a clear
compromise in favor of slavery. True, the compromise Avas
a temporary one ; but it Avill be noticed, that Congress, even
after 180S, Avas not obliged to prohibit the trade ; and, in
point of fact, until 1819 the laws of Congress authorized the
States to sell into slavery, for their own benefit, negroes
imported contrary 'to the laAvs of the United States ! (Act
Congr. 1807, c. 77, § 4, 6 ; 1818, c. 86, § 5 and 7 ; 10 Wheat.
Rep. 321, 322.) So unmixed should be our satisfaction at
the oft-repeated boast, that ours Avas the first nation to pro
hibit the African slaAre-trade !
Art. 4, sec. 2 : " No person held to service or labor in one
State, under the laAvs thereof, escaping into another, shall, in con
sequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such
service or labor ; but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party
to whom such service or labor may be due."
The time of holding not being limited, the expression here
used must include not only persons held to service or labor
for a term of years, but also those held to service or labor for
life. Consequently, it includes those who are free persons
Avithin the meaning of Art. 1, sec. 2, and slaves or persons
held to service or labor for life.
That the expression " person held to service or labor " Avas
a correct definition of the condition of a slave, at the time the
Constitution Avas adopted, is evident. The sixth article of
the North-western ordinance reads thus: "There shall be
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory,
othenvise than in the punishment of crimes, Avhereof the
party shall have been duly convicted ; provided ahvays, that,
any person escaping into the same, from Avhom labor or ser
vice is laAvfully claimed in any one of the original States,

123
such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to
the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid."
In other words, the expression " a person from Avhom labor
or service is lawfully claimed" so correctly described the
condition of a slave, that Congress deemed it necessary to
except such persons from the operation of an article relating
only to slaves. In less than three months after the passage
of this ordinance, this clause in the Constitution was drafted.
It needs no argument to show, that the expression in the
Constitution means the same as that in the ordinance. " A
person from Avhom labor or service is laAvfully claimed in
any one of the original States" means the same as "a
person held to service or labor in one State under the laAvs
thereof." If the former correctly described the condition of
a slave, the latter did also.
We can, hoAvever, see that the expression does properly
describe the legal condition of a slave. A slave, though an
article of property, has always and in every State been
recognized as a person, by being held criminally responsible
for his acts. Thus the preamble to the Act of South Caro
lina (May 10, 1740 ; 1 Grimke's LaAvs, 16-5), Avhich provides
for the trial of slaves, recites that " natural justice forbids
that any person, of Avhat condition soever, should be con
demned unheard ; " and the Act of Georgia of 1770 (Prince's
Dig. 777) provides for the trial of " slaves and other persons."
The Act of Virginia (1748, sec. 15 ; 5 Hen. Stat. 547) and
North Carolina (1741, sec. 29 ; Iredell, Stat. 62—66) call
runaway slaves persons in so many Avords. Similar laAvs
might be cited, if deemed necessary. A slave is also held to
labor and service for life by law. Labor and service are the
lot of every slave. " To slave " means " to toil." It is
sometimes denied, but nevertheless it is true, that the laAv
recognizes that labor and service are legally due from the
slave to his master. Thus the Act of North Carolina (1741,
sec. 27), before quoted, makes it a criminal offence to tempt
or persuade a slave to leave his master's " service." " Ser
vice" is recognized as being legally due from a slave in
Virginia (Act 1691, 3 Hen. Stat. 86, 87). The Provincial

124
Assembly of South Carolina (Act 1740, sec. 44) provided
that, —
" If any owner of slaves, or other person who shall have the
care, management, or overseeing of any slaves, shall Avork, or put
any such slave or slaves to labor, more than fifteen hours in twenty-
four hours, from the twenty-fifth day of March to the twenty-fifth
day of September, or more than fourteen hours in twenty-four
hours, from the twenty-fifth day of September to the twenty-fifth
day of March, every such person shall forfeit any sum not exceed
ing twenty pounds, nor under five pounds, current money for every
time he, she, or they shall offend herein, at the discretion of the
justice before whom the complaint shall be made."
The Provincial Assembly of Georgia (Act 1770, May 10,
sec. 41) provided that, —
" If any person shall, on the Lord's day, commonly called Sun
day, employ any slave in any work or labor (works of absolute
necessity and the necessary occasions of the family only excepted),
every person so offending shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten
shillings for every slave he, she, or they shall so cause to work or
labor." A similar laAv Avas passed in South Carolina (Act 1740,
sec. 22). These and similar laAvs, by limiting the hours of
daily Avork and labor, or by providing that Avork and labor
shall not be demanded of a slave on Sunday, recognize that
on other days, and Avithin certain hours, a master may le
gally demand them. That Avhich may be legally demanded
is legally due. Therefore, Avork and labor, or service, are
legally due from the slave to his master. To this labor and
service the slave is " held " by the laAv. If he refuses to
Avork, his master may coerce him. II he runs aAvay, his
master may pursue and retake him legally. He is " held
for life," or until emancipated according to law. Conse
quently, the expression in the Constitution correctly describes
the condition of a slave. Indeed, it more correctly describes
this condition than " chattel personal" Avould, because it is
the almost universal practice to treat a slave in many impor
tant particulars, such as doAver, &c. like real property ; and,

125
in some States, slaves are declared by statute to be real
estate. By this section, therefore, it is provided that no person
held as a slave in one State under the laAvs thereof, escaping
into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation
therein, be discharged from his slavery, but shall be delivered
up on claim of his owner. The laws of one State, Avhether
they support slavery or any other institution, have no poAver
in another State. Consequently, if a slave escapes into a
Free State, he becomes free. This is the general rule of
laAv. In virtue of it, thousands of slaves are now free on the
soil of Canada. In virtue of it, a fugitive slave from South
Carolina Avould be free in this State, Avere it not for this sec
tion in the Constitution. But this section declares that he
shall not thereby become free, but shall be delivered up.
Again, the Constitution makes an exception from a general
rule of laio in favor of slavery. It gives to slaveholders, and
slave-laws, a poAver Avhich the general rule of laAv does not'
give. It enables a South Carolina slaveholder to drag from
the soil of Massachusetts a person Avhom the general rule of
laAv pronounces free, solely because South Carolina laws
declare the contrary. It makes the Avhole Union a vast
hunting-ground for slaves ! There is not a single spot from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the St. John's to the Rio
del Norte, or " Avheresoe'er may be the fleeting boundary of
this republic," on Avhich a fugitive slave may rest, and his
OAvner may not, in virtue of this clause, claim and retake him
as his slave !
Art. 1, sec. 8 : " Congress shall have power .... to provide for
calling forth the militia .... to suppress insurrections."
Art. 4, sec. 4 : " The United States shall guarantee to every
State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall
protect each of them against invasion ; and, on application of the
legislature or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be
convened), against domestic violence."
v All insurrections and all cases of domestic violence are
here provided for. To constitute an insurrection vrithin the

126
meaning of the Constitution, there must be a rising against
those laAvs Avhich are recognized as such by the Constitution ;
and, to make out a case of domestic violence, the violence
must be exerted against that right or poAver Avhich is recog
nized by the Constitution as laAvful. But, by Art. 4, sec. 2,
the Constitution admits that some persons are legally slaves ;
else the clause itself must be entirely inoperative. Conse
quently, if these persons rise in rebellion, or commit acts of
violence contrary to the laAvs Avhich hold them in slavery,
their rising constitutes an insurrection ; such acts are acts of
violence Avithin the meaning of the Constitution, and con
sequently must be suppressed by the national poAver. And
Avhat insurrections Avere more likely to happen and more to
be dreaded than slave-insurrections, and therefore more likely
to have been provided for ?
Slave-owners are not the only slaveholders. All persons
Avho voluntarily assist or pledge themselves to assist in hold
ing persons in slavery are slaveholders. In sober truth, then,
we are a nation of slaveholders ! for Ave have bound our
whole national strength to the slave-OAvners, to aid them, if
necessary, in holding their slaves in subjection !

