,,slavery4    ,,by    ,,william ,e4     
,,channing4      ,,boston3    ,,james   
,,munroe ,,and ,,company4    ,m ,,dccc  
,,xxxv4           ,entered according to 
,act of ,congress1 in the year #ahce1 by
 ,,james       ,,munroe  ,,co41 in the  
,clerk's office of the ,district ,court 
of       ,massachusetts4                
,,cambridge ,,press3  ,,metcalf1        
,,torry1 ,,and ,,ballou4                
,,contents4                             
,page  ,,introduction                   
#a    ,,chapter ,i4  ,property          
#ac    ,,chapter ,,ii4  ,rights         
#cj    ,,chapter ,,iii4  ,explanations  
#ed    ,,chapter ,,iv4  ,the ,evils of  
,slavery            #fe    ,,chapter ,v4
  ,scripture                      #ajh  
,,chapter ,,vi4  ,means of ,removing    
,slavery      #aaf    ,,chapter ,,vii4  
,abolitionism                   #acj    
,,chapter ,,viii4  ,duties              
#adi    ,,notes                         
#afa          ,,introduction4      ,the 
first question to be proposed by a      

rational being is1 not what is          
profitable1 but what is ,right4 ,duty   
must be primary1 prominent1 most        
conspicuous1 among the objects of human 
thought and pursuit4 ,if we cast  it    
down from its supremacy1 if we inquire  
first for our interests and  then for   
our duties1 we shall certainly err4 ,we 
can never see the ,right  clearly and   
fully1 but by making it our first       
concern4 ,no judgment can  be just or   
wise1 but that which is built on the    
conviction of the  paramount worth and  
importance of ,duty4 ,this is the       
fundamental truth1  the supreme law of  
reason2 and the mind1 which does not    
start from this  in its inquiries into  
human affairs1 is doomed to great1      
perhaps fatal  error4    ,the ,right is 
the supreme good1 and includes all other
 goods4 ,in seeking  and adhering to it1
 we secure our true and only happiness4 
,all  prosperity1 not founded on it1 is 
built on sand4 ,if human affairs are    
controlled1 as we believe1 by ,almighty 

,rectitude and ,impartial ,goodness1    
then to hope for happiness from wrong   
doing is as insane as to seek  health   
and prosperity by rebelling against the 
laws of nature1 by sowing  our seed on  
the ocean1 or making poison our common  
food4 ,there is but  one unfailing good2
 and that is1 fidelity to the           
,everlasting ,law written  on the heart1
 and rewritten and republished in ,god's
 ,word4    ,whoever places this faith in
 the everlasting law of rectitude must  
of  course regard the question of       
slavery first and chiefly as a moral    
question4 ,all other considerations will
 weigh little with him1 compared  with  
its moral character and moral           
influences4 ,the following remarks1     
therefore1 are designed to aid the      
reader in forming a just moral  judgment
 of slavery4 ,great truths1 inalienable 
rights1 everlasting  duties1 these will 
form the chief subjects of this         
discussion4 ,there are  times when the  
assertion of great principles is the    

best service a man  can render society4 
,the present is a moment of bewildering 
excitement1  when men's minds are       
stormed and darkened by strong passions 
and fierce  conflicts2 and also a moment
 of absorbing worldliness1 when the     
moral  law is made to bow to expediency1
 and its high and strict requirements   
are decried or dismissed as metaphysical
 abstractions1 or impracticable         
theories4 ,at such a season1 to utter   
great principles without passion1  and  
in the spirit of unfeigned and universal
 good-will1 and to engrave  them deeply 
and durably on men's minds1 is to do    
more for the world1  than to open mines 
of wealth1 or to frame the most         
successful schemes of  policy4    ,of   
late our country has been convulsed by  
the question of slavery2 and  the       
people1 in proportion as they have felt 
vehemently1 have thought  superficially1
 or hardly thought at all2 and we see   
the results in a  singular want of well 
defined principles1 in a strange        

vagueness and  inconsistency of opinion1
 and in the proneness to excess which   
belongs  to unsettled minds4 ,the       
multitude have been called1 now to      
contemplate  the horrors of slavery1 and
 now to shudder at the ruin and         
bloodshed  which must follow            
emancipation4 ,the word ,massacre has   
resounded through  the land1 striking   
terror into strong as well as tender    
hearts1 and  awakening indignation      
against whatever may seem to threaten   
such a  consummation4 ,the consequence  
is1 that not a few dread all discussion 
of  the subject1 and if not reconciled  
to the continuance of slavery1 at  least
 believe that they have no duty to      
perform1 no testimony to bear1  no      
influence to exert1 no sentiments to    
cherish and spread1 in relation  to this
 evil4 ,what is still worse1 opinions   
either favoring or  extenuating it are  
heard with little or no disapprobation4 
,concessions  are made to it which would
 once have shocked the community2 whilst

 to  assail it is pronounced unwise and 
perilous4 ,no stronger reason for a     
calm exposition of its true character   
can be given1 than this very  state of  
the public mind4 ,a community can suffer
 no greater calamity  than the loss of  
its principles4 ,lofty and pure         
sentiment is the life  and hope of a    
people4 ,there was never such an        
obligation to discuss  slavery as at    
this moment1 when recent events have    
done much to unsettle  and obscure men's
 minds in regard to it4 ,this result is 
to be ascribed  in part to the          
injudicious vehemence of those who have 
taken into their  hands the care of the 
slave4 ,such ought to remember that to  
espouse a  good cause is not enough4 ,we
 must maintain it in a spirit answering 
to  its dignity4 ,let no man touch the  
great interests of humanity1 who does   
not strive to sanctify himself for the  
work by cleansing his heart of  all     
wrath and uncharitableness1 who cannot  
hope that he is in a measure  baptized  

unto the spirit of universal love4 ,even
 sympathy with the  injured and         
oppressed may do harm1 by being partial1
 exclusive1 and  bitterly indignant4    
,how far the declension of the spirit of
 freedom is  to be ascribed to the cause
 now suggested ,i do not say4 ,the      
effect is  plain1 and whoever sees and  
laments the evil should strive to arrest
 it4    ,slavery ought to be discussed4 
,we ought to think1 feel1 speak1 and    
write  about it4 ,but whatever we do in 
regard to it should be done with a deep 
feeling of responsibility1 and so done  
as not to put in jeopardy the  peace of 
the slave-holding ,states4 ,on this     
point public opinion has not  been and  
cannot be too strongly pronounced4      
,slavery1 indeed1 from its  very nature1
 must be a ground of alarm wherever it  
exists4 ,slavery and  security can by no
 device be joined together4 ,but we may 
not1 must not1  by rashness and passion 
increase the peril4 ,to instigate the   
slave to  insurrection is a crime for   

which no rebuke and no punishment can be
 too  severe4 ,this would be to involve 
slave and master in common ruin4 ,it is 
not enough to say1 that the             
,constitution is violated by any action 
endangering the slave-holding portion of
 our country4 ,a higher law than  the   
,constitution forbids this unholy       
interference4 ,were our national  union 
dissolved1 we ought to reprobate1 as    
sternly as we now do1 the  slightest    
manifestation of a disposition to stir  
up a servile war4 ,still  more1 were the
 free and the slave-holding ,states not 
only separated1 but  engaged in the     
fiercest hostilities1 the former would  
deserve the  abhorrence of the world1   
and the indignation of ,heaven1 were    
they to  resort to insurrection and     
massacre as means of victory4 ,better   
were it  for us to bare our own breasts 
to the knife of the slave1 than to arm  
him with it against his master4    ,it  
is not by personal1 direct action on the
 mind of the slave that we  can do him  

good4 ,our concern is with the free4    
,with the free we are to  plead his     
cause4 ,and this is peculiarly our duty1
 because we have bound  ourselves to    
resist his efforts for his own          
emancipation4 ,we suffer him  to do     
nothing for himself4 ,the more1 then1   
should be done for him4 ,our  physical  
power is pledged against him in case of 
revolt4 ,then our moral  power should be
 exerted for his relief4 ,his weakness1 
which we increase1  gives him a claim to
 the only aid we can afford1 to our     
moral sympathy1  to the free and        
faithful exposition of his wrongs4 ,as  
men1 as  ,christians1 as citizens1 we   
have duties to the slave1 as well as to 
every other member of the community4 ,on
 this point we have no liberty4  ,the   
,eternal ,law binds us to take the side 
of the injured2 and this law  is        
peculiarly obligatory1 when we forbid   
him to lift an arm in his own  defence4 
,let it not be said we can do nothing   
for the slave4 ,we can do much4 ,we     

have a power mightier than armies1 the  
power of truth1 of principle1 of        
virtue1 of right1 of religion1 of love4 
,we have a power1 which is  growing with
 every advance of civilization1 before  
which the slave-trade  has fallen1 which
 is mitigating the sternest despotisms1 
which is  spreading education through   
all ranks of society1 which is bearing  
,christianity to the ends of the earth1 
which carries in itself the  pledge of  
destruction to every institution which  
debases humanity4 ,who  can measure the 
power of ,christian philanthropy1 of    
enlightened  goodness1 pouring itself   
forth in prayers and persuasions1 from  
the  press and pulpit1 from the lips and
 hearts of devoted men1 and more and    
more binding together the wise and good 
in the cause of their race8 ,all  other 
powers may fail4 ,this must triumph4 ,it
 is leagued with ,god's  omnipotence4   
,it is ,god himself acting in the hearts
 of his children4 ,it  has an ally in   
every conscience1 in every human breast1

 in the wrong  doer himself4 ,this      
spirit has but begun its work on earth4 
,it is  breathing itself more and more  
through literature1 education1          
institutions1 and opinion4 ,slavery     
cannot stand before it4 ,great moral    
principles1 pure and generous           
sentiments1 cannot be confined to this  
or  that spot4 ,they cannot be shut out 
by territorial lines1 or local          
legislation4 ,they are divine           
inspirations1 and partake of the        
omnipresence of their ,author4 ,the     
deliberate1 solemn conviction of good   
men through the world1 that slavery is a
 grievous wrong to human nature1  will  
make itself felt4 ,to increase this     
moral power is every man's duty4  ,to   
embody and express this great truth is  
in every man's power2 and thus  every   
man can do something to break the chain 
of the slave4    ,there are not a few   
persons1 who1 from vulgar modes of      
thinking1 cannot  be interested in this 
subject4 ,because the slave is a        

degraded being1  they think slavery a   
low topic1 and wonder how it can excite 
the  attention and sympathy of those who
 can discuss or feel for any thing      
else4 ,now the truth is1 that slavery1  
regarded only in a philosophical  light1
 is a theme worthy of the highest minds4
 ,it involves the gravest  questions    
about human nature and society4 ,it     
carries us into the  problems which have
 exercised for ages the highest         
understandings4 ,it  calls us to inquire
 into the foundation1 nature1 and extent
 of human  rights1 into the distinction 
between a person and a thing1 into the  
true  relations of man and man1 into the
 obligations of the community to each   
of its members1 into the ground and laws
 of property1 and above all into  the   
true dignity and indestructible claims  
of a moral being4 ,i venture  to say1   
there is no subject1 now agitated by the
 community1 which can  compare in       
philosophical dignity with slavery2 and 
yet to multitudes the  question falls   

under the same contempt with the slave  
himself4 ,to many1  a writer seems to   
lower himself who touches it4 ,the      
falsely refined1 who  want intellectual 
force to grasp it1 pronounce it unworthy
 of their  notice4    ,but this subject 
has more than philosophical dignity4 ,it
 has an  important bearing on character4
 ,our interest in it is one test by     
which  our comprehension of the         
distinctive spirit of ,christianity must
 be  judged4 ,christianity is the       
manifestation and inculcation of        
,universal  ,love4 ,the great teaching  
of ,christianity is1 that we must       
recognise and  respect human nature in  
all its forms1 in the poorest1 most     
ignorant1  most fallen4 ,we must look   
beneath the flesh1 to the spirit4 ,the  
,spiritual principle in man is what     
entitles him to our brotherly regard4   
,to be just to this is the great        
injunction of our religion4 ,to overlook
  this1 on account of condition or      
color1 is to violate the great          

