Three Prize Essays on American Slavery Part 3

FIRST, Slavery ignores and repudiates the foundation-stone on which rests our renowned Declaration of Independence. That doc.u.ment, for more than three fourths of a century, has been the boast and glory of America. It is the platform on which our n.o.ble ancestors planted their feet, with a consciousness that they stood on the eternal principles of truth and justice. To maintain these principles, relying on G.o.d for aid, they pledged to each other "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." Our fathers knew that they were right, and, to carry out the principles embodied in this Declaration, many of them cheerfully poured out their heart's blood to defend the "unalienable rights" of humanity.

Now let us turn our attention to the foundation paragraph of this memorable Declaration;--I do not mean in that general way in which it is often read, but minutely and particularly;--let us calmly look at it in its full import, and not shrink back and avert our eyes on account of a foreboding that we shall be led to conclusions which we would be glad to avoid.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident;--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

These significant words are inscribed upon the scroll of our nation's history, and there they will remain till time shall be no longer. They need no glossary or explanation. He who runs may read them, and he who reads can understand them. The sentiment they embody it is impossible to mistake; it stands out in bold relief, like the sun in the heavens. It is, that every man has received, from a higher than earthly power, a charter, which secures to him the unalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is impossible for the most ultra advocate of "human rights" to paraphrase these words, or give them a rendering so as to make them support his dogmas more strongly than they now do. On the contrary, he would only weaken their force by the attempt.

Now, my dear brother, I would candidly, seriously ask you--I would ask all your southern friends--I would ask everybody, Can the sentiment of that Declaration be consistent with American slavery? Are not slaves men? Do color and degradation change a creature of G.o.d from a human being to a soulless brute? No; our southern brethren would as indignantly repudiate this infidel view as we at the North. Now if a slave is a man, he has received from his Creator an unalienable right to liberty if he chooses to avail himself of it, or else the first principle laid down in our revered Declaration of Independence, so far from being "self evident," is in fact untrue, and ought at once to be taken from its honored position in the archives of these United States, and consigned to the heaps of rubbish of the dark ages.

But does the slave enjoy this liberty? or is it within his reach? It will not be pretended. The very name by which his cla.s.s is designated forbids it. The term free slave is a solecism. His liberty consists in the freedom to do as he is told to do, or suffer punishment for his disobedience, and he can pursue happiness only in accordance with the will of his master.

There is the same incongruity between slavery and that clause in our const.i.tution which stipulates that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Now, my brother, does it not require considerable ingenuity and special pleading to avoid conclusions to which unbiased common sense would arrive in an instant, in the application of these declared rights to persons held as slaves? I am not going to inflict upon you a dissertation, or a series of syllogisms on this hackneyed subject, but I beg that you and your friends will calmly look again at what, I doubt not, you have seen before,--the palpable incongruity between the system of holding persons perpetually in slavery without their consent, and those declared, self-evident, heaven bestowed, unalienable rights professedly secured to all men in these United States by our glorious const.i.tution. Said that great statesman and patriot, Henry Clay: "We present to the world the sorry spectacle of a nation that wors.h.i.+ps Slavery as a household G.o.ddess, after having const.i.tuted Liberty the presiding divinity over church and state."

Surely something must be out of joint here. I have looked again and again at this matter, I think with perfect candor, and I have tried to the utmost of my ability to reconcile these apparent inconsistencies, but I cannot do it. Can you?

Believe me, as ever, your sincere friend and

CHRISTIAN BROTHER.

LETTER IV.

SLAVERY TRANSFORMS MEN TO CHATTELS.--SOUTHERN LAWS.--SLAVE-AUCTIONS.--MEN PLACED ON A LEVEL WITH BRUTES.--NO REDRESS FOR WRONGS.--IGNORANCE PERPETUATED BY LAW.

MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIEND,--A second characteristic of American slavery is, It regards human beings, declared to be in the "image of G.o.d," as "chattels,"--things or articles of merchandise. "Slaves," say the laws of South Carolina and Georgia, "shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators and a.s.signs, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever."[D] "A slave," says the code of Louisiana, "is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing, but what must belong to his master."[E]

Thus, rational, immortal beings, children of our common Father in heaven, are taken from the exalted scale in which G.o.d placed them, and degraded to that of the brute creation. They are, as you know, advertised, mortgaged, attached, inherited, leased, bought, and sold like horses and cattle. Like them they are brought to the auction block, and like them subjected to a rigid examination as to their age, and soundness of wind, chest, and limb. Said a gentleman to me: "When I was at----, I visited the slave mart; and as I saw one and another and another of my fellow-beings brought forward to the block, and rudely exposed and minutely examined, in order to ascertain their marketable value in dollars and cents, and then struck off to the highest bidder, amid the gibes and jeers of the vulgar, my heart was nigh unto bursting, and I was obliged to turn away my eyes and weep, exclaiming, O G.o.d! can it be! thy children! my brothers and sisters of humanity,--perhaps my fellow-heirs of heaven,--precious souls for whom the Saviour died, whose names may be written in the Book of Life, and over whose repentance angels may have rejoiced! Can it be?"