127

/ .
CHAPTER XIII.

THE CONSTITUTION AS ITS FRAMERS INTENDED TO
MAKE IT.

"Yes! — it cannot be denied — the slaveholding lords of tha South prescribed, as a con
dition of their assent to the Constitution, three special provisions to secure' the perpetuity of
their dominion over their slaves." — John Quincy Adams.

The question, What kind of a Constitution did its framers -
intend to make ? is purely an historical one ; and it must be
obvious to all, that any thing like a complete statement of
the evidence on this point cannot be given Avithin the limits
of this pamphlet.
On the 17th of September, 1787, the Philadelphia Conven
tion adopted the plan of the present Constitution. The draft
thus made Avas submitted to the people, assembled in State
Conventions, " for their assent and ratification." President
Madison has preserved a record of the debates in the Phila
delphia Convention ; and Ave have also published accounts
of the debates in several of the State Conventions. We draAv
our evidence mainly from these sources.
i
Apportionment of Representatives. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 2.)
On- the 18th of April, 1783, the Continental Congress
passed a resolve, recommending the States to amend the
Articles of Confederation in such manner that the national
expenses should be defrayed out of a common treasury,
" which shall be supplied by the several States, in proportion
to the Avhole number of white or other free inhabitants, of

128
every age, sex, and condition, including those bound to ser
vitude for a term of years, and three-fifths of all other per
sons not comprehended in the foregoing description, except
Indians, not paying taxes, in each State." This amendment
Avas adopted by eleven out of the thirteen States.
A single glance is sufficient to satisfy any one, that, under
the expression in this resolve, " all other persons," skives
Avere intended ; and an equally cursory glance suffices to
show, that Art. 1, sec. 2, of the Constitution is derived, almost
copied, from this resolve. Did not the framers of the Con
stitution, in adopting the same expression (Art. 1, sec. 2),
mean the same thing as the Continental Congress ?
In the Massachusetts Convention, Art. 1, sec. 2, of the
Constitution haAing been read, Rufus King, one of its fra
mers, rose to explain it : —
" This paragraph states, that the number of free persons shall
be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons,
including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding
Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. These persons
are the slaves. By this rule is representation and taxation to be
apportioned, and it Avas adopted because it was the language of all
America. ..........
" Five negro-children of South Carolina are to pay as much tax
as the three governors of NeAv Hampshire, Massachusetts, and
Connecticut." In the NeAv York Convention, Alexander Hamilton, an
other of the framers, remarked : —
" The first thing objected to is that clause Avhich allows a re
presentation for three-fifths of the negroes.
" The regulation complained _ of Avas one result of the spirit of
accommodation which governed the Convention ; and, without this
indulgence, no union could possibly have been formed."
In the Pennsylvania Convention, James Wilson, another
of the framers, said, referring to the resolve of the Conti
nental Congress passed in 1783: —
" It Avas not carried into effect, but it was adopted by no fewer
than eleven out of thirteen States ; and it cannot but be matter of

129
surprise to hear gentlemen, Avho agreed to this very mode of expres
sion at that time, come forward, and state it as an objection on the
present occasion. It Avas natural, sir, for the late Convention to
adopt the mode after it had been agreed to by eleven States, and
to use the expression which they found had been received as un
exceptionable before."
In a speech before the legislature of Maryland, Luther
Martin, also a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention,
offers the following clear and unmistakable testimony : —
" With respect to that part of the second section of the first
article, it was urged that no principle could justify taking slaves
into computation in apportioning the number of representatives a
State should have in the government ; — that it involved the absurd
ity of increasing the power of a State in making laws for freemen, in
proportion as that State violated the rights of freedom; — that it
might be proper to take slaves into consideration, when taxes were
to be apportioned, because it had a tendency to discourage slavery ;
but to take them into account in giving representation tended to
encourage the slave-trade, and to make it the interest of the States
to continue that infamous traffic."
In the North Carolina Convention, Wm. R. Davie, a
member of the Convention Avho framed the Constitution,
said : —
"The Eastern States had great jealousies on this subject. They
insisted that their cows and horses were equally entitled to repre
sentation ; that the one Avas property as Avell as the other. It
became our duty, on the other hand, to acquire as much Aveight as
possible in the legislation of the Union ; and, as the Northern
States Avere more populous in whites, this only could be done by
insisting that a certain proportion of our slaves should make a
part of the computed population."
In the South Carolina Convention, General Chas. C.
Pinckney, another of the framers of the Constitution,
said : —
" We were at a loss for some time for a rule to ascertain the
proportionate wealth of the States. At last Ave thought that the
productive labor of the inhabitants Avas the best rule for ascertain
ing their wealth. In conformity to this rule, joined to a spirit of
17

130
concession, we determined that representatives should be appor
tioned among the several States, by adding to the whole number
of free persons, three-fifths of the slaves."
Permission of the. African Slave-trade. (Const. Art. 1,
sec. 9.)
In the Massachusetts Convention, Mr. DaAves, speaking
in relation to Art. 1, sec. 2, said that —
" Gentlemen would do Avell to connect the passage in' dispute
with another article in the Constitution, that permits Congress, in
the year 1808, wholly to prohibit the importation of slaves, and
in the meantime to impose a duty of ten dollars a head on such
blacks as should be imported before that period."
Many persbns spoke in the Convention on this section; and,
among others, Judge Dana rejoiced that a door Avas opened
by it for the annihilation of the slave-trade.
In the Pennsylvania Convention, Mr. Wilson said: —
" Under the present confederation, the States may admit the
importation of slaves as long as they please ; but by this article,
after the year 1808, the Congress Avill have power to prohibit such
importation, notwithstanding the disposition of any State to the
contrary  It is with much satisfaction I vieAV this power
in the general government, Avhereby they may lay an interdiction
on this reproachful trade. But an immediate advantage is also
obtained ; for a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation,
not exceeding ten dollars for each person ; and this, sir, operates as
a partial prohibition. It Avas all that could be, obtained : I am sorry
it Avas no more."
In Maryland, Luther Martin, in the speech before referred
to, says, speaking of this section : —
" The design of this clause is to prevent the general government
from prohibiting the importation of slaves ; but the same reasons
which caused them to strike out the word ' national,' and not
admit the word * stamps,' influenced them here to guard against
the Avord ' slaves.' They anxiously sought to avoid the admission
of expressions Avhich might be odious in the ears of Americans,
although they were Avilling to admit int6 their system those things
which the expressions signified."