,christian law4 ,we have reason to think
 that it is one design of ,god1 in      
appointing the vast diversities of human
 condition1 to put to the test  and to  
bring out most distinctly the principle 
of love4 ,it is wisely  ordered1 that   
human nature is not set before us in a  
few forms of  beauty1 magnificence1 and 
outward glory4 ,to be dazzled and       
attracted by  these would be no sign of 
reverence for what is interior and      
spiritual  in human nature4 ,to lead us 
to discern and love this1 we are brought
  into connexion with fellow-creatures1 
whose outward circumstances are         
repulsive4 ,to recognise our own        
spiritual nature and ,god's image in    
these humble forms1 to recognise as     
brethren those who want all outward     
distinctions1 is the chief way in which 
we are to manifest the spirit of  ,him1 
who came to raise the fallen and to save
 the lost4 ,we see1 then1  the moral    
importance of the question of slavery2  
according to our  decision of it1 we    

determine our comprehension of the      
,christian law4 ,he  who cannot see a   
brother1 a child of ,god1 a man         
possessing all the  rights of humanity  
under a skin darker than his own1 wants 
the vision  of a ,christian4 ,he        
worships the ,outward4 ,the ,spirit is  
not yet revealed  to him4 ,to look      
unmoved on the degradation and wrongs of
 a  fellow-creature1 because burned by a
 fiercer sun1 proves us strangers to    
justice and love1 in those universal    
forms which characterize  ,christianity4
 ,the greatest of all distinctions1 the 
only enduring one1  is moral goodness1  
virtue1 religion4 ,outward distinctions 
cannot add to  the dignity of this4 ,the
 wealth of worlds is not sufficient for 
a  burnt-offering on its altar4 ,a being
 capable of this is invested by ,god    
with solemn claims on his               
fellow-creatures4 ,to exclude millions  
of such  beings from our sympathy1      
because of outward disadvantages1       
proves1  that1 in whatever else we      

surpass them1 we are not their superiors
 in  ,christian virtue4    ,the spirit  
of ,christianity1 ,i have said1 is      
distinguished by  ,universality4 ,it is 
universal justice4 ,it respects all the 
rights of all  beings4 ,it suffers no   
being1 however obscure1 to be wronged1  
without  condemning the wrong doer4     
,impartial1 uncompromising1 fearless1 it
  screens no favorites1 is dazzled by no
 power1 spreads its shield over  the    
weakest1 summons the mightiest to its   
bar1 and speaks to the  conscience in   
tones1 under which the mightiest have   
quailed4 ,it is also  universal love1   
comprehending those that are near and   
those that are far  off1 the high and   
the low1 the rich and poor1 descending  
to the fallen1  and especially binding  
itself to those in whom human nature is 
trampled  under foot4 ,such is the      
spirit of ,christianity2 and nothing but
 the  illumination of this spirit can   
prepare us to pass judgment on slavery4 
,these remarks are intended to show the 

spirit in which slavery ought to  be    
approached1 and the point of view from  
which it will be regarded in  the       
present discussion4 ,my plan may be     
briefly sketched4    #a4 ,i shall show  
that man cannot be justly held and used 
as ,property4    #b4 ,i shall show that 
man has sacred and infallible rights1 of
 which  slavery is the infraction4      
#c4 ,i shall offer some explanations to 
prevent misapplication of these         
principles4    #d4 ,i shall unfold the  
evils of slavery4    #e4 ,i shall       
consider the argument which the         
,scriptures are thought to  furnish in  
favor of slavery4    #f4 ,i shall offer 
some remarks on the means of removing   
it4    #g4 ,i shall offer some remarks  
on abolitionism4    #h4 ,i shall        
conclude with a few reflections on the  
duties belonging to  the times4    ,in  
the first two sections ,i propose to    
show that slavery is a great  wrong1 but
 ,i do not intend to pass sentence on   
the character of the  slave-holder4     

,these two subjects are distinct4 ,men  
are not always to be  interpreted by    
their acts or institutions4 ,the same   
acts in different  circumstances admit  
and even require very different         
constructions4 ,i  offer this remark1   
that the subject may be approached      
without prejudice  or personal          
reference4 ,the single object is to     
settle great principles4  ,their bearing
 on individuals will be a subject of    
distinct  consideration4                
,,chapter ,i4    ,,property4      ,the  
slave-holder claims the slave as his    
,property4 ,the very idea of a  slave   
is1 that he belongs to another1 that he 
is bound to live and labor  for another1
 to be another's instrument1 and to make
 another's will his  habitual law1      
however adverse to his own4 ,another    
owns him1 and of  course has a right to 
his time and strength1 a right to the   
fruits of  his labor1 a right to task   
him without his consent1 and to         
determine the  kind and duration of his 

toil1 a right to confine him to any     
bounds1 a  right to extort the required 
work by stripes1 a right1 in a word1 to 
use  him as a tool1 without contract1   
against his will1 and in denial of his  
right to dispose of himself or to use   
his power for his own good4 ,a  slave1  
says the ,louisiana ,code1 is in the    
power of the master to whom  he belongs4
 ,the master may sell him1 dispose of   
his person1 his  industry1 his labor2 he
 can do nothing1 possess nothing1 nor   
acquire any  thing1 but which must      
belong to his master4 ,slaves shall be  
deemed1  taken1 reputed1 and adjudged1  
say the ,south ,carolina laws1 to be    
chattels personal in the hands of their 
masters1 and possessions to all  intents
 and purposes whatsoever4 ,such is      
slavery1 a claim to man as  property4   
,now this claim of property in a human  
being is altogether false1  groundless4 
,no such right of man in man can exist4 
,a human being cannot  be justly owned4 
,to hold and treat him as property is to

 inflict a great  wrong1 to incur the   
guilt of oppression4    ,this position  
there is a difficulty in maintaining on 
account of its  exceeding obviousness4  
,it is too plain for proof4 ,to defend  
it is like  trying to confirm a         
self-evident truth4 ,to find arguments  
is not easy1  because an argument is    
something clearer than the proposition  
to be  sustained4 ,the man1 who1 on     
hearing the claim to property in man1   
does  not see and feel distinctly that  
it is a cruel usurpation1 is hardly to  
be reached by reasoning1 for it is hard 
to find any plainer principles  than    
what he begins with denying4 ,i will    
endeavour1 however1 to  illustrate the  
truth which ,i have stated4      #a4 ,it
 is plain1 that1 if one man may be held 
as property1 then every  other man may  
be so held4 ,if there be nothing in     
human nature1 in our  common nature1    
which excludes and forbids the          
conversion of him who  possesses it into
 an article of property2 if the right of

 the free to  liberty is founded1 not on
 their essential attributes as rational 
and  moral beings1 but on certain       
adventitious1 accidental circumstances1 
into which they have been thrown2 then  
every human being1 by a change of       
circumstances1 may justly be held and   
treated by another as property4 ,if  one
 man may be rightfully reduced to       
slavery1 then there is not a human      
being on whom the same chain may not be 
imposed4 ,now let every reader  ask     
himself this plain question3 ,could ,i1 
can ,i1 be rightfully seized1  and made 
an article of property2 be made a       
passive instrument of  another's will   
and pleasure2 be subjected to another's 
irresponsible  power2 be subjected to   
stripes at another's will2 be denied the
 control  and use of my own limbs and   
faculties for my own good8 ,does any    
man1 so  questioned1 doubt1 waver1 look 
about him for an answer8 ,is not the    
reply  given immediately1 intuitively1  
by his whole inward being8 ,does not an 

unhesitating1 unerring conviction spring
 up in my breast1 that no other  man can
 acquire such a right in myself8 ,do we 
not repel indignantly and  with horror  
the thought of being reduced to the     
condition of tools and  chattels to a   
fellow-creature8 ,is there any moral    
truth more deeply  rooted in us1 than   
that such a degradation would be an     
infinite wrong8  ,and if this impression
 be a delusion1 on what single moral    
conviction  can we rely8 ,this deep     
assurance1 that we cannot be rightfully 
made  another's property1 does not rest 
on the hue of our skins1 or the place   
of our birth1 or our strength1 or       
wealth4 ,these things do not enter our  
thoughts4 ,the consciousness of         
indestructible rights is a part of our  
moral being4 ,the consciousness of our  
humanity involves the persuasion1  that 
we cannot be owned as a tree or a brute4
 ,as men we cannot justly be  made      
slaves4 ,then no man can be rightfully  
enslaved4 ,in casting the yoke  from    

ourselves as an unspeakable wrong1 we   
condemn ourselves as wrong  doers and   
oppressors in laying it on any who share
 our nature4 ,it is not  necessary to   
inquire whether a man1 by extreme guilt1
 may not forfeit  the right of his      
nature1 and be justly punished with     
slavery4 ,on this  point crude notions  
prevail4 ,but the discussion would be   
foreign to the  present subject4 ,we are
 now not speaking of criminals4 ,we     
speak of  innocent men1 who have given  
us no hold on them by guilt2 and our own
  consciousness is a proof1 that such   
cannot rightfully be seized as  property
 by a fellow-creature4      #b4 ,a man  
cannot be seized and held as property1  
because he has ,rights4  ,what these    
rights are1 whether few or many1 or     
whether all men have the  same1 are     
questions for future discussion4 ,all   
that is assumed now is1  that every     
human being has some rights4 ,this truth
 cannot be denied1  but by denying to a 
portion of the race that moral nature   