For myself, I never witnessed any such scenes, and heaven grant I never may. It is enough, and too much for me to know, that they exist. I allude to them in this connection, not to awaken and pain your sensibilities, but simply to ill.u.s.trate the fact, that American slavery sanctions them, and by its operation brings down the n.o.blest work of G.o.d to a level of the beasts that perish. As far as it can do so, it dehumanizes man, and treats him as a thing without a soul. It may be remarked, however, in pa.s.sing, "A man's a man, for a' that."

I might speak in this connection of the obstacles which are thrown in the way of the slave's obtaining redress for his wrongs should he unfortunately get into the hands of a cruel and unreasonable master, being forbidden to defend himself, and not allowed the testimony of his brethren to be given in his behalf; but there are other features of this system which more urgently demand our attention.

Neither will I dwell upon the ignorance and mental degradation which are an essential part of the system. You need not be informed, that, in ten States, knowledge is kept from the slave by legal enactments,--that teaching him to read is regarded a crime, to be severely "punished by the judges." I was happy to find that you and a great many others totally disregard that law, and, in spite of legislators and penal statutes, you teach your slaves to read, and in some cases to write. For this _crime_, I doubt not but heaven, at least, will forgive you. I shall allude to this latter topic again in a future letter.

Most truly and affectionately, yours, etc.

LETTER V.

DOMESTIC LIFE.--THE MARRIAGE RELATION.--DOMESTIC HAPPINESS A RELIC OF PARADISE.--ITS ENDEARMENTS.--ITS VALUE.--THE BARBARISM OF INVADING THE DOMESTIC SANCTUARY.--AN ILl.u.s.tRATION.

MY DEAR BROTHER,--I come now, in the third place, to speak of slavery as it is related to the endearments and duties of domestic life. On this subject my heart is full. I am almost afraid to speak, lest I say what I ought not; and yet I cannot keep silence. I can, in a good measure, sympathize with Elihu when he said,--

"For I am full of words, The spirit within me doth constrain me, Behold I am as wine which hath no vent, I am ready to burst like new bottles, I will speak that I may breathe more freely, I will open my lips and reply."[F]

We now approach a topic more intimately connected with the present and future happiness of the human race than almost any other. Man was not completely blest, even in Eden, until G.o.d inst.i.tuted the marriage relation. His Creator gave him a companion to partic.i.p.ate in his joys, binding them together by ties which no human power might sunder.

Paradise was lost by sin, but as our first parents were exiled thence, G.o.d in infinite kindness permitted them to take one of its purest, sweetest sources of joy with them to this world of sorrows.

"Domestic happiness! thou only bliss Of Paradise that has survived the fall!"

You, my dear brother, are a husband and father, and can appreciate my meaning, when I speak of the richness, the tenderness, the depth, of connubial and paternal love; how it lights up this dark world with smiles,--how it stimulates us to manly exertion,--how it lightens the burdens of human life, and enables us cheerfully to sustain its ills, while it almost restores to us Eden itself. To understand what is meant by the term domestic happiness, it is necessary for you and me only to look at the circles around our own firesides, and listen to the musical accents of the loved ones who dwell there, as they p.r.o.nounce the words husband, father, mother, brother, sister, and exchange with them kind looks and the affectionate embrace. What earthly joys can be compared with those of home? What would tempt us to part with them? All the gold in California and Australia would be spurned in contempt, if offered in exchange. What should we say, and what should we do, were any power on earth to interfere with our fireside delights, and attempt to wrest them from us?