131
Mr. Martin thus gives the Avell-knoAvn history of the com
promise involved in this clause : —
" This clause was the subject of a great diversity of sentiment
in the Convention. As the system was reported by the committee
of detail, the provision was general, that such importation should
not be prohibited, Avithout confining it to any particular period.
This was rejected by eight States ; Georgia, South Carolina, and, I
think, North Carolina, voting for it.
" We were then told by the delegates of the two first of those
States, that their States would never agree to a system which put
it in the power of the general government to prevent the importa
tion of slaves ; and that they, as delegates from those States, must
withhold their assent from such a system.
" A committee of one member from each State was chosen by
ballot to take this part of the system under their consideration, and
to endeavor to agree upon some report which should reconcile
those States. To this committee also was referred the following
proposition, which had been reported by the committee of detail,
to Avit : ' No Navigation Act shall be passed without the assent of
two-thirds of the members present in each house ; ' — a proposition
which the staple and commercial States were solicitous to retain,
lest their commerce should be placed too much under the power of
the Eastern States ; but which these last States Avere as anxious to
reject. This committee, of which also I had the honor to be a
member, met, and took under their consideration the subjects com
mitted to them. Ifound the Eastern Slates, notwithstanding their
aversion to slavery, were very willing to indulge the Southern
States, at least with a temporary liberty to prosecute the slave-trade,
provided the Southern States would in their turn gratify them, by lay
ing no restriction on Navigation Acts ; and, after a very little time,
the committee, by a great majority, agreed on a report, hy which
the general government was to be prohibited from preventing the
importation of slaves for a limited time, and the restricted clause
relative to Navigation Acts was to be omitted.
" This report was adopted by a majority of the Convention, but
not Avithout considerable opposition."
In the Virginia Convention, Mr. Madison said : —
" Mr. Chairman, I should conceive this clause to be impolitic,
if it were one of those things which could be excluded without
encountering greater evils. The Southern States would not have

132
entered into the Union of America, Avithout the temporary permis
sion of that trade. And if they Avere excluded from the Union,
the consequences might be dreadful to them and to us. We are
not in a worse situation than before. That traffic is prohibited by
our laws, and Ave may continue the prohibition. The Union in
general is not in a Avorse situation. Under the articles of confedera
tion, it might be continued for ever ; but, by this clause, an end may
be put to it after twenty years. There is, therefore, an amelioration
of our circumstances. A tax may be laid in the meantime."
In the North Carolina Convention, Mr. Spaight, one of
the framers of the Constitution, said —
" That there was a contest between the Northern and Southern
States ; that the Southern States, whose principal support de
pended on the labor of slaves, would not consent to the desire
of the Northern States, to exclude the importation of slaves abso
lutely ; that South Carolina and Georgia insisted on this clause,
as they were noAV in want of hands to cultivate their lands ; that
in the course of twenty years they would be fully supplied ; that
the trade Avould be abolished then, and that in the meantime some
tax or duty might be laid on."
In the South Carolina Convention, Hon. RaAvlins Lowndes
said : —
" In the first place, what cause Avas there for jealousy of our
importing negroes ? Why confine us to twenty years, or rather
why limit us at all ? For his part, he thought this trade could be
justified on the principles of religion, humanity, and justice ; for
certainly to translate a set of human beings from a bad country to
a better Avas fulfilling every part of these principles. But they
don't like our slaves, because they have none themselves."
Gen. Charles C. Pinckney said : —
" By this settlement we have secured an unlimited importation of
negroes for twenty years ; nor is it declared that the importation
shall be then stopped : it may be continued ; Ave have a security
that the general government can never emancipate them."
Restoration of Fugitive Slaves. (Const. Art. 4, sec. 2.)
In the Philadelphia Convention, Aug. 28, 1787, Art. 14
Avas taken up for consideration. .This article read, " The

133
citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and
immunities of citizens in the several States." Gen. Pinckney
was not satisfied Avith it. He seemed to wish some provision
should be included in favor of propertyin slaves.
_ Art. 15 was as follows : —
" Any person charged Avith treason, felony, or high misdemeanor;
in any State, who shaU flee from justice, and shall be found in any
other State, shall, on demand of the executive power of the State
from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the State
having jurisdiction of the offence."
This article being then taken up, the Avords " high misde
meanor " were struck out, and the Avords " other crime "
inserted, in order to comprehend all proper cases ; it being
doubtful Avhether " high misdemeanor " had not a technical
meaning too limited.
Mr. Butler and Mr. Pinckney moved to require "fugitive
slaves and servants to be delivered up like criminals."
Mr. Wilson : This would oblige the executive of the State
to do it at the public expense.
Mr. Sherman saw no more propriety in the public seizin a
and surrendering a slave or servant than a horse.
Mr. Butler withdrew his proposition, in order that some
particular provision might be made, apart from this article.
Article 15, as amended, Avas then agreed to, nem. con. —
Mad. Papers, pp. 1447-8.
The next day, Aug. 29, Mr. Butler, to accomplish his
purpose, moved to insert, after Art. 15, —
" If any person, bound to service or labor in any of the United
States, shall escape into another State, he or she shall not be dis
charged from such service or labor, in consequence of any regula
tions subsisting in the State to Avhich they escape, but shall be
delivered up to the person justly claiming their service or labor."
Which was agreed to, nem. con.
After the phraseology had been somewhat altered, on
Saturday, Sept. 15, 1787, in this clause (then Const. Art. 4,
sec. 2) the term " legally " was struck out, and the Avords
"under the laws thereof" inserted after the Avord "State,"

134
in compliance Avith the Avish of some one who thought the
term legal equivocal, and favoring the idea that slavery Avas
le^al in a moral vieAv.

-o

In the Virginia Convention, Mr. Madison said : —
" Another clause secures us that property Avhich we now possess.
At present, if any slave elopes to any of those States Avhere slaves
are free, he becomes emancipated, by their laws ; for the laAvs of
the States are uncharitable (!) to one another in this respect. But
in this Constitution, ' No person held to service or labor in one
State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in con
sequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from
such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the
party to Avhom such service or labor may be due.' This clause was
expressly inserted to enable owners of slaves to reclaim them. This
is a better security than any that now exists. No poAver is given
to the general government to interpose Avith respect to the pro
perty in slaves now held by the States."
In the North Carolina Convention, Mr. Iredell begged
leave to explain the reason of this clause : —
" In some of the Northern States, they have emancipated all
their slaves. If any of our slaves," said he, " go there and remain
there a certain time, they Avould, by the present laws, be entitled
to their freedom, so that their masters could not get them again.
This would be extremely prejudicial to the inhabitants of the
Southern States ; and, to prevent it, this clause is inserted in the
Constitution. Though the word slave be not mentioned, this is the
meaning of it. The Northern delegates, owing to their particular
scruples on the subject of slavery, did not choose the Avord slave
to be mentioned." \
Gen. Pinckney, says Mr. Madison, was not satisfied with
Art. 14, and " seemed to Avish some provision should be
included in favor of property in slaves." He thus, in the
South Carolina Convention, expresses his satisfaction at this
article of the Constitution : —
" We have obtained a right to recover our slaves, in whatever
part of America they may take refuge, which is a right we had not
before. In short, considering all circumstances, Ave have made the