which is the  sure and only foundation  
of rights4 ,this truth has never1 ,i    
believe1  been disputed4 ,it is even    
recognised in the very codes of         
slave-legislation1 which1 while they    
strip a man of liberty1 affirm his      
right to life1 and threaten his murderer
 with punishment4 ,now1 ,i say a  being 
having rights cannot justly be made     
property2 for this claim over  him      
virtually annuls all his rights4 ,it    
strips him of all power to  assert them4
 ,it makes it a crime to assert them4   
,the very essence of  slavery is1 to put
 a man defenceless into the hands of    
another4 ,the  right claimed by the     
master1 to task1 to force1 to imprison1 
to whip1  and to punish the slave1 at   
discretion1 and especially to prevent   
the  least resistance to his will1 is a 
virtual denial and subversion of all    
the rights of the victim of his power4  
,the two cannot stand together4  ,can we
 doubt which of them ought to fall8     
#c4 ,another argument against property  

is to be found in the ,essential        
,equality of men4 ,i know that this     
doctrine1 so venerable in the eyes of   
our fathers1 has lately been denied4    
,verbal logicians have told us that  men
 are born equal1 only in the sense of   
being equally born4 ,they have  asked   
whether all are equally tall1 strong1 or
 beautiful2 or whether  nature1         
,procrustes-like1 reduces all her       
children to one standard of  intellect  
and virtue4 ,by such arguments it is    
attempted to set aside the  principle of
 equality1 on which the soundest        
moralists have reared the  structure of 
social duty2 and in these ways the old  
foundations of  despotic power1 which   
our fathers in their simplicity thought 
they had  subverted1 are laid again by  
their sons4    ,it is freely granted1   
that there are innumerable diversities  
among men2  but be it remembered1 they  
are ordained to bind men together1 and  
not to  subdue one to the other2        
ordained to give means and occasions of 

mutual  aid1 and to carry forward each  
and all1 so that the good of all is     
equally intended in this distribution of
 various gifts4 ,be it also  remembered1
 that these diversities among men are as
 nothing in  comparison with the        
attributes in which they agree1 and it  
is this which  constitutes their        
essential equality4 ,all men have the   
same rational  nature1 and the same     
power of conscience1 and all are equally
 made for  indefinite improvement of    
these divine faculties1 and for the     
happiness  to be found in their virtuous
 use4 ,who1 that comprehends these      
gifts1  does not see that the           
diversities of the race vanish before   
them8 ,let it  be added1 that the       
natural advantages1 which distinguish   
one man from  another1 are so bestowed  
as to counterbalance one another1 and   
bestowed  without regard to rank or     
condition in life4 ,whoever surpasses in
 one  endowment is inferior in others4  
,even genius1 the greatest gift1 is     

found in union with strange infirmities1
 and often places its possessors  below 
ordinary men in the conduct of life4    
,great learning is often put  to shame  
by the mother-wit and keen good sense of
 uneducated men4  ,nature1 indeed1 pays 
no heed to birth or condition in        
bestowing her  favors4 ,the noblest     
spirits sometimes grow up in the        
obscurest spheres4  ,thus equal are men2
 and among these equals1 who can        
substantiate his  claim to make others  
his property1 his tools1 the mere       
instruments of  his private interest and
 gratification8 ,let this claim begin1  
and where  will it stop8 ,if one may    
assert it1 why not all8 ,among these    
partakers  of the same rational and     
moral nature1 who can make good a right 
over  others1 which others may not      
establish over himself8 ,does he insist 
on  superior strength of body or mind8  
,who of us has no superior in one or    
the other of these endowments3 ,is it   
sure that the slave or the slave's      

child may not surpass his master in     
intellectual energy or in moral  worth8 
,has nature conferred distinctions which
 tell us plainly1 who  shall be owner8  
and who be owned8 ,who of us can        
unblushingly lift his  head and say that
 ,god has written ,master there8 or who 
can show the  word ,slave engraven on   
his brother's brow8 ,the equality of    
nature  makes slavery a wrong1 ,nature's
 seal is affixed to no instrument1 by   
which property in a single human being  
is conveyed4      #d4 ,that a human     
being cannot be justly held and used as 
property is  apparent from the very     
nature of property4 ,property is an     
exclusive1  single right4 ,it shuts out 
all claim but that of the possessor1    
,what one  man owns cannot belong to    
another4 ,what1 then1 is the consequence
 of  holding a human being as property8 
,plainly this4 ,he can have no right to 
himself4 ,his limbs are1 in truth1 not  
morally his own4 ,he has not a  right to
 his own strength4 ,it belongs to       

another4 ,his will1 intellect1  and     
muscles1 all the powers of body and mind
 which are exercised in  labor1 he is   
bound to regard as another's4 ,now1 if  
there be property in  any thing1 it is  
that of a man in his own person1 mind1  
and strength4  ,all other rights are    
weak1 unmeaning1 compared with this1 and
 in denying  this all right is denied4  
,it is true that an individual may      
forfeit by  crime his right to the use  
of his limbs1 perhaps to his limbs1 and 
even  to life4 ,but the very idea of    
forfeiture implies that the right was   
originally possessed4 ,it is true that a
 man may by contract give to  another a 
limited right to his strength4 ,but he  
gives only because he  possesses it1 and
 gives it for considerations which he   
deems beneficial  to himself2 and the   
right conferred ceases at once on       
violation of the  conditions on which it
 was bestowed4 ,to deny the right of a  
human being  to himself1 to his own     
limbs and faculties1 to his energy of   

body and  mind1 is an absurdity too     
gross to be confuted by any thing but a 
simple  statement4 ,yet this absurdity  
is involved in the idea of his belonging
  to another4      #e4 ,we have a plain 
recognition of the principle now laid   
down1 in the  universal indignation     
excited towards a man who makes another 
his slave4  ,our laws know no higher    
crime than that of reducing a man to    
slavery4 ,to  steal or to buy an        
,african on his own shores is piracy4   
,in this act the  greatest wrong is     
inflicted1 the most sacred right        
violated4 ,but if a  human being cannot 
without infinite injustice be seized as 
property1  then he cannot without equal 
wrong be held and used as such4 ,the    
wrong  in the first seizure lies in the 
destination of a human being to future  
bondage1 to the criminal use of him as a
 chattel or brute4 ,can that very  use1 
which makes the original seizure an     
enormous wrong1 become  gradually       
innocent8 ,if the slave receive injury  

without measure at the  first moment of 
the outrage1 is he less injured by being
 held fast the  second or the third8    
,does the duration of wrong1 the        
increase of it by  continuance1 convert 
it into right8 ,it is true1 in many     
cases1 that  length of possession is    
considered as giving a right1 where the 
goods  were acquired by unlawful means4 
,but in these cases the goods were such 
as might justly be appropriated to      
individual use4 ,they were intended by  
the ,creator to be owned4 ,they fulfil  
their purpose by passing into the  hands
 of an exclusive possessor4 ,it is      
essential to rightful property in  a    
thing1 that the thing from its nature   
may be rightfully appropriated4  ,if it 
cannot originally be made one's own     
without crime1 it certainly  cannot be  
continued as such without guilt4 ,now1  
the ground1 on which the  seizure of the
 ,african on his own shore is condemned1
 is1 that he is a  ,man1 who has by his 
nature a right to be free4 ,ought not1  

then1 the same  condemnation to light on
 the continuance of his yoke8 ,still    
more4 ,whence  is it that length of     
possession is considered by the laws as 
conferring  a right8 ,i answer1 from the
 difficulty of determining the original 
proprietor1 and from the apprehension of
 unsettling all property by  carrying   
back inquiry beyond a certain time4     
,suppose1 however1 an  article of       
property to be of such a nature that it 
could bear the name  of the true        
original owner1 stamped on it in bright 
and indelible  characters4 ,in this     
case1 the whole ground1 on which length 
of  possession bars other claims1 would 
fail4 ,the proprietor would not be      
concealed or rendered doubtful by the   
lapse of time4 ,would not he1 who       
should receive such an article from a   
robber or a succession of robbers1  be  
involved in their guilt8 ,now1 the true 
owner of a human being is made  manifest
 to all4 ,it is ,himself4 ,no brand on  
the slave was ever so  conspicuous as   

the mark of property which ,god has set 
on him4 ,god1 in  making him a rational 
and moral being1 has put a glorious     
stamp on him1  which all the            
slave-legislation and slave-markets of  
worlds cannot  efface4 ,hence no right  
accrues to the master from the length of
 the  wrong which has been done to the  
slave4      #f4 ,another argument       
against the right of property in man may
 be drawn  from a very obvious principle
 of moral science4 ,it is a plain truth1
  universally received1 that every right
 supposes or involves a  corresponding  
,obligation4 ,if1 then1 a man has a     
right to another's  person or powers1   
the latter is under obligation to give  
himself up as a  chattel to the former4 
,this is his ,duty4 ,he is bound to be a
 slave2 and  bound not merely by the    
,christian law which enjoins submission 
to  injury1 not merely by prudential    
considerations1 or by the claims of     
public order and peace2 but bound       
because another has a right of          

,ownership1 has a ,moral claim to him1  
so that he would be guilty of           
dishonesty1 of robbery1 in withdrawing  
himself from this other's  service4 ,it 
is his ,duty to work for his master1    
though all compulsion  were withdrawn2  
and in deserting him he would commit the
 crime of taking  away another man's    
property1 as truly as if he were to     
carry off his  owner's purse4 ,now1 do  
we not instantly feel1 can we help      
feeling1 that  this is false8 ,is the   
slave thus morally bound8 ,when the     
,african was  first brought to these    
shores1 would he have violated a solemn 
obligation1 by slipping his chain1 and  
flying back to his native home8  ,would 
he not have been bound to seize the     
precious opportunity of  escape8 ,is the
 slave under a moral obligation to      
confine himself1 his  wife1 and         
children1 to a spot where their union in
 a moment may be  forcibly dissolved8   
,ought he not1 if he can1 to place      
himself and his  family under the       

guardianship of equal laws8 ,should we  
blame him for  leaving his yoke8 ,do we 
not feel1 that1 in the same condition1 a
 sense  of duty would quicken our flying
 steps8 ,where1 then1 is the obligation 
which would necessarily be imposed1 if  
the right existed which the  master     
claims8 ,the absence of obligation      
proves the want of the right4  ,the     
claim is groundless4 ,it is a cruel     
wrong4      #g4 ,i come now to what is  
to my own mind the great argument       
against  seizing and using a man as     
property4 ,he cannot be property in the 
sight  of ,god and justice1 because he  
is a ,rational1 ,moral1 ,immortal       
,being2  because created in ,god's      
image1 and therefore in the highest     
sense his  child2 because created to    
unfold ,godlike faculties1 and to govern
  himself by a ,divine ,law written on  
his heart1 and republished in ,god's    
,word4 ,his whole nature forbids that he
 should be seized as property4  ,from   
his very nature it follows1 that so to  