Suppose Providence had cast our lot under a despotic government, which we will suppose to be for the most part kind and paternal, but having this peculiarity,--every now and then, finding its finances embarra.s.sed, it should be in the habit of selling some of its subjects to a foreign power to strengthen its exchequer, and should arbitrarily select its victims from this family and that;--how should you feel were the doomed family your own? What would have been your emotions this morning, had some one come to your room and told you that that bright-eyed boy, "Willie," who last night sat upon your knee and amused you with his innocent prattle, showed you his toys, examined your pockets, played with your hair and features, and finally clasped his little arms around your neck and impressed the "good-night" kiss upon your lips, had been seized by an officer, and sold from your sight forever to you know not whom, and to be carried you know not whither? Nay, more;--suppose that while he was yet speaking, there came also another with the tidings that the same fate had befallen your first-born,--your daughter, just budding into womanhood,--the affectionate, joyous, light-hearted "Kate," whose voice to your ear is sweeter than the music of flowing waters, whose feet are swifter than those of the light gazelle, as with open arms she bounds to meet you on your return from a temporary absence, to welcome you home with a tear of joy in her eye and a kiss upon her lips,--that she too had been by the officials of the government clandestinely abducted from your dwelling, and sold, literally sold, for a valuation put upon her person in dollars and cents, to a hopeless captivity, to spend her days in unrequited toil, or, not unlikely, in ministering to the caprices and brutal pa.s.sions of a stranger?

And while he was yet speaking, and as your _wife_, half frantic with grief and terror, was entwining her arms around you, and you were striving to ease your bursting heart, to crown the whole, suppose another official and his posse had entered your apartment, and by force of arms had torn her from your embrace, and with thongs upon her hands, and a bandage over her mouth, hurried her away to greet your sight no more? What a scene! There go in one direction the children of your body, "bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh," to an unknown but fearful destiny! In another is ruthlessly borne the object dearer to you than all the world beside,--one whom you had solemnly sworn to love, cherish, and protect until death,--the light of your dwelling,--the mother of your children,--the mutual sharer of all your joys and sorrows,--the richest and most precious treasure heaven ever gave you!--there she goes in an agony of wo, to toil under a burning sun, compelled to call another man her husband, or, it may be, to grace her master's seraglio!

Merciful G.o.d! what meaneth this? What horde of barbarians from the dark corners of the earth have found their way hither to lay waste all that is beautiful and lovely! What fiend from the pit has been let loose to enter this little Paradise to destroy and bear away all the good that was left of the primitive Eden!

No ruthless band of barbarians from benighted lands have found their way to this Christian domestic sanctuary,--no malignant spirit from below has been here to s.n.a.t.c.h the only type of Heaven that escaped his grasp six thousand years ago. "Think it not strange," brother, "concerning this fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened to you." This is only the legitimate working of the patriarchal system of government under which we live. Be calm,--this is all done according to law, and with as much kindness as the circ.u.mstances will permit. No stripes are inflicted, and no more force is exerted than is absolutely necessary to secure the object, and prevent a useless outcry; no ill-will is entertained toward the victims of these outrages,--it is only because the finances of the government are low, and must be replenished, and this is the most convenient, and perhaps at present the only practical, way of raising the money!

Now, my brother, what should you and I think of living under a government where such things were permitted by the laws? It would not reconcile us to the administration to be told, that such proceedings as I have supposed are of rare occurrence, and that the general character of the government is kind, that it dislikes exceedingly to sell its subjects, and especially that it has a great repugnance to separating husbands and wives, and breaking up of families, and does it only when severely pressed by pecuniary necessity. To your and my mind this would be altogether unsatisfactory; it would not change our opinion of the system. No matter if the heart-rending scene I have supposed were witnessed only once a year, or once in ten years,--I think we should loudly protest against a system which allowed the occurrence of it at all.

You will please, my dear sir, apply the foregoing ill.u.s.tration to the liabilities and actual workings of the slave system at the South, just so far as it is applicable, and no further. If there are any points in which the a.n.a.logy fails, I will thank you to point them out to me in your next.

With much love and esteem,

I remain yours, most truly.

LETTER VI.

SACREDNESS OF THE MARRIAGE RELATION.--G.o.d ALONE CAN DISSOLVE IT.--THE "HIGHER LAW."--SLAVERY SANCTIONS POLYGAMY AND ADULTERY.--RELATION OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN.--FEARFUL RESPONSIBILITY a.s.sUMED.

MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER,--My objections to any system of government that interferes at will with the family relation, and forcibly separates husbands and wives, parents and children, do not arise chiefly from the personal wrongs and bitter woes inflicted upon its victims. A contemplation of these is calculated to affect our sensibilities, and excite the tender sympathies of our nature; but there is a more enlarged Christian view which forces itself upon us. If we could by some magic process allay the anguish of the stricken heart, and heal its wounds when the strongest ties of nature are rent asunder,--could we even obliterate the susceptibilities of the soul, destroy natural affection, and render man more callous than the brutes, so that he could be torn from his home and kindred with less pain than they,--in a _moral_ point of view the case would be altered but little. As I have remarked in a previous letter, the _marriage relation_ was inst.i.tuted by G.o.d, and he made it indissoluble. "What G.o.d hath joined together let not man put asunder," is the language of "holy writ;" and whoever, for any cause which G.o.d himself has not specified, breaks up this relation, encroaches upon G.o.d's prerogative, and goes directly in face of his positive commands. Much has been said of late, seriously, sarcastically, and contemptuously, about a "higher law;" but notwithstanding the improper use often made of that term, there is an important sense in which you, and I, and every Christian recognize what that term implies. If, on any subject whatever, human enactments do obviously conflict with the enactments of G.o.d, then G.o.d's law is the "_higher_," and must be obeyed.

To deny this is worse than infidelity.

Now, brother, does not the system of slavery in the United States tolerate, and even authorize, the forcible rending asunder of the marriage tie? Are not husbands, not seldom, but often, sold from their wives, and wives from their husbands, and new matrimonial alliances formed by them, with consent and encouragement of their masters? Thus is flagrant adultery sanctioned in nearly one half of the States of this Christian Republic, and in some cases the crime is almost, if not quite, forced upon the wretched perpetrators of it. When G.o.d's law is disregarded, and an ordinance on which depends all we hold dear in social and Christian life is trampled in the dust by an inst.i.tution existing in the midst of us, what shall we say? If slavery were a question merely of expediency, political economy, or even personal wrong and suffering, it would be easier to keep silence; but when G.o.d is dishonored, and gross sin sanctioned by law, is it not the duty of his children, North and South, to enter their solemn, earnest, decided protestations? You will agree with me, that no Christian can or ought to acquiesce in what, either directly or indirectly, violates a positive divine precept; and against what shall he remonstrate, if not against a system that encourages polygamy and legalizes adultery?[G]

There is another view in which the operation of the system of slavery; in breaking up families, has affected my mind powerfully and painfully.

Parents sustain most important relations to their children, as well as to each other. Who can be so much interested in the temporal and eternal well-being of the child as those by whose instrumentality he had his existence? Who has so much influence over him, or who could direct his feet in the way he should go, so well? G.o.d has imposed upon all parents most important duties, which they may not neglect. These duties are as truly inc.u.mbent on the slave-parent as on the master who sustains the same relation. It may be, indeed, extensively true that he does not understand them, and is in a great measure incompetent to discharge them; and that often the child suffers nothing morally or intellectually by being removed from his influence. But this results in a great measure from the hopeless ignorance in which the parent is involved. There are, however, as you can bear witness, mult.i.tudes of exceptions. In how many cases are slave-parents truly pious and intelligent, and feel as much solicitude for the eternal interests of their children, as you do for yours, and pray with them as frequently and as fervently. With how much pleasure did you and I listen to your "Jamie," one time when we were taking an evening stroll past his cabin, and overheard his family prayer. With what simplicity and earnestness did he pour out his soul to G.o.d for the salvation of his "dear children." And do you not remember, too, how with equal importunity he prayed G.o.d to "bless dear kind Ma.s.sa and Missus, and dere precious children, and also Ma.s.sa's friend, and dat all may meet to praise Jesus togedder in heaven," and how we found it difficult to speak for a minute or two, and how the big tear-drops stood in our eyes, and we couldn't help it?

You told me there were a great many "Jamies" at the South, and I have no doubt of it; they love their little ones as well, and who so competent to train them up for Christ? Who will presume to step in between these parents and their children and say, this family altar shall be broken down, and those who have bowed around it shall be separated, to meet no more till they meet at the judgment? Who will peril his own soul by taking those children away from such an influence, and for a pecuniary consideration cast them upon the wide world with none to instruct them, and none to care or pray for them, except their heart-broken parents whom they have left behind? I would not do it, neither would you, for the wealth of the world; and yet, is it not often done? In speaking of this subject, one of the most eminent southern divines[H] uses the following language: "Slavery, as it exists among us, sets up between parents and their children an authority higher than the impulse of nature and the laws of G.o.d; breaks up the authority of the father over his own offspring, and at pleasure separates the mother at a returnless distance from her child, thus outraging all decency and justice." I shall refer to the sentiments of this brother again.

I remain as ever,

Affectionately yours, etc.

LETTER VII.