135
best terms for the security of this species of property it Avas in our
power to make. We would have made better if Ave could ; but, on
the whole, I do not think them bad." (!)
Suppression of Slave Insurrections. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 8 ;
Art. 4, sec. 4.)
Luther Martin, in the speech before alluded to, used the
following language : —
" It Avas further urged, that, by this system of government,
every State is to be protected both from foreign invasion and from
domestic insurrections : from this consideration, it was ofthe utmost
importance it should have a power to restrain the importation of
slaves, since, in proportion as the number of slaves are increased in
any State, in the same proportion the State is weakened and ex
posed to foreign invasion or domestic insurrection, and by so much
less will it be able to protect itself against either, and therefore
will by so much the more want aid from, and be a burden to, the
Union!" In the Virginia Convention, Mr. George Nicholas said : —
" Another Avorthy member says there is no power in the States to
quell an insurrection of slaves. Have they it now ? If they have,
does the Constitution take it aAvay ? If it does, it must be in one
of the three clauses which have been mentioned by the Avorthy
member. The first clause gives the general government power to
call them out when necessary. Does this take it away from the
States? No ; but it gives an additional security; for, besides the
power ih the State governments to use their own militia, it will be
the duty of the general government to aid them with the strength
of the Union, when called for. No part of this Constitution can
show that this power is taken away."
Mr. Madison, respecting these clauses, says : —
" On application of the legislature or executive, as the case may
be, the militia of the other States are to be called to suppress
domestic insurrections. Does this har the States from calling forth
their oAvn militia? No; but it gives them a supplementary secu
rity to suppress insurrections and domestic violence."

136

CHAPTER XIV.
THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE PRACTICE OF THE
GOVERNMENT.

*
Uniform practice under a law is one of the highest proofs of the meaning of that law.

Apportionment of Representatives. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 2.)
The Constitution (Art. 1, sec. 2, par. 3) provides that the
enumeration of the people of the United States (upon which
the apportionment of representatives and direct taxes was to
be made) " shall be made Avithin three years after the first
meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within
every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they
shall by laAv direct."
On the 1st of March, 1790, George Washington, Avho had
been president of the Convention which framed the Constitu
tion, approved " an Act providing for the enumeration of
the inhabitants of the United States." The first Congress
ever assembled, and the first President ever elected, under
the Constitution, under the sanction of their respective oaths
" to support the Constitution," by this Act expressed their
deliberate judgment as to the true meaning of the people of
the United States in adopting this section of the Constitution.
What, in their judgment, was such meaning ?
These extracts from the Act will suffice (Act 1790, chap.
29): —
Sec. 1 : "Be it enacted, &c. That the marshals of the several
districts of the United States shall be, and they are hereby, author-

137
ized and required to cause the number of the inhabitants within
their respective districts to be taken, omitting, in such enumeration,
Indians not taxed, and distinguishing free persons, including those
bound to service for a term of years, from all others ; distinguish
ing also the sexes and colors of free persons, and the free males of
sixteen years and upwards from those under that age : for effecting
which purpose, the marshals shall have power to appoint as many
assistants within their respective districts as to them shall appear
necessary, assigning to each assistant a certain division of his dis
trict," &c.
These assistants Avere obliged to transmit to the marshals,
returns in manner folloAvins- : —
" The number of persons within my division, consisting of  ,
appears in a schedule hereunto annexed, subscribed by me, this
 day of  179 .
A. B. Assistant to the Marshal of  "

Names of
heads
of families.

Free white
males of six
teen years and
upwards, in
cluding heads
of families.

Free white
males under
sixteen years.

Free white
females, in
cluding heads
of families.

All other free
persons.

Slaves.

•

That is, the enumeration directed to be made, and upon
the basis of Avhich the constitutional apportionment of repre
sentatives and direct taxes Avas to be made, distinguished
only betAveen free persons and slaves. Congress and the
President, under the sanction of their oaths, united in the ex
pression of their deliberate judgment, that the people of the
United States, by the expression (Art. 1, sec. 2) " three-fifths
of all other persons," intended " three-fifths of the slaves,"
because, in passing this Act, they declare that all other per
sons not free Avithin the meaning of this section are slaves.
The second Congress, at its first session, passed " An Act
for apportioning representatives among the several States,
according to the first enumeration " (Stat. 1792, c. 23). The
language of the statute is as follows : —
18
138
Sec. 1 : "Be it enacted, &c. That from and after the third day
of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, the House
of Representatives shall be composed of members elected agreeably
to a ratio of one member for every thirty-three thousand persons in
each State, computed according to the rule prescribed by the Con
stitution, that is to say, Avithin the State of New Hampshire,
four," &c. &c.
That is, the second Congress, upon an enumeration dis
tinguishing only freemen from slaves, undertake to apportion
representatives among the States according to the rule laid
doAvn in the Constitution, viz. by adding to the Avhole number
of free persons " three-fifths of the slaves."
This interpretation, by the first and second Congress, has
never been varied from. In every census Avhich has since
been taken, the only distinction sanctioned has been between
freemen and slaves ; and, on every occasion of apportioning
representatives, according the representative or federal num
ber, such number has been invariably determined by adding
to the Avhole number of free persons, three-fifths of the slaves.
If this, the pro-slavery, interpretation of this section of the
Constitution is not right, then, since March 3, 1793, there has
not been a single House of Representatives constitutionally
elected, or a single statute or resolve constitutionally passed !
Who is ready to make this admission ?

Permission of the African Slave-trade. (Const. Art. 1,
see. 9.)
On the 13th of May 1789, in Congress,—
"Mr. Parker (of Va.) moved to insert a clause in the bill, im
posing a duty on the importation of slaves of ten dollars each
person. He was sorry that the Constitution prevented Congress
from prohibiting the importation altogether ; he thought it a defect
in that instrument that it allowed of such actions ; it was contrary
to the revolution principles, and ought not to be permitted ; but,
as he could not do all the good he desired, he was willing to do
what lay in his poAver.

139
" Mr. Sherman (of Ct.) approved of the object of the motion;
but he did not think this bill was proper to embrace the subject.
He could not reconcile himself to the insertion of human beings,
as an article of duty, among goods, Avares, and merchandise. He
hoped it would be withdrawn for the present, and taken up here
after as an independent subject.
" Mr. Schureman (of N. J.) hoped the gentleman Avould Avith-
draAv his motion, because the present was not the time or place for
introducing the business ; he thought it had better be brought for
ward in the House, as a distinct proposition.
" Mr. Madison (of Va.) : I cannot concur with gentlemen who
think the present an improper time or place to enter into a discus
sion of the proposed motion. If it is taken up in a separate view,
Ave shall do the same thing, at a greater expense of time 
" I conceive the Constitution, in this particular, was formed in
order that the government, whilst it Avas restrained from laying a
total prohibition, might be able to give some testimony of the
sense of America with respect to the African trade. We have
liberty to impose a tax or duty upon the importation of such per
sons as any ofthe States now existing shall think proper to admit;
and this liberty was granted, I presume, upon two considerations :
the first was, that, until the time arrived when they might abolish
the importation of slaves, they might have an opportunity of evidenc
ing their sentiments on the policy and humanity of such a trade ; the
other was, that they might be taxed in due proportion with other
articles imported ; for, if the possessor Avill consider them as pro
perty, of course they are of value, and ought to be paid for."
After a very considerable discussion, in Avhich this section
of the Constitution was referred to by various members, and
the constitutionality of Mr. Parker's motion admitted, Avith,
the advice of Mr. Madison his colleague, Mr. Parker con
sented to Avifhdraw his motion.
In 1794, " An Act to prohibit the carrying on the slave-
trade from the United States to any foreign place or country "
was passed (Stat. 1794, c. 11). In 1800, an Act in addition
to the last Avas passed (Stat. 1800, c. 51). That both these
laAvs Avere framed Avith reference to this section of the Con
stitution is apparent, because the latter Act expressly refers