seize him is to offer an  insult to his 
,maker1 and to inflict aggravated social
 wrong4 ,into every  human being ,god   
has breathed an immortal spirit more    
precious than the  whole outward        
creation4 ,no earthly or celestial      
language can exaggerate  the worth of a 
human being4 ,no matter how obscure his 
condition4  ,thought1 ,reason1          
,conscience1 the capacity of ,virtue1   
the capacity of  ,christian ,love1 an   
,immortal ,destiny1 an intimate moral   
connexion with  ,god1--here are         
attributes of our common humanity which 
reduce to  insignificance all outward   
distinctions1 and make every human being
  unspeakably dear to his ,maker4 ,no   
matter how ignorant he may be4 ,the     
capacity of ,improvement allies him to  
the more instructed of his race1  and   
places within his reach the knowledge   
and happiness of higher  worlds4 ,every 
human being has in him the germ of the  
greatest ,idea in  the universe1 the    
,idea of ,god2 and to unfold this is the

 end of his  existence4 ,every human    
being has in his breast the elements of 
that  ,divine1 ,everlasting ,law1 which 
the highest orders of the creation obey4
  ,he has the ,idea of ,duty2 and to    
unfold1 revere1 obey this is the very   
purpose for which life was given4 ,every
 human being has the ,idea of what  is  
meant by that word1 ,truth2 that is1 he 
sees1 however dimly1 the great  object  
of ,divine and created intelligence1 and
 is capable of  ever-enlarging          
perceptions of ,truth4 ,every human     
being has affections1  which may be     
purified and expanded into a ,sublime   
,love4 ,he has1 too1 the  ,idea of      
,happiness1 and a thirst for it which   
cannot be appeased4 ,such is  our       
nature4 ,wherever we see a man1 we see  
the possessor of these great            
capacities4 ,did ,god make such a being 
to be owned as a tree or a brute8  ,how 
plainly was he made to exercise1 unfold1
 improve his highest powers1  made for a
 moral1 spiritual good6 and how is he   

wronged1 and his ,creator  opposed1 when
 he is forced and broken into a tool to 
another's physical  enjoyment6    ,such 
a being was plainly made for an ,end in 
,himself4 ,he is a ,person1 not  a      
,thing4 ,he is an ,end1 not a mere      
,instrument or ,means4 ,he was made for 
his own virtue and happiness4 ,is this  
end reconcilable with his being  held   
and used as a chattel8 ,the sacrifice of
 such a being to another's  will1 to    
another's present1 outward1             
ill-comprehended good1 is the  greatest 
violence which can be offered to any    
creature of ,god4 ,it is to  degrade him
 from his rank in the universe1 to make 
him a means1 not an  end1 to cast him   
out from ,god's spiritual family into   
the brutal herd4    ,such a being was   
plainly made to obey a ,law within      
,himself4 ,this is the  essence of a    
moral being4 ,he possesses1 as a part of
 his nature1 and the  most essential    
part1 a sense of ,duty1 which he is to  
reverence and  follow1 in opposition to 

all pleasure or pain1 to all interfering
 human  wills4 ,the great purpose of all
 good education and discipline is1 to   
make a man ,master of ,himself1 to      
excite him to act from a principle in   
his own mind1 to lead him to propose his
 own perfection as his supreme  law and 
end4 ,and is this highest purpose of    
man's nature to be  reconciled with     
entire subjection to a foreign will1 to 
an outward1  overwhelming force1 which  
is satisfied with nothing but complete  
submission8    ,the end of such a being 
as we have described is manifestly      
,improvement4  ,now1 it is the          
fundamental law of our nature1 that all 
our powers are to  improve by free      
exertion4 ,action is the indispensable  
condition of  progress to the intellect1
 conscience1 and heart4 ,is it not      
plain1 then1  that a human being cannot1
 without wrong1 be owned by another1 who
  claims1 as proprietor1 the right to   
repress the powers of his slaves1 to    
withhold from them the means of         

development1 to keep them within the    
limits which are necessary to           
contentment in chains1 to shut out every
  ray of light and every generous       
sentiment1 which may interfere with     
entire subjection to his will8    ,no   
man1 who seriously considers what human 
nature is1 and what it was  made for1   
can think of setting up a claim to a    
fellow-creature4 ,what6  own a spiritual
 being1 a being made to know and adore  
,god1 and who is to  outlive the sun and
 stars6 ,what6 chain to our lowest uses 
a being made  for truth and virtue6     
,convert into a brute instrument that   
intelligent  nature on which the ,idea  
of ,duty has dawned1 and which is a     
nobler type  of ,god than all outward   
creation6 ,should we not deem it a wrong
 which no  punishment could expiate1    
were one of our children seized as      
property1  and driven by the whip to    
toil8 ,and shall ,god's child1 dearer to
 him  than an only son to a human       
parent1 be thus degraded8 ,every thing  

else  may be owned in the universe2 but 
a moral1 rational being cannot be       
property4 ,suns and stars may be owned1 
but not the lowest spirit4 ,touch  any  
thing but this4 ,lay not your hand on   
,god's rational offspring4 ,the  whole  
spiritual world cries out1 ,forbear6    
,the highest intelligences  recognise   
their own nature1 their own rights1 in  
the humblest human  being4 ,by that     
priceless1 immortal spirit which dwells 
in him1 by that  likeness of ,god which 
he wears1 tread him not in the dust1    
confound him  not with the brute4    ,we
 have thus seen that a human being      
cannot rightfully be held and used  as  
property4 ,no legislation1 not that of  
all countries or worlds1 could  make him
 so4 ,let this be laid down1 as a first1
 fundamental truth4 ,let  us hold it    
fast1 as a most sacred1 precious truth4 
,let us hold it fast  against all       
customs1 all laws1 all rank1 wealth1 and
 power4 ,let it be  armed with the whole
 authority of the civilized and         

,christian world4    ,i have taken it   
for granted that no reader would be so  
wanting in moral  discrimination and    
moral feeling1 as to urge that men may  
rightfully be  seized and held as       
property1 because various governments   
have so  ordained4 ,what6 is human      
legislation the measure of right8 ,are  
,god's  laws to be repealed by man's8   
,can government do no wrong8 ,what is   
the  history of human governments but a 
record of wrongs8 ,how much does the    
progress of civilization consist in the 
substitution of just and humane1  for   
barbarous and oppressive laws8          
,government1 indeed1 has ordained       
slavery1 and to government the          
individual is in no case to offer       
resistance4 ,but criminal legislation   
ought to be freely and earnestly        
exposed4 ,injustice is never so         
terrible1 and never so corrupting1 as   
when armed with the sanctions of law4   
,the authority of government1  instead  
of being a reason for silence under     

wrongs1 is a reason for  protesting     
against wrong with the undivided energy 
of argument1  entreaty1 and solemn      
admonition4          ,,chapter ,,ii4    
,,rights4      ,i now proceed to the    
second division of the subject4 ,i am to
 show1 that  man has by nature received 
sacred1 inalienable ,rights1 which are  
violated by slavery4 ,some important    
principles1 which belong to this  head1 
were necessarily anticipated under the  
preceding2 but they need a  fuller      
exposition4 ,the whole subject of       
,rights needs to be reconsidered4       
,speculations and reasonings about it   
have lately been given to the  public1  
not only false1 but dangerous to        
freedom1 and there is a strong  tendency
 to injurious views4 ,rights are made to
 depend on circumstances1  so that      
pretences may easily be made or created 
for violating them  successively1 till  
none shall remain4 ,human rights have   
been represented  as so modified and    
circumscribed by men's entrance into the

 social  state1 that only the shadows of
 them are left4 ,they have been spoken  
of  as absorbed in the public good2 so  
that a man may be innocently  enslaved1 
if the public good shall so require4 ,to
 meet fully all these  errors1 for such 
,i hold them1 a larger work than the    
present is  required4 ,the nature of    
man1 his relations to the state1 the    
limits of  civil government1 the        
elements of the public good1 and the    
degree to  which the individual must be 
surrendered to this good1--these are the
  topics which the present subject      
involves4 ,i cannot enter into them     
particularly1 but shall lay down what   
seem to me the great and true           
principles in regard to them4 ,i shall  
show that man has rights from his  very 
nature1 not the gifts of society1 but of
 ,god2 that they are not  surrendered on
 entering the social state2 that they   
must not be taken  away under the plea  
of public good2 that the ,individual is 
never to be  sacrificed to the          

,community2 that the ,idea of ,rights is
 to prevail above  all the interests of 
the ,state4    ,man has rights by       
nature4 ,the disposition of some to     
deride abstract  rights1 as if all      
rights were uncertain1 mutable1 and     
conceded by  society1 shows a lamentable
 ignorance of human nature4 ,whoever    
understands this must see in it an      
immovable foundation of rights4 ,these  
are gifts of the ,creator1 not grants of
 society4 ,in the order of things1  they
 precede society1 lie at its foundation1
 constitute man's capacity  for it1 and 
are the great objects of social         
institutions4 ,the  consciousness of    
rights is not a creation of human art1 a
 conventional  sentiment1 but essential 
to and inseparable from the human soul4 
,man's rights belong to him as a ,moral 
,being1 as capable of perceiving  moral 
distinctions1 as a subject of moral     
obligation4 ,as soon as he  becomes     
conscious of ,duty1 a kindred           
consciousness springs up1 that he  has a

 ,right to do what the sense of duty    
enjoins1 and that no foreign  will or   
power can obstruct his moral action     
without crime4 ,he feels that  the sense
 of duty was given to him as a ,law1    
that it makes him  responsible for      
himself1 that to exercise1 unfold1 and  
obey it is the  end of his being1 and   
that he has a right to exercise and obey
 it  without hindrance or opposition4 ,a
 consciousness of dignity1 however      
obscure1 belongs also to this divine    
principle2 and though he may want  words
 to do justice to his thoughts1 he feels
 that he has that within  him which     
makes him essentially equal to all      
around him4    ,the sense of duty is the
 fountain of human rights4 ,in other    
words1 the  same inward principle1 which
 teaches the former1 bears witness to   
the  latter4 ,duties and ,rights must   
stand or fall together4 ,it has been too
  common to oppose them to one another2 
but they are indissolubly joined        
together4 ,that same inward principle1  

which teaches a man what he is  bound to
 do to others1 teaches equally1 and at  
the same instant1 what  others are bound
 to do to him4 ,that same voice1 which  
forbids him to  injure a single         
fellow-creature1 forbids every          
fellow-creature to do  him harm4 ,his   
conscience1 in revealing the moral law1 
does not reveal  a law for himself only1
 but speaks as an ,universal            
,legislator4 ,he has an  intuitive      
conviction1 that the obligations of this
 divine code press on  others as truly  
as on himself4 ,that principle1 which   
teaches him that he  sustains the       
relation of brotherhood to all human    
beings1 teaches him  that this relation 
is reciprocal1 that it gives            
indestructible claims as  well as       
imposes solemn duties1 and that what he 
owes to the members of  this vast       
family1 they owe to him in return4 ,thus
 the moral nature  involves rights4     
,these enter into its very essence4     
,they are taught by  the very voice     