140
to it. Sec. 6 reads thus, " That nothing in this Act con
tained shall be construed to authorize the bringing into either
of the United States any person or persons, the importation of
Avhom is, by the existing laAvs of such State, prohibited."
In 1803 (Stat. 1S03, c. 63) Avas passed " An Act to prevent
the importation of certain persons into certain States, Avhere,
by the laws thereof, their admission is prohibited."
Sec. 1 : "Be it enacted, &c. That, from and after the first day of
April next, no master or captain of any ship or vessel, or any other
person, shall import or bring, or cause to be imported or brought,
any negro, mulatto, or other person of color, not being a native, a
citizen, or registered seaman of the United States, or seamen, na
tives of countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope, into any port or
place of the United States, which port or place shall be situated in
any State which by laAv has prohibited, or shall prohibit, the ad
mission or importation of such negro, mulatto, or other person of
color," &c. &c.
This Act also is most manifestly framed upon this section
of the Constitution. It renders illegal the importation of any
negro, mulatto, or person of color, into States prohibiting
such importation, unless such negro, &c. is a native, citizen,
or registered seaman of the United States, or native of coun
tries beyond the Cape of Good Hope; that is, it renders
illegal the importation of African negroes into any State
whose laAvs prohibit such importation. And, as no African
negro has yet been imported as a free laborer, this Act was
directed against the African slave-trade.
And, not to multiply proof, the importation of persons is
not to be prohibited by Congress prior to 1808. On the 2d
day of March, 1807, President Jefferson approved (Stat. '
1807, c. 77) "An Act to prohibit the importation of slaves
into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United
States, frpm and after the first day of January, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight." That
is, at the very earliest day allowed by Const. Art. 1, sec. 9,
for the passage by Congress of an Act prohibiting the im
portation of persons, a law is passed totally prohibiting the
importation of slaves.

141
Restoration of Fugitive Slaves. (Const. Art. 4, sec. 2.)
On the 12th day of February, 1793 (Stat. 1793, chap. 7)
there was approved " An Act respecting fugitives fron
justice, and persons escaping from the service of their mas
ters." This is the law Avhich, for over half a century, ha
prescribed the modes in Avhich a runaway slave may b<
retaken. It is what is noAv called " the infamous laAv of '93.'
Thousands of runaAvay slaves have owed their return to thei
happy condition to the beneficent operation of this laAv, ob
viously framed, as it is, with an eye to this constituliona
provision. Sec. 3 provides that, —
" When a person held to labor in any of the United States, or ii
either of the territories on the north-west or south of the rive
Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other of the sah
States or territory, the person to whom such labor or service ma;
be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize o
arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take him or her before an;
judge of the circuit or district courts of the United States, residinj
or being Avithin the State, or before any magistrate of a county
city, or town corporate, wherein such seizure or arrest shall b
made ; and, upon proof to the satisfaction of such judge or magis
trate, either by oral testimony or affidavit, taken before and eertifiei
by a magistrate of any such State or territory, that the perso:
so seized or arrested doth, under the laws of the State or terri
tory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor to the perso:
claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such judge o
magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agen
or attorney, which shall be sufficient Avarrant for removing the sai
fugitive from labor to the State or territory from which he or sh
fled." Suppression of Slave Insurrections. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 8
Art. 4, sec. 4.)
" An Act to provide for calling forth the militia to execut
the laAvs of the Union, suppress insurrections, and rep<
invasions," was approved May 2, 1792 (Act Const. 1795
chap. 28). Section first provides that, " In case of a

142
insurrection in any State against the government thereof,
it shall be laAvful for the President of the United States, on
application of the legislature of such State, or of the executive
(when the legislature cannot be convened), to call forth such
number of the militia of any other State or States as may be
applied for, or as he may judge sufficient to suppress such
insurrection." Precisely the same language is made use of
in Stat. 1795, c. 101. By Act approved March 3, 1807
(Stat. 1807, c. 94), the President is authorized " in all cases
of insurrection," " Avhen it is laAvful for him to call forth the
militia for the purpose of suppressing the same," " to employ
for the same purpose such part of the land or naval force
of the United States as shall be judged necessary."
That these laAvs have been held to include an insurrection
of slaves is indisputable. On receipt of the intelligence of
Nat. Turner's insurrection in Southampton, Va., Col. House,
then commanding at Fortress Monroe, set out A\ith three
companies of United States troops, for the purpose of sup
pressing the revolt. He Avas reinforced by a detachment
from the United States ships Warren and Natchez, amount
ing in all to about three hundred men. With our troops and
our officers Ave have actually aided the slaveholder in holding
his felloAv-man in slavery ! We have actually done Avhat
our fathers engaged in the Constitution that Ave should do,
namely, aid Avith the national strength in keeping the slaves
in subjection !

143

CHAPTER XV.

THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE EXPOSITION
OE ITS PINAL INTERPRETER,

" The judicial department of the United States is, in the last resort, tlie final expositor of
the Constitution as to all questions of a judicial nature. Were there no power to interpret,
pronounce, and execute the law, the government would either perish through its own imbel
cility, as was the case with the articles of confederation, or other powers must be assumed
by the legislative body, to the destruction of liberty." — Chancellor Kent.

The people of the United States, in adopting the Constitution,
made one standard, one fundamental laAv, and mily one. They
gave to the government of the United States certain powers.
They restricted it as to others. They placed certain prohi
bitions on the States. The Constitution was to be the one
fundamental laAv of the land, to Avhich all, as Avell States as
people, should submit. Art. 6, sec. 2, provides that the
" Constitution and the laAvs of the United States which shall
be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which
shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall
be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in eA^ery State
shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws
of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
Who now is to tell us what this one standard is, to Avhich
all must submit, and which is thus to override all State Con
stitutions and all State laAvs? Is it the province of each
individual to do it ? Then Ave may have at this moment
seventeen million different interpretations, and hence as many
different Constitutions, each of whieh, however, is the su
preme law of the land ! Are the executive or judicial
departments of the States the proper expounders ? Then,