which enjoins duty4 ,accordingly there  
is no deeper  principle in human nature 
than the consciousness of rights4 ,so   
profound1  so ineradicable is this      
sentiment1 that the oppressions of ages 
have no  where wholly stifled it4       
,having shown the foundation of human   
rights in human nature1 it may be  asked
 what they are4 ,perhaps they do not    
admit very accurate definition  any more
 than human duties2 for the ,spiritual  
cannot be weighed and  measured like the
 ,material4 ,perhaps a minute criticism 
may find fault  with the most guarded   
exposition of them2 but they may easily 
be stated  in language which the        
unsophisticated mind will recognise as  
the truth4  ,volumes could not do       
justice to them2 and yet perhaps they   
may be  comprehended in one sentence4   
,they may all be comprised in the       
,right1  which belongs to every rational
 being1 to exercise his powers for the  
promotion of his own and others'        
,happiness and ,virtue4 ,these are the  

great purposes of his existence4 ,for   
these his powers were given1 and to     
these he is bound to devote them4 ,he is
 bound to make himself and others       
better and happier1 according to his    
ability4 ,his ability for this work  is 
a sacred trust from ,god1 the greatest  
of all trusts4 ,he must answer  for the 
waste or abuse of it4 ,he consequently  
suffers an unspeakable  wrong1 when     
stripped of it by others1 or forbidden  
to employ it for the  ends for which it 
is given2 when the powers which ,god has
 given for such  generous uses are      
impaired or destroyed by others1 or the 
means for  their action and growth are  
forcibly withheld4 ,as every human being
 is  bound to employ his faculties for  
his own and others' good1 there is an   
obligation on each to leave all free for
 the accomplishment of this end2  and   
whoever respects this obligation1       
whoever uses his own1 without  invading 
others' powers1 or obstructing others'  
duties1 has a sacred1  indefeasible     

right to be unassailed1 unobstructed1   
unharmed by all with  whom he may be    
connected4 ,here is the grand1          
all-comprehending right of  human       
nature4 ,every man should revere it1    
should assert it for himself  and for   
all1 and should bear solemn testimony   
against every infraction  of it1 by     
whomsoever made or endured4    ,having  
considered the great fundamental right  
of human nature1  particular rights may 
easily be deduced4 ,every man has a     
right to  exercise and invigorate his   
intellect or the power of knowledge1 for
  knowledge is the essential condition  
of successful effort for every  good2   
and whoever obstructs or quenches the   
intellectual life in another  inflicts a
 grievous and irreparable wrong4 ,every 
man has a right to  inquire into his    
duty1 and to conform himself to what he 
learns of it4  ,every man has a right to
 use the means1 given by ,god and       
sanctioned by  virtue1 for bettering his
 condition4 ,he has a right to be       

respected  according to his moral worth2
 a right to be regarded as a member of  
the  community to which he belongs1 and 
to be protected by impartial laws2  and 
a right to be exempted from coercion1   
stripes1 and punishment1 as  long as he 
respects the rights of others4 ,he has a
 right to an  equivalent for his labor4 
,he has a right to sustain domestic     
relations1  to discharge their duties1  
and to enjoy the happiness which flows  
from  fidelity in these and other       
domestic relations4 ,such are a few of  
human  rights2 and if so1 what a        
grievous wrong is slavery6    ,perhaps  
nothing has done more to impair the     
sense of the reality and  sacredness of 
human rights1 and to sanction           
oppression1 than loose  ideas as to the 
change made in man's natural rights by  
his entrance  into civil society4 ,it is
 commonly said that men part with a     
portion of  these by becoming a         
community1 a body politic2 that         
government consists  of powers          

surrendered by the individual2 and it is
 said1 ,if certain  rights and powers   
may be surrendered1 why not others8 why 
not all8 ,what  limit is to be set8 ,the
 good of the community1 to which a part 
is given  up1 may demand the whole2 and 
in this good1 all private rights are    
merged4 ,this is the logic of despotism4
 ,we are grieved1 that it finds  its way
 into republics1 and that it sets down  
the great principles of  freedom as     
abstractions and metaphysical theories1 
good enough for the  cloister1 but too  
refined for practical and real life4    
,human rights1 however1 are not to be so
 reasoned away4 ,they belong1 as  we    
have seen1 to man as a moral being1 and 
nothing can divest him of  them but the 
destruction of his nature4 ,they are not
 to be given up to  society as a prey4  
,on the contrary1 the great end of civil
 society is to  secure them4 ,the great 
end of government is to repress all     
wrong4 ,its  highest function is to     
protect the weak against the powerful1  

so that  the obscurest human being may  
enjoy his rights in peace4 ,strange that
 an  institution1 built on the idea of  
,rights1 should be used to unsettle     
this idea1 to confuse our moral         
perceptions1 to sanctify wrongs as means
  of general good4    ,it is said that  
in forming civil society the individual 
surrenders a  part of his rights4 ,it   
would be more proper to say that he     
adopts new  modes of securing them4 ,he 
consents1 for example1 to desist from   
self-defence1 that he and all may be    
more effectually defended by the  public
 force4 ,he consents to submit his cause
 to an umpire or tribunal1  that justice
 may be more impartially awarded1 and   
that he and all may  more certainly     
receive their due4 ,he consents to part 
with a portion of  his property in      
taxation1 that his own and others'      
property may be the  more secure4 ,he   
submits to certain restraints1 that he  
and others may  enjoy more enduring     
freedom4 ,he expects an equivalent for  

what he  relinquishes1 and insists on it
 as his right4 ,he is wronged by partial
  laws1 which compel him to contribute  
to the state beyond his proportion1  his
 ability1 and the measure of benefits   
which he receives4 ,how absurd  is it to
 suppose1 that by consenting to be      
protected by the state1 and  by yielding
 it the means1 he surrenders the very   
rights which were the  objects of his   
accession to the social compact6    ,the
 authority of the state to impose laws  
on its members ,i cheerfully  allow2 but
 this has limits1 which are found to be 
more and more narrow  in proportion to  
the progress of moral science4 ,the     
state is equally  restrained with       
individuals by the moral law4 ,for      
example1 it may not1  must not on any   
account1 put an innocent man to death1  
or require of  him a dishonorable or    
criminal service4 ,it may demand        
allegiance1 but  only on the ground of  
the protection it affords4 ,it may levy 
taxes1 but  only because it takes all   

property and all interests under its    
shield4  ,it may pass laws1 but only    
impartial ones1 framed for the whole and
 not  for the few4 ,it must not seize by
 a special act the property of the      
humblest individual1 without making him 
an equivalent4 ,it must regard  every   
man1 over whom it extends its authority1
 as a vital part of  itself1 as entitled
 to its care and to its provisions for  
liberty and  happiness4 ,if1 in an      
emergency1 its safety1 which is the     
interest of  each and all1 may demand   
the imposition of peculiar restraints on
 one or  many1 it is bound to limit     
these restrictions to the precise point 
which  its safety prescribes1 to remove 
the necessity of them as far and as     
fast as possible1 to compensate by      
peculiar protection such as it  deprives
 of the ordinary means of protecting    
themselves1 and1 in  general1 to respect
 and provide for liberty in the very    
acts which for a  time restrain it4 ,the
 idea of ,rights1 ,i repeat it1 should  

be fundamental  and supreme in civil    
institutions4 ,government becomes a     
nuisance and  scourge1 in proportion as 
it sacrifices these to the many or the  
few4  ,government1 ,i repeat it1 is     
equally bound with the individual by the
  moral law4 ,the ideas of ,justice and 
,rectitude1 of what is due to man  from 
his fellow-creatures1 of the claims of  
every moral being1 are far  deeper and  
more primitive than ,civil ,polity4     
,government1 far from  originating them1
 owes to them its strength4 ,right is   
older than human  law4 ,law ought to be 
its voice4 ,it should be built on and   
should  correspond to the principle of  
justice in the human breast1 and its    
weakness is owing to nothing more than  
to its clashing with our  indestructible
 moral convictions4    ,that government 
is most perfect1 in which ,policy is    
most entirely  subjected to ,justice1 or
 in which the supreme and constant aim  
is to  secure the rights of every human 
being4 ,this is the beautiful idea of a 

free government1 and no government is   
free but in proportion as it  realizes  
this4 ,liberty must not be confounded   
with popular institutions4  ,a          
representative government may be as     
despotic as an absolute monarchy4  ,in  
as far as it tramples on the rights1    
whether of many or one1 it is a         
despotism4 ,the sovereign power1 whether
 wielded by a single hand or  several   
hands1 by a king or a congress1 which   
spoils one human being of  the          
immunities and privileges bestowed on   
him by ,god1 is so far a  tyranny4 ,the 
great argument in favor of              
representative institutions is1  that a 
people's rights are safest in their own 
hands1 and should never  be surrendered 
to an irresponsible power4 ,rights1     
,rights1 lie at the  foundation of a    
popular government2 and when this       
betrays them1 the  wrong is more        
aggravated than when they are crushed by
 despotism4    ,still the question will 
be asked1 ,is not the ,general ,good the

 supreme  law of the state8 ,are not all
 restraints on the individual just1     
which  this demands8 ,when the rights of
 the individual clash with this1 must   
they not yield8 ,do they not1 indeed1   
cease to be rights8 ,must not every     
thing give place to the ,general ,good8 
,i have started this question in        
various forms1 because ,i deem it worthy
 of particular examination4  ,public and
 private morality1 the freedom and      
safety of our national  institutions1   
are greatly concerned in settling the   
claims of the  ,general ,good4 ,in      
monarchies1 the ,divine ,right of kings 
swallowed up  all others4 ,in republics 
the ,general ,good threatens the same   
evil4 ,it is  a shelter for the abuses  
and usurpations of government1 for the  
profligacies of statesmen1 for the vices
 of parties1 for the wrongs of  slavery4
 ,in considering this subject1 ,i take  
the hazard of repeating  principles     
already laid down2 but this will be     
justified by the  importance of reaching

 and determining the truth4 ,is the     
,general ,good1  then1 the supreme law  
to which every thing must bow8    ,this 
question may be settled at once by      
proposing another4 ,suppose the  ,public
 ,good to require that a number of the  
members of a state1 no  matter how few1 
should perjure themselves1 or should    
disclaim their  faith in ,god and       
virtue4 ,would their right to follow    
conscience and ,god  be annulled8 ,would
 they be bound to sin8 ,suppose a       
conqueror to menace a  state with ruin1 
unless its members should insult their  
parents1 and  stain themselves with     
crimes at which nature revolts8 ,must   
the ,public  ,good prevail over purity  
and our holiest affections8 ,do we not  
all feel1  that there are higher goods  
than even the safety of the state8 ,that
  there is a higher law than that of    
mightiest empires8 ,that the idea of    
,rectitude is deeper in human nature    
than that of private or public          
interest8 ,and that this is to bear sway

 over all private and public  acts8     
,the supreme law of a state is not its  
safety1 its power1 its prosperity1  its 
affluence1 the flourishing state of     
agriculture1 commerce1 and the  arts4   
,these objects1 constituting what is    
commonly called the ,public  ,good1 are1
 indeed1 proposed1 and ought to be      
proposed1 in the  constitution and      
administration of states4 ,but there is 
a higher law1  even ,virtue1 ,rectitude1
 the ,voice of ,conscience1 the ,will of
 ,god4  ,justice is a greater good than 
property1 not greater in degree1 but in 
kind4 ,universal benevolence is         
infinitely superior to prosperity4      
,religion1 the love of ,god1 is worth   
incomparably more than all his  outward 
gifts4 ,a community1 to secure or       
aggrandize itself1 must never  forsake  
the ,right1 the ,holy1 the ,just4       
,moral ,good1 ,rectitude in all its     
branches1 is the ,supreme ,good2 by     
which ,i do not intend that it is the   
surest means to the security and        

prosperity of the state4 ,such1 indeed1 
it is1 but this is too low a  view4 ,it 
must not be looked upon as a ,means1 an 
,instrument4 ,it is the  ,supreme ,end1 
and states are bound to subject to it   
all their  legislation1 be the apparent 
loss of prosperity ever so great4       
,national  wealth is not the ,end4 ,it  
derives all its worth from national     
virtue4 ,if  accumulated by rapacity1   
conquest1 or any degrading means1 or if 
concentrated in the hands of the few1   
whom it strengthens to crush the  many1 
it is a curse4 ,national wealth is a    
blessing1 only when it springs  from and
 represents the intelligence and virtue 
of the community1 when  it is a fruit   
and expression of good habits1 of       
respect for the rights  of all1 of      
impartial and beneficent legislation1   
when it gives impulse  to the higher    
faculties1 and occasion and incitement  
to justice and  beneficence4 ,no greater
 calamity can befall a people than to   
prosper by  crime4 ,no success can be a 

compensation for the wound inflicted on 
a  nation's mind by renouncing ,right as
 its ,supreme ,law4    ,let a people    
exalt ,prosperity above ,rectitude1 and 
a more dangerous end  cannot be         
proposed4 ,public ,prosperity1 ,general 
,good1 regarded by itself1  or apart    
from the moral law1 is something vague1 
unsettled1 and  uncertain1 and will     
infallibly be so construed by the       
selfish and  grasping as to secure their
 own aggrandizement4 ,it may be made to 
wear a  thousand forms according to     
men's interests and passions4 ,this is  
illustrated by every day's history4 ,not
 a party springs up1 which does  not    
sanctify all its projects for           
monopolizing power by the plea of       
,general ,good4 ,not a measure1 however 
ruinous1 can be proposed1 which  cannot 
be shown to favor one or another        
national interest4 ,the truth is1  that1
 in the uncertainty of human affairs1 an
 uncertainty growing out of  the        
infinite and very subtile causes which  

are acting on communities1  the         
consequences of no measure can be       
foretold with certainty4 ,the best      
concerted schemes of policy often fail2 
whilst a rash and profligate            
administration may1 by unexpected       
concurrences of events1 seem to  advance
 a nation's glory4 ,in regard to the    
means of national prosperity  the wisest
 are weak judges4 ,for example1 the     
present rapid growth of  this country1  
carrying1 as it does1 vast multitudes   
beyond the  institutions of religion and
 education1 may be working ruin1 whilst 
the  people exult in it as a pledge of  
greatness4 ,we are too short-sighted to 
find our law in outward interests4 ,to  
states1 as to individuals1  ,rectitude  
is the ,supreme ,law4 ,it was never     
designed that the ,public  ,good1 as    
disjoined from this1 as distinct from   
justice and reverence for  all rights1  
should be comprehended and made our end4
 ,statesmen work in  the dark1 until the
 idea of ,right towers above expediency 

or wealth4 ,wo  to that people which    
would found its prosperity in wrong6 ,it
 is time  that the low maxims of policy1
 which have ruled for ages1 should fall4
  ,it is time that ,public ,interest    
should no longer hallow injustice1 and  
fortify government in making the weak   
their prey4    ,in this discussion1 ,i  
have used the phrase1 ,public or        
,general ,good1 in  its common          
acceptation1 as signifying the safety   
and prosperity of a  state4 ,why can it 
not be used in a larger sense8 ,why can 
it not be made  to comprehend inward and
 moral1 as well as outward good8 ,and   
why cannot  the former be understood to 
be incomparably the most important      
element  of the public weal8 ,then1     
indeed1 ,i should assent to the         
proposition1  that the ,general ,good is
 the supreme law4 ,so construed1 it     
would support  the great truths which ,i
 have maintained4 ,it would condemn the 
infliction of wrong on the humblest     
individual1 as a national calamity4  ,it

 would plead with us to extend to every 
individual the means of  improving his  
character and lot4    ,if the remarks   
under this head be just1 it will follow 
that the good of  the ,individual is    
more important than the outward         
prosperity of the  ,state4 ,the former  
is not vague and unsettled1 like the    
latter1 and it  belongs to a higher     
order of interests4 ,it consists of the 
free  exertion and expansion of the     
individual's powers1 especially of his  
higher faculties2 in the energy of his  
intellect1 conscience1 and good         
affections2 in sound judgment2 in the   
acquisition of truth2 in laboring       
honestly for himself and his family2 in 
loving his ,creator1 and  subjecting his
 own will to the ,divine2 in loving his 
fellow-creatures1  and making cheerful  
sacrifices to their happiness2 in       
friendship2 in  sensibility to the      
beautiful1 whether in nature or art2 in 
loyalty to  his principles2 in moral    
courage2 in self-respect2 in            

understanding and  asserting his rights2
 and in the ,christian hope of          
immortality4 ,such is  the good of the  
,individual2 a more sacred1 exalted1    
enduring interest1  than any accessions 
of wealth or power to the ,state4 ,let  
it not be  sacrificed to these4 ,he     
should find1 in his connexions with the 
community1 aids to the accomplishment of
 these purposes of his being1  and not  
be chained and subdued by it to the     
inferior interests of any               
fellow-creature4    ,in all ages the    
,individual has in one form or another  
been trodden in  the dust4 ,in          
monarchies and aristocracies he has been
 sacrificed to ,one  or to the ,few2    
who1 regarding government as an heirloom
 in their  families1 and thinking of the
 people as made only to live and die for
  their glory1 have not dreamed that the
 sovereign power was designed to  shield
 every man1 without exception1 from     
wrong4 ,in the ancient  ,republics1 the 
,glory of the ,state1 especially        

,conquest1 was the end to  which the    
individual was expected to offer himself
 a victim1 and in  promoting which no   
cruelty was to be declined1 no human    
right revered4  ,he was merged in a     
great whole1 called the ,commonwealth1  
to which his  whole nature was to be    
immolated4 ,it was the glory of the     
,american  people1 that in their        
,declaration of ,independence they took 
the ground  of the indestructible rights
 of every human being4 ,they declared   
all men  to be essentially equal1 and   
each born to be free4 ,they did not1    
like  the ,greek or ,roman1 assert for  
themselves a liberty1 which they burned 
to wrest from other states4 ,they spoke 
in the name of humanity1 as the         
representatives of the rights of the    
feeblest1 as well as mightiest1 of      
their race4 ,they published universal1  
everlasting principles1 which are  to   
work out the deliverance of every human 
being4 ,such was their glory4  ,let not 
the idea of ,rights be erased from their

 children's minds by  false ideas of    
public good4 ,let not the sacredness of 
individual man be  forgotten in the     
feverish pursuit of property4 ,it is    
more important that  the ,individual    
should respect himself1 and be respected
 by others1 than  that the wealth of    
both worlds should be accumulated on our
 shores4  ,national wealth is not the   
end of society4 ,it may exist where     
large  classes are depressed and        
wronged4 ,it may undermine a nation's   
spirit1  institutions1 and independence4
 ,it can have no value and no sure      
foundation1 until the ,supremacy of the 
,rights of the ,individual is the  first
 article of a nation's faith1 and until 
reverence for them becomes  the spirit  
of public men4    ,perhaps it will be   
replied to all which has now been said1 
that there is  an argument from         
experience1 which invalidates the       
doctrines of this  section4 ,it may be  
said1 that human rights1 notwithstanding
 what has  been said of their           

sacredness1 do and must yield to the    
exigencies of  real life1 that there is 
often a stern necessity in human affairs
 to  which they bow4 ,i may be asked1   
whether1 in the history of nations1     
circumstances do not occur1 in which the
 rigor of the principles1 now  laid     
down1 must be relaxed8 ,whether1 in     
seasons of imminent peril to the  state1
 private rights must not give way8 ,i   
may be asked1 whether the  establishment
 of martial law and a dictator has not  
sometimes been  justified and demanded  
by public danger1 and whether1 of       
course1 the  rights and liberties of the
 individual are not held at the         
discretion of  the state4 ,i admit1 in  
reply1 that extreme cases may occur1 in 
which the  exercise of rights and       
freedom may be suspended2 but suspended 
only for  their ultimate and permanent  
security4 ,at such times1 when the      
frantic  fury of the many1 or the       
usurpations of the few interrupt the    
administration of law1 and menace       

property and life1 society1 threatened  
with ruin1 puts forth instinctively     
spasmodic efforts for its own           
preservation4 ,it flies to an           
irresponsible dictator for its          
protection4  ,but in these cases1 the   
great idea of ,rights predominates      
amidst their  apparent subversion4 ,a   
power above all laws is conferred1 only 
that the  empire of law may be restored4
 ,despotic restraints are imposed only  
that  liberty may be rescued from ruin4 
,all rights are involved in the safety  
of the state2 and hence1 in the cases   
referred to1 the safety of the  state   
becomes the supreme law4 ,the individual
 is bound for a time to  forego his     
freedom for the salvation of            
institutions1 without which  liberty is 
but a name4 ,to argue from such         
sacrifices that he may be  permanently  
made a slave1 is as great an insult to  
reason as to  humanity4 ,it may be      
added1 that sacrifices1 which may be    
demanded for  the safety1 are not due   

from the individual to the prosperity of
 the  state4 ,the great end of civil    
society is to secure rights1 not        
accumulate wealth2 and to merge the     
former in the latter is to turn         
political union into degradation and a  
scourge4 ,the community is bound  to    
take the rights of each and all under   
its guardianship4 ,it must  substantiate
 its claim to universal obedience by    
redeeming its pledge of  universal      
protection4 ,it must immolate no man to 
the prosperity of the  rest4 ,its laws  
should be made for all1 its tribunals   
opened to all4 ,it  cannot without guilt
 abandon any of its members to private  
oppression1  to irresponsible power4    
,we have thus established the reality   
and sacredness of human rights2  and    
that slavery is an infraction of these  
is too plain to need any  labored proof4
 ,slavery violates not one1 but all2 and
 violates them not  incidentally1 but   
necessarily1 systematically1 from its   
very nature4 ,in  starting with the     