144
at this moment, Ave may have only thirty different interpreta
tions, tAventy-nine of which must be Avrong, because the
supreme law can be but one.
In order, therefore, that the end of the Constitution may
be accomplished, that it may really be the supreme laAv of
the land, it must have provided a Avay in Avhich its only true
meaning may be ascertained and definitively settled. Unless
it has provided a final interpreter of its meaning, it is the
merest folly to style it the supreme law of the land, or to call
on us to obey its requirement. Is the Constitution thus
deficient ? Does it demand uniformity, and at the same time
deny the use of those means Avhich are absolutely necessary
to produce such uniformity ? Does it present a variable,
ever-changing standard of duty, and yet demand complete
uniformity in practice ?
There are three departments in the Government, namely,
the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. The first
tAvo of these are each, to some extent, supreme in its own
sphere ; and its acts are. incapable of revision elseAvhere.
" Thus, in measures exclusively of a political, legislative, or
executive character, it is plain, that, as the supreme authority
as to these questions belongs to the legislative and executive
departments, they cannot be re-examined elseAvhere. Thus,
Congress having the power to declare Avar, to levy taxes, to
appropriate money, to regulate intercourse and commerce
with foreign nations, their mode of executing these poAvers
can never become the subject of re-examination in any other
tribunal. So, the power to make treaties being confided to
the President and Senate, Avhen a treaty is properly ratified,
it becomes the law of the land, and no other tribunal can
gainsay its stipulations. Yet cases may readily be imagined,
in Avhich a tax may be laid, or a treaty made, upon motions
and grounds Avholly beside the intention of the Constitution.
The remedy, however, in such cases is solely by an appeal
to the people at the elections, or by the salutary poAver of
amendment provided by the Constitution itself.
" But, Avhere the question is of a different nature, and
capable of judicial inquiry and decision, there it admits of a

145
very different consideration. The decision then made, whe-
ther in favor or against the constitutionality of the Act, by
the State or by national authority, by the legislature or
by the executive, being capable in its own nature of being
brought to the test of the Constitution, is subject to judicial
revision. It is in such cases, as Ave conceive, that there is a
final and common arbiter provided by the Constitution itself,
to Avhose decisions all others are subordinate ; and that arbi
ter is the supreme judicial authority of the courts of the
Union" (Story, Comm. Const, sec. .374, 375) ; for the Con
stitution declares, Art. 3, sec. 2, that " the judicial power
shall extend to all cases in laAv and equity arising under this
Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties
made, or which shall be made, under their authority," &c.
And Art. 3, sec. 1 : " The judicial power of the United States
shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior
courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and
establish." ¦,. ,, •„
These constitutional provisions are clear. The Constitu
tion and laws and treaties of the United States are declared
to be the supreme law of the land. To expound what the
laAv is, is a judicial act. The judicial power extends to all
cases arising under the Constitution, laAvs, and treaties of
the United States. It therefore extends to the exposition
of the Constitution, laAvs, and treaties, when the case before
the court properly calls for such exposition. This judicial
power, and consequently this poAver of exposition, it is
declared, shall be vested in one supreme court, &c. Most
obviously, the exposition given by this one supreme court
cannot be overruled by any other constitutional poAver ; else
the court is not supreme, else the Constitution is nullified.
The decision of the supreme court is the decision of the only
constitutionally authorized expounder of the meaning of the
Constitution; and such exposition, to be supreme, must be
final. What, then, has this final interpreter declared the mean
ing of these clauses of the Constitution to be ?
19

146
Apportionment of Representatives. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 2.)
'On the 5th of June, 1794 (Stat. 1794, c. 45), Avas approved
an Act of Congress, " laying duties upon carriages for the
conveyance of persons." The duty was uniform throughout
the States. One Hylton, in Virginia, refused to pay the
duty ; alleging that the Act was unconstitutional, because
the tax Avas a direct tax within the meaning of the Constitu
tion, and therefore should have been apportioned among the
States according to their federal numbers. He Avas sued by
the United States, and finally the case came before the
supreme court of the United States for decision. The fol
lowing extracts are taken from the opinion of Justice Pater
son (Hylton versus the United States, 3 Dallas's Reports,
p. 177; 1796): —
" I never entertained a doubt that the principal, I will not say
the only, objects that the framers of the Constitution contemplated,
as falling Avithin the rule of apportionment, were a capitation-tax
and a tax on land. Local considerations, and the particular cir
cumstances and relative situation of the States, naturally lead to
this view of the subject. The provision was made in favor of the
Southern States. They possessed a large number of slaves ; they
had extensive tracts of territory, thinly settled, and not very pro
ductive. A majority of the States had but feAv slaves; and several
of them, a limited territory, well-settled, and in a high state of
cultivation. The Southern States, if no provision had been intro
duced in the Constitution, would have been Avholly at the mercy of
the other States. Congress, in such case, might tax slaves at dis
cretion or arbitrarily, and land in every part of the Union. After
the same rate or measure, so much a head in the first instance, and>
so much an acre in the second. To guard them against imposition
in these particulars ivas the reason of introducing the clause in
the Constitution which directs that representatives and direct taxes
shall be apportioned among the States, according to their respective
numbers." Page 178 : " The rule of apportionment is of this nature : it is
radically wrong ; it cannot be supported by any solid reasoning.
Why should slaves, who are a species of property, be represented
more than any other property ? The rule, therefore, ought not to
be extended by construction."

147
Permission of the. African Slave-trade.
(Const. Art. 1, sec. 9.)
In the great case of Gibbons vs. Ogden, 9 Wheaton's
Reports, pp. 206 and 207 (1824), Chief Justice Marshall,
delivering the opinion of the supreme court, makes use of
the following language : —
"The Act passed in 1803 (Act Const. 1803, c. 63), prohibiting
the importation of slaves into any State which shall itself prohibit
their importation, implies, it is said, an admission that the States pos
sess the power to exclude or admit them ; from Avhich it is inferred,
that they possess the same power with respect to other articles.
" If this inference were correct ; if this power were exercised,
not under any particular clause in the Constitution, but in virtue
of a general right over the subject of commerce to exist as long
as the Constitution itself, it might noAV be exercised. Any State
might now import African slaves into its own territory. But it is
obvious that the power of the States over this subject, previous to
the year 1808, constitutes an exception to the power of Congress
to regulate commerce ; and the exception is expressed in such
words as to ' manifest clearly the intention to continue the pre
existing right of the States to admit or exclude for a limited period.
The words are, ' The migration or importation of such persons as
any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall
not be prohibited by the Congress prior to 1808.' The whole ob
ject of the exception is to preserve the power to those States
which might be disposed to exercise it, and its language seems to
the court to convey this idea unequivocally."
See also pp. 216, 217.
Restoration of Fugitive Slaves. (Const. Art. 4, sec. 2.)
The folloAving extracts are taken from the opinion of the
supreme court in the well-known case, Prigg vs. the Com
monwealth of Pennsylvania (16 Pet. Rep. 609, &c). Judge
Story delivered the opinion : —
"Historically, it is well knovra, that the object of this clause
was to secure to the citizens of the slaveholding States the com
plete right and title of ownership in their slaves, as property, in

148
every State in the Union into Avhich they might escape from the
State where they were held in servitude. The full recognition of
this right and title was indispensable to the security of this species
of property in all the slaveholding States ; and, indeed, Avas so
vital to the preservation of their domestic interests and institu
tions, that it cannot be doubted that it constituted a fundamental
article, Avithout the adoption of Avhich the Union could not have
been formed. Its true design was to guard against the doctrines
and principles prevalent in the non-slaveholding States, by prevent
ing them from intermeddling with, or obstructing, or abolishing,.
the rights of the owners of slaves."
Page 612 : " If the Constitution had not contained this clause,
every non-slaveholding State in the Union would have been at
liberty to have declared free all runaway slaves coming within its
limits, and to have given them entire immunity and protection
against the claims of their masters ; — a course which would have
created the most bitter animosities, and engendered perpetual
strife, between the different States. The clause was, therefore, of
the last importance to the safety and security of the Southern
States, and could not have been surrendered by them without
endangering their whole property in slaves. The clause was
accordingly adopted into the Constitution by the unanimous con
sent of the framers of it ; — a proof at once of its intrinsic and
practical necessity."
Page 613 : " Upon this ground, Ave have not the slightest hesi
tation in holding, that, under and in virtue of the Constitution, the
owner of a slave is clothed with entire authority, in every State in
the Union, to seize and recapture his slave, whenever he can do it
without any breach of the peace or any illegal violence. In this
sense, and to this extent, this clause of the Constitution may pro
perly be said to execute itself, and to require no aid from legisla- ,
tion, state or national." '
Page 625 : " Upon these grounds, Ave are of opinion, that the
Act of Pennsylvania upon Avhich this indictment is founded is un
constitutional and void. It purports to punish, as a public offence
against that State, the very act of seizing and removing a slave by
his master, which the Constitution of the United States Avas de
signed to justify and uphold."

149
Suppression of Slave Insurrections. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 8 ;
Art. 4, sec. 4.)
We are not aware of any decision of the supreme court
upon the meaning of these clauses ; but it seems difficult to
conceive, that they would hold that the Avord " insurrections"
did not include all insurrections.
Such is the Constitution according to the plain, obvious,
and common meaning of its terms ; such it was intended
to be made by its framers ; such has been the interpretation
constantly followed in the practice of the government, from
the time of its adoption until novy ; and such it is according
to the decision of the final interpreter of its meaning. As
reasonable men, seeking the truth, we cannot say that there
is the slightest doubt Avhatever on the subject. The Consti
tution VERY MATERIALLY SUPPORTS SLAVERY !

150

CHAPTER XVI.

NO UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS.

" AVe will extend to the slaveholder all the courtesy he will allow. If he ia hungry, we
will feed him ; if he is in want, both hands shall be stretched out for his aid. We will give
him full credit for all the good that he does, and our deep sympathy in all the temptations
under whose strength he falls. But to help him in his sin, to remain partners with him in
the slave-trade, is more than he has a right to ask." — Wendell Phillips.

No Avrong action can be righfully done. No wrong can
be rightfully supported. We can neither rightfully hold
slaves nor support others in slaveholding, because, as Ave
have seen, slaveholding is under all circumstances wrong.
Some of the provisions of the Constitution, as we have seen,
were expressly designed for the purpose of supporting slavery,
and for over half a century have very materially supported it.
Consequently, these provisions cannot be rightfully obeyed
or supported. It is Avrong to offer a bounty on slavehold
ing, — to give the oppressor power and influence, in propor
tion as he tramples on the rights of his felloAv-man ; it is
Avrong to return, or aid in returning, a fugitive slave ; it
is Avrong to aid in keeping the slave in his fetters. These
things are Avrong, and not all the Constitutions and laAvs of
the universe can make them right. We cannot, therefore,
rightfully obey the pro-slavery clauses of the Constitution.
If Ave cannot rightfully obey them ourselves, Ave cannot
rightfully, voluntarily support others in obeying them. If it '
is Avrong for me to return a fugitive slave, it is wrong for me
voluntarily to aid or support another man in doing the act.
If it is wrong for me to commit murder, it is no less wrong

151
for me to hand the pistol to the assassin. Whatever it is
Avrong for us to do ourselves, it is Avrong for us voluntarily
to aid or support others in doing. Consequently, it is wrong
for us voluntarily to aid or support others in obeying the
pro-slavery requirements of the Constitution.
If Ave cannot rightfully obey them, it is Avrong for us to
promise such obedience. If it is Avrong for us voluntarily
to support others in their obedience, it is Avrong for us to
promise any such support. If it is Avrong for us to return
a fugitive slave, it is wrong for us to promise to return one.
If it is Avrong for us voluntarily to aid the slave-hunter, it is
wrong for us to promise such aid. Whatever it is Avrong for
us to do or aid others in doing, it is wrong for us to promise
to do or aid others in doing. Consequently, it is Avrong for
us to promise to support these constitutional provisions. We
cannot, therefore, accept any office, either state or national,
Avhich renders it necessary for us to support these clauses, or
to promise to support them. We cannot, therefore, right
fully hold any executive or judicial office, either state or
national, or become a member of any State legislature or of
Congress ; for all these officers are obliged solemnly to swear
or affirm that they will " support the Constitution ; " and to
support the Constitution is to support all of its clauses, as
Avell those whieh favor slavery as those which do not. If Ave
take this oath, meaning to keep it, Ave do AVTong. If Ave take
it, meaning not to keep it, Ave add to our Avrong, perjury ;
for Ave mentally break our oath at the very instant it passes
our lips-
Some good men seek to avoid the difficulty by saying,
" When I SAvear to support the Constitution, I mean I will
support the good clauses in it, and disobey the bad, and
submit to the penalty for such disobedience." But such a
course is not a compliance with the terms of the oath. You
have sAVorn " to support the Constitution ; " that is,' the Avhole
Constitution, — all its clauses, — the bad as sacredly as the
good. Your oath is not in the alternative, " I will support
the clause requiring the return of fugitive slaves, or pay five
hundred dollars for every slave I aid in escaping ; " but sim-

152
ply, Avithout any qualification, " I Avill support the side of the
oppressor." If you aid the fugitive slave to escape from his
master, you do not support the latter in retaking his property,
merely by paying the legal penalty for not giving such sup
port. You Avould not support a bad law, and yet you say
your oath to support it is not broken, because you submit to
the penalty for not supporting it. The thief does not support
the law of private property, merely by submitting to the legal
punishment of his crime. To support is to be active : to
submit is to be passive. You SAvear to be active, and you
do not comply with your oath by being merely passive. You
have SAvorn actively to support the recapture of slaves.
You break your oath, if you refuse to do this, or do any
thing less or different from this. ¦ '
Others think to find a good excuse for taking the oath, by
adopting another alternative, equally unauthorized. " We
will support the Constitution," say they, " until Ave are called
on to act under any of its bad clauses ; and then Ave will
resign our office, and refuse obedience." Doubtless, honor
requires you to resign, if you cannot comply with the terms
of your oath ; but Avhat right have you to adopt or imagine
an alternative in your oath AA-fiere the law has made none, —
Avhere the officer administering it Avill admit of none ? Who
does not see the Avide difference between an honest oath to
support the return of fugitive slaves, and an oath to support
such return, but Avith a firm resolve on your part to refuse
such support when called on for it, and to resign ? What
right have you to take an oath Avhich you have previously
resolved not to keep, when called on to comply Avith ? You
admit that a bad clause cannot be rightfully supported, else
Avhy do you not support it ? You admit that the oath obliges
you to support the bad clauses of the Constitution as Avell as
the good ; else Avhy do you resign, if refusal to support the
bad clauses is consistent with your oath ? You openly avow,
therefore, that, at the very moment you SAvear to support a
clause, you determine never to support it. You swear, and
determine not to keep your oath ! Such a course seems to
us inconsistent Avith the plainest rules of honesty. We have