assumption that the slave is property1  
it sweeps away  every defence of human  
rights and lays them in the dust4 ,were 
it  necessary ,i might enumerate them1  
and show how all fall before this       
terrible usurpation2 but a few remarks  
will suffice4    ,slavery strips man of 
the fundamental right to inquire into1  
consult1  and seek his own happiness4   
,his powers belong to another1 and for  
another they must be used4 ,he must form
 no plans1 engage in no  enterprises1   
for bettering his condition4 ,whatever  
be his capacities1  however equal to    
great improvements of his lot1 he is    
chained for life  by another's will to  
the same unvaried toil4 ,he is forbidden
 to do for  himself or others the work1 
for which ,god stamped him with his own 
image1 and endowed him with his own best
 gifts4--,again1 the slave is  stripped 
of the right to acquire property4 ,being
 himself owned1 his  earnings belong to 
another4 ,he can possess nothing but by 
favor4 ,that  right on which the        

development of men's powers so much     
depends1 the  right to make             
accumulations1 to gain exclusive        
possessions by honest  industry1 is     
withheld4 ,the slave can acquire        
nothing1 says one of the  slave-codes1  
but what must belong to his master2 and 
however this  definition1 which moves   
the indignation of the free1 may be     
mitigated by  favor1 the spirit of it   
enters into the very essence of         
slavery4--,again1  the slave is stripped
 of his right to his wife and children4 
,they belong  to another1 and may be    
torn from him1 one and all1 at any      
moment1 at his  master's                
pleasure4--,again1 the slave is stripped
 of the right to the  culture of his    
rational powers4 ,he is in some cases   
deprived by law of  instruction1 which  
is placed within his reach by the       
improvements of  society and the        
philanthropy of the age4 ,he is not     
allowed to toil1 that  his children may 
enjoy a better education than himself4  

,the most sacred  right of human nature1
 that of developing his best faculties1 
is denied4  ,even should it be granted1 
it would be conceded as a favor1 and    
might at  any moment be withheld by the 
capricious will of another4--,again1 the
  slave is deprived of the right of     
self-defence4 ,no injury from a white   
man is he suffered to repel1 nor can he 
seek redress from the laws of  his      
country4 ,if accumulated insult and     
wrong provoke him to the  slightest     
retaliation1 this effort for            
self-protection1 allowed and  commended 
to others1 is a crime for which he must 
pay a fearful  penalty4--,again1 the    
slave is stripped of the right to be    
exempted from  all harm except for wrong
 doing4 ,he is subjected to the lash1 by
 those  whom he has never consented to  
serve1 and whose claim to him as        
property  we have seen to be a          
usurpation2 and this power of           
punishment1 which1 if  justly claimed1  
should be exercised with a fearful care1

 is often  delegated to men in whose    
hands there is a moral certainty of its 
abuse4    ,i will add but one more      
example of the violation of human rights
 by  slavery4 ,the slave virtually      
suffers the wrong of robbery1 though    
with  utter unconsciousness on the part 
of those who inflict it4 ,it may1       
indeed1 be generally thought1 that1 as  
he is suffered to own nothing1 he       
cannot fall1 at least1 under this kind  
of violence4 ,but it is not true  that  
he owns nothing4 ,whatever he may be    
denied by man1 he holds from  nature the
 most valuable property1 and that from  
which all other is  derived1 ,i mean his
 strength4 ,his labor is his own1 by the
 gift of that  ,god who nerved his arm1 
and gave him intelligence and conscience
 to  direct the use of it for his own   
and others' happiness4 ,no possession is
  so precious as a man's force of body  
and mind4 ,the exertion of this in      
labor is the great foundation and source
 of property in outward things4  ,the   

worth of articles of traffic is measured
 by the labor expended in  their        
production4 ,to the great mass of men1  
in all countries1 their  strength or    
labor is their whole fortune4 ,to seize 
on this would be to  rob them of their  
all4 ,in truth1 no robbery is so great  
as that to which  the slave is          
habitually subjected4 ,to take by force 
a man's whole  estate1 the fruit of     
years of toil1 would by universal       
consent be  denounced as a great wrong2 
but what is this1 compared with seizing 
the  man himself1 and appropriating to  
our use the limbs1 faculties1  strength1
 and labor1 by which all property is won
 and held fast8 ,the  right of property 
in outward things is as nothing1        
compared with our  right to ourselves4  
,were the slave-holder stript of his    
fortune1 he  would count the violence   
slight1 compared with what he would     
suffer1  were his person seized and     
devoted as a chattel to another's use4  
,let it  not be said that the slave     

receives an equivalent1 that he is fed  
and  clothed1 and is not1 therefore1    
robbed4 ,suppose another to wrest from  
us  a valued possession1 and to pay us  
his own price4 ,should we not think     
ourselves robbed8 ,would not the laws   
pronounce the invader a robber8 ,is  it 
consistent with the right of property1  
that a man should determine  the        
equivalent for what he takes from his   
neighbour8 ,especially is it to  be     
hoped1 that the equivalent due to the   
laborer will be scrupulously  weighed1  
when he himself is held as property1 and
 all his earnings are  declared to be   
his master's8 ,so great an infraction of
 human right is  slavery6    ,in reply  
to these remarks1 it may be said that   
the theory and practice  of slavery     
differ2 that the rights of the slave are
 not as wantonly  sported with as the   
claims of the master might lead us to   
infer2 that  some of his possessions are
 sacred2 that not a few slave-holders   
refuse  to divorce husband and wife1 to 

sever parent and child2 and that in many
  cases the power of punishment is used 
so reluctantly1 as to encourage         
insolence and insubordination4 ,all this
 ,i have no disposition to deny4        
,indeed it must be so4 ,it is not in    
human nature to wink wholly out of      
sight the rights of a fellow-creature4  
,degrade him as we may1 we cannot       
altogether forget his claims4 ,in every 
slave-country1 there are1  undoubtedly1 
masters who desire and purpose to       
respect these1 to the  full extent which
 the nature of the relation will allow4 
,still1 human  rights are denied4 ,they 
lie wholly at another's mercy2 and we   
must have  studied history in vain1 if  
we need be told that they will be       
continually the prey of this absolute   
power4--,the ,evils involved in and     
flowing from the denial and infraction  
of the rights of the slave will  form   
the subject of a subsequent chapter4    
,,chapter ,,iii4    ,,explanations4     
,i have endeavoured to show in the      

preceding sections that slavery is a    
violation of sacred rights1 the         
infliction of a great wrong4 ,and here a
  question arises4 ,it may be asked1    
whether1 by this language1 ,i intend to 
fasten on the slave-holder the charge of
 peculiar guilt4 ,on this point  great  
explicitness is a duty4 ,sympathy with  
the slave has often  degenerated into   
injustice towards the master4 ,i wish   
it1 then1 to be  understood1 that1 in   
ranking slavery among the greatest      
wrongs1 ,i speak  of the injury endured 
by the slave1 and not of the character  
of the  master4 ,these are distinct     
points4 ,the former does not determine  
the  latter4 ,the wrong is the same to  
the slave1 from whatever motive or      
spirit it may be inflicted4 ,but this   
motive or spirit determines wholly  the 
character of him who inflicts it4       
,because a great injury is done to      
another1 it does not follow that he who 
does it is a depraved man2 for  he may  
do it unconsciously1 and1 still more1   

may do it in the belief  that he confers
 a good4 ,we have learned little of     
moral science and of  human nature1 if  
we do not know that guilt is to be      
measured1 not by the  outward act1 but  
by unfaithfulness to conscience2 and    
that the  consciences of men are often  
darkened by education1 and other        
inauspicious influences4 ,all men have  
partial consciences1 or want            
comprehension of some duties4 ,all      
partake1 in a measure1 of the errors  of
 the community in which they live4 ,some
 are betrayed into moral  mistakes by   
the very force with which conscience    
acts in regard to some  particular duty4
 ,as the intellect1 in grasping one     
truth1 often loses  its hold of others1 
and by giving itself up to one idea1    
falls into  exaggeration2 so the moral  
sense1 in seizing on a particular       
exercise of  philanthropy1 forgets other
 duties1 and will even violate many     
important  precepts in its passionate   
eagerness to carry one to perfection4   

,innumerable illustrations may be given 
of the liableness of men to moral       
error4 ,the practice1 which strikes one 
man with horror1 may seem to  another1  
who was born and brought up in the midst
 of it1 not only  innocent1 but         
meritorious4 ,we must judge others1 not 
by our light1 but  by their own4 ,we    
must take their place1 and consider what
 allowance we  in their position might  
justly expect4 ,our ancestors at the    
,north were  concerned in the           
slave-trade4 ,some of us can recollect  
individuals of  the colored race1 who   
were torn from ,africa1 and grew old    
under our  parental roofs4 ,our         
ancestors committed a deed now branded  
as piracy4  ,were they1 therefore1 the  
offscouring of the earth8 ,were not some
 of  them among the best of their times8
 ,the administration of religion in     
almost all past ages has been a         
violation of the sacred rights of       
conscience4 ,how many sects have        
persecuted and shed blood6 ,were their  

members1 therefore1 monsters of         
depravity8 ,the history of our race is  
made up of wrongs1 many of which were   
committed without a suspicion of  their 
true character1 and many from an urgent 
sense of duty4 ,a man born  among       
slaves1 accustomed to this relation from
 his birth1 taught its  necessity by    
venerated parents1 associating it with  
all whom he reveres1  and too familiar  
with its evils to see and feel their    
magnitude1 can  hardly he expected to   
look on slavery as it appears to more   
impartial  and distant observers8 ,let  
it not be said that when new light is   
offered  him he is criminal in rejecting
 it4 ,are we all willing to receive new 
light8 ,can we wonder that such a man   
should be slow to be convinced of  the  
criminality of an abuse sanctioned by   
prescription1 and which has so          
interwoven itself with all the habits1  
employments1 and economy of life1  that 
he can hardly conceive of the existence 
of society without this  all-pervading  

element8 ,may he not be true to his     
convictions of duty in  other relations1
 though he grievously err in this8 ,if1 
indeed1 through  cupidity and           
selfishness1 he stifle the monitions of 
conscience1 warp  his judgment1 and     
repel the light1 he incurs great guilt4 
,if he want  virtue to resolve on doing 
right1 though at the loss of every      
slave1 he  incurs great guilt4 ,but who 
of us can look into his heart8 ,to whom 
are  the secret workings there revealed8
    ,still more4 ,there are masters who 
have thrown off the natural prejudices  
of their position1 who see slavery as it
 is1 and who hold the slave  chiefly1 if
 not wholly1 from disinterested         
considerations2 and these  deserve great
 praise4 ,they deplore and abhor the    
institution2 but  believing that partial
 emancipation1 in the present condition 
of  society1 would bring unmixed evil on
 bond and free1 they think  themselves  
bound to continue the relation1 until it
 shall be dissolved  by comprehensive   

and systematic measures of the state4   
,there are many of  them who would      
shudder as much as we at reducing a     
freeman to bondage1  but who are        
appalled by what seem to them the perils
 and difficulties of  liberating        
multitudes1 born and brought up to that 
condition4 ,there are  many1 who1       
nominally holding the slave as property1
 still hold him for  his own good and   
for the public order1 and would blush to
 retain him on  other grounds4 ,are such
 men to be set down among the           
unprincipled8 ,am ,i  told that by these
 remarks ,i extenuate slavery8 ,i reply1
 slavery is  still a heavy yoke1 and    
strips man of his dearest rights1 be the
  master's character what it may4       
,slavery is not less a curse1 because   
long use may have blinded most1 who     
support it1 to its evils4 ,its          
influence is still blighting1 though    
conscientiously upheld4 ,absolute       
monarchy is still a scourge1 though     
among despots there have been good  men4