153
no right to promise to do wrong, even though Ave have
resolved to do right when the time for action shall ar
rive. Others say, " We SAvear to support the Constitution as Ave
understand it, and Ave consider it an anti-slavery instrument."
In other words, you SAvear to support an interpretation which
is contrary to the plain, obvious, and common meaning of
the instrument ; contrary to the interpretation put upon it by
its framers ; contrary to that folloAved by all the executive
and legislative departments of the government, from its first
establishment until now ; and contrary to that which has
been adjudged to be its true interpretation by the final arbiter
of its meaning. Of course, you intend to support the true
meaning of the Constitution. Do you really believe that the
people of the United States did not mean by their words
what those Avords then commonly meant ? Do you really
doubt the historical fact of the humiliating compromise
betAveen the delegates from the Southern and Eastern States
in the Philadelphia Convention, by Avhich the latter under
took to barter the* moral sense of their constituents for Avhat
was supposed to be their interest ? Do you really believe
that the people have suffered their servants to go on in igno
rance of the true meaning for sixty years ? In fact, do you
venture to affirm, or do you in perfect sincerity and truthful
ness believe, that your interpretation has ever at any time
been considered right by the people of the United States, or
by any considerable number of them ? You deceive yourself
with words ! What is the Constitution ? Not the meaning
Avhich you or I, or any third person, may please to put upon
it ; but that meaning, and that meaning only, which consists
Avith it3 being, AA'hat it declares itself to be, the supreme laAv
of the land. Until, therefore, you can shoAv that the Consti
tution may properly receive as many different interpretations
as there are oaths to support it, and still be in fact the su
preme laAv, the one, single, definite rule for all, States as
Avell as people, you have no right to say, " I Avill support the
pro-slavery clauses as I understand them." To support
them in any other sense than that Avhich is affixed to them,
20

154
as the supreme laAv of the land, is merely to evade the true
meaning of your oath. r
Others say, " We took the oath before Ave had any of our
present scruples. We Avould not take the oath now ; but,
nevertheless, Ave shall continue in office, and disregard our
oath." This excuse seems to us very objectionable. Hoav
can you reap the honorary or pecuniary advantages of your
office, and honestly refuse compliance AA'ith your part of the
bargain ? When you took office, you were really told,
that, if you would SAvear to support the return of fugitive
slaves, &c. you should enjoy these honors and these profits.
The conscientious man, who, in stming to better himself,
not his condition, discovers afterwards that he cannot right
fully aid, or promise to aid, the slaveholder in retaking his
slaves, Avill not think of claiming the reAvard which was
offered to him solely because he swore to give such aid. He
will make haste to resign honors and rewards Avhich he feels
can be retained only at the price of his OAvn degradation.
If Ave cannot rightfully hold any office, state or national,
which requires of us a promise to supporf'the Constitution,
it is Avrong to place, or voluntarily aid in placing, any other
person in such office ; for, by so doing, we ask him to do
Avrong. If Ave vote for Horace Mami, by this act alone Ave
say to him, as distinctly as if the Avords passed our lips, —
" We Avish to elect you as representative to Congress. If
chosen, Ave expect and ask you to qualify yourself to act as
representative, by sAveaTing to give slavery all constitutional
support." Merely by voting for him, Ave ask him to do
Avrong, hoping that good may come, almost knoAving that
good Avill come ! So little faith have Ave in the final triumph
of right and justice, by pursuing only right and just ways!
Of so little consequence do Ave consider it, that the earnest
advocate of freedom should commence his holy work by
promising very materially to strengthen slavery ! But a
short time has elapsed since Ave read one of his most eloquent
rebukes of slavery. Our heart beat quickly as Ave read his
earnest words. But if, in the midst of his address, some
slaveholder had turned and asked him, " How happens it, sir,

155
that you, who are so very earnest and disinterested in behalf
of the rights of the slave, have been willing to swear to sup
port this terrible wrong, to any extent or for any time ? "
And what answer could be returned ? The eloquent tongue
Avould be palsied ! Surely that man who has solemnly
called God to witness that he will support the oppressor,
cannot fail, at some time or another, to feel himself to be
unAvorthy to plead the cause of freedom.
Finally, some say, " This reasoning leads to non-resist
ance. You disregard the fact that all human governments
must contain a greater or less amount of evil ; and conse
quently, if you are ever to support any government in all its
requirements, yon must support evil." Very true is it that
human governments and laws fall short of our relative stand
ard of right, and always of absolute right. What is our
duty ? Clearly, as moral beings, to support the right, and
refuse to support the wrong ; as peaceful citizens, to support
the right, and submit to the penalty of disobeying the Avron°\
Nothing more than this is required of us. Nothing less than
this is our duty. We are not put into the Avorld, blindly to
support all existing governmental Avrongs, until they can be
constitutionally abolished. We are to be true to ourselves
as moral beings. If Ave can be true to our oaah souls and
support the goA'ernment, Ave may give such support, — not
otherwise ! Right and Avrong are not creatures of agreement
and laAv. Neither the Philadelphia Convention that framed
the Constitution, nor the State Conventions that adopted it,
had poAver to make AATong in the slightest degree right, or
alter at all the moral character of slaveholdincr. Risrht is
O O
right, the ReAised Statutes to the contrary notAvithstanding.
Wrong is Avrong, the Constitution to the contrary notAvith
standing. We say, therefore, Ave Avill obey the good require
ments of the Constitution, and peacefully submit to the
penalty of disobeying the bad. This is all that government
has a riarht to ask of us. Institutions were made for man,
not man for them. Constitutions are the work of man, and
man is to be reA'erenced before his Avorks. We see no
inconsistency or impropriety in supporting the system of free-
a
\

156
trade between the States, and refusing to support the domes
tic slave-trade ; in supporting the patent laws, and refusing
to aid in returning a runaway slave; We are good-govern
ment men, not no-government men. All governments are
partly good. All Ave are Avillitigtojsupport in part : Ave Avill
actively support the. Constitution and laws, so far as con
science" permits ; .we will peacefully submit to legal exaction
for disobeying the rest. ¦:%.-' .
Our prirpose is accomplished. We have shown that' AA-e
are politically united Avith the South in the support of sla
very. -;.We have shown that Ave should constantly bear upon.
our. lips, and in our. lives, the motto. _J.! No union with slave
holders, whereby we are obliged" fo countenance or support
shivery."'. We desire to see a -union among the States, but
not a slaveholding union! :A union of freemen^ and Free
States for. the sake' of freedom, ho one Avould more readily
-support . than Ave. But a union like ours, of freemen and
slaveholders, of Free States and Slave States, for the sake'
ia part, of securing property in slaves, is demoralizing" (Iioav
demoralizing has it been !) to both parties, and should receive,
as it doubtless at nc- distant day will receive, the condemna
tion of the AAise and good. In the meantime, it ought notr
and it" will: not, receive either our respect or our voluntary-