 ,it is possible to abhor and oppose bad
 institutions1 and yet to  abstain from 
indiscriminate condemnation of those who
 cling to them1 and  even to see in     
their ranks greater virtue than in      
ourselves4 ,it is true1  and ought to be
 cheerfully acknowledged1 that in the   
slave-holding  ,states may be found some
 of the greatest names of our history1  
and1 what  is still more important1     
bright examples of private virtue and   
,christian  love4    ,there is1 however1
 there must be1 in slaveholding         
communities a large  class which cannot 
be too severely condemned4 ,there are   
many1 we fear1  very many1 who hold     
their fellow-creatures in bondage1 from 
selfish1  base motives4 ,they hold the  
slave for gain1 whether justly or       
unjustly  they neither ask nor care4    
,they cling to him as property1 and have
 no  faith in the principles which will 
diminish a man's wealth4 ,they hold     
him1 not for his own good or the safety 
of the state1 but with precisely  the   

same views with which they hold a       
laboring horse1 that is1 for the  profit
 which they can wring from him4 ,they   
will not hear a word of his  wrongs2    
for1 wronged or not1 they will not let  
him go4 ,he is their  property1 and they
 mean not to be poor for righteousness' 
sake4 ,such a  class there undoubtedly  
is among slaveholders2 how large their  
own  consciences must determine4 ,we are
 sure of it2 for under such             
circumstances human nature will and must
 come to this mournful result4  ,now1 to
 men of this spirit1 the explanations we
 have made do in no  degree apply4 ,such
 men ought to tremble before the rebukes
 of outraged  humanity and indignant    
virtue4 ,slavery1 upheld for gain1 is a 
great  crime4 ,he1 who has nothing to   
urge against emancipation1 but that it  
will make him poorer1 is bound to       
,immediate ,emancipation4 ,he has no    
excuse for wresting from his brethren   
their rights4 ,the plea of benefit  to  
the slave and the state avails him      

nothing4 ,he extorts1 by the lash1  that
 labor to which he has no claim1 through
 a base selfishness4 ,every  morsel of  
food1 thus forced from the injured1     
ought to be bitterer than  gall4 ,his   
gold is cankered4 ,the sweat of the     
slave taints the luxuries  for which it 
streams4 ,better were it for the selfish
 wrong doer of whom  ,i speak1 to live  
as the slave1 to clothe himself in the  
slave's raiment1  to eat the slave's    
coarse food1 to till his fields with his
 own hands1  than to pamper himself by  
day1 and pillow his head on down at     
night1 at  the cost of a wantonly       
injured fellow-creature4 ,no            
fellow-creature can  be so injured      
without taking terrible vengeance4 ,he  
is terribly avenged  even now4 ,the     
blight which falls on the soul of the   
wrong doer1 the  desolation of his moral
 nature1 is a more terrible calamity    
than he  inflicts4 ,in deadening his    
moral feelings1 he dies to the proper   
happiness of a man4 ,in hardening his   

heart against his fellow-creatures1  he 
sears it to all true joy4 ,in shutting  
his ear against the voice of  justice1  
he shuts out all the harmonies of the   
universe1 and turns the  voice of ,god  
within him into rebuke4 ,he may prosper1
 indeed1 and hold  faster the slave by  
whom he prospers2 but he rivets heavier 
and more  ignominious chains on his own 
soul than he lays on others4 ,no        
punishment  is so terrible as prosperous
 guilt4 ,no fiend1 exhausting on us all 
his  power of torture1 is so terrible as
 an oppressed fellow-creature4 ,the  cry
 of the oppressed1 unheard on earth1 is 
heard in heaven4 ,god is just1  and if  
justice reign1 then the unjust must     
terribly suffer4 ,then no  being can    
profit by evil doing4 ,then all the laws
 of the universe are  ordinances against
 guilt4 ,then every enjoyment1 gained by
 wrong doing1  will be turned into a    
curse4 ,no laws of nature are so        
irrepealable as  that law which binds   
guilt and misery4 ,god is just4 ,then   

all the  defences1 which the oppressor  
rears against the consequences of wrong 
doing1 are vain1 as vain as would be his
 strivings to arrest by his  single arm 
the ocean or whirlwind4 ,he may disarm  
the slave4 ,can he  disarm that slave's 
,creator8 ,he can crush the spirit of   
insurrection in  a fellow-being4 ,can he
 crush the awful spirit of justice and  
retribution  in the ,almighty8 ,he can  
still the murmur of discontent in his   
victim4  ,can he silence that voice     
which speaks in thunder1 and is to break
 the  sleep of the grave8 ,can he always
 still the reproving1 avenging voice in 
his own breast8    ,i know it will be   
said1 ,you would make us poor4 ,be poor1
 then1 and  thank ,god for your honest  
poverty4 ,better be poor than unjust4   
,better  beg than steal4 ,better live in
 an almshouse1 better die1 than trample 
on  a fellow-creature and reduce him to 
a brute1 for selfish gratification4     
,what6 ,have we yet to learn that it    
profits us nothing to gain the whole    

world1 and lose our souls8    ,let it   
not be replied1 in scorn1 that we of the
 ,north1 notorious for  love of money1  
and given to selfish calculations1 are  
not the people to  call others to resign
 their wealth4 ,i have no desire to     
shield the  ,north4 ,we have1 without   
doubt1 a great multitude1 who1 were they
  slave-holders1 would sooner die than  
relax their iron grasp1 than yield      
their property in men to justice and the
 commands of ,god4 ,we have those  who  
would fight against abolition1 if by    
this measure the profit of  their       
intercourse with the ,south should be   
materially impaired4 ,the  present      
excitement among us is1 in part1 the    
working of mercenary  principles4 ,but  
because the ,north joins hands with the 
,south1 shall  iniquity go unpunished or
 unrebuked8 ,can the league of the      
wicked1 the  revolt of worlds1 repeal   
the everlasting law of heaven and earth8
 ,has  ,god's throne fallen before      
,mammon's8 ,must duty find no voice1 no 

organ1  because corruption is           
universally diffused8 ,is not this a    
fresh motive  to solemn warning1 that1  
every where1 ,northward and ,southward1 
the  rights of human beings are held so 
cheap1 in comparison with worldly  gain8
          ,,chapter ,,iv4    ,,the      
,,evils ,,of ,,slavery4      ,the       
subject of this section is painful and  
repulsive4 ,we must not1  however1 turn 
away from the contemplation of human    
sufferings and guilt4  ,evil is         
permitted by the ,creator1 that we      
should strive against it in  faith1 and 
hope1 and charity4 ,we must never quail 
before it because of  its extent and    
duration1 never feel as if its power    
were greater than  that of goodness4 ,it
 is meant to call forth deep sympathy   
with human  nature1 and unwearied       
sacrifices for human redemption4 ,one   
great part of  the mission of every man 
on earth is to contend with evil in some
 of its  forms2 and there are some evils
 so dependent on opinion1 that every    

man1  in judging and reproving them     
faithfully1 does something towards their
  removal4 ,let us not1 then1 shrink    
from the contemplation of human         
sufferings4 ,even sympathy1 if we have  
nothing more to offer1 is a  tribute    
acceptable to the ,universal            
,father4--,on this topic exaggeration   
should be conscientiously shunned2 and1 
at the same time1 humanity  requires    
that the whole truth should be honestly 
spoken4    ,in treating of the evils of 
slavery1 ,i1 of course1 speak of its    
general1  not universal effects1 of its 
natural tendencies1 not unfailing       
results4  ,there are the same natural   
differences among the bond as the free1 
and  there is a great diversity in the  
circumstances in which they are  placed4
 ,the house-slave1 selected for ability 
and faithfulness1 placed  amidst the    
habits1 accommodations1 and improvements
 of civilized life1  admitted to a      
degree of confidence and familiarity1   
and requiting these  privileges with    

attachment1 is almost necessarily more  
enlightened and  respectable than the   
field-slave1 who is confined to         
monotonous toils1  and to the society   
and influences of beings as degraded as 
himself4 ,the  mechanics in this class  
are sensibly benefited by occupations   
which give  a higher action to the mind4
 ,among the bond1 as the free1 will be  
found  those to whom nature seems       
partial1 and who are carried almost     
instinctively towards what is good4 ,i  
speak of the natural1 general           
influences of slavery4 ,here1 as every  
where else1 there are exceptions  to the
 rule1 and exceptions which multiply    
with the moral improvements  of the     
community in which the slave is found4  
,but these do not determine  the general
 character of the institution4 ,it has  
general tendencies  founded in its very 
nature1 and which predominate vastly    
wherever it  exists4 ,these tendencies  
it is my present purpose to unfold4     
#a4 ,the first rank among the evils of  

slavery must be given to its ,moral     
influence4 ,this is throughout debasing4
 ,common language teaches this4 ,we  can
 say nothing more insulting of another1 
than that he is ,slavish4 ,to  possess  
the spirit of a slave is to have sunk to
 the lowest depths4 ,we  can apply to   
slavery no worse name than its own4 ,men
 have always shrunk  instinctively from 
this state1 as the most degraded4 ,no   
punishment1 save  death1 has been more  
dreaded1 and to avoid it death has often
 been  endured4    ,in expressing the   
moral influence of slavery the first and
 most obvious  remark is1 that it       
destroys the proper consciousness and   
spirit of a  ,man4 ,the slave regarded  
and treated as property1 bought and sold
 like a  brute1 denied the rights of    
humanity1 unprotected against insult1   
made a  tool1 and systematically        
subdued1 that lie may be a manageable1  
useful  tool1 how can he help regarding 
himself as fallen below his race8 ,how  
must his spirit be crushed6 ,how can he 

respect himself8 ,he becomes bound  to  
,servility4 ,this word1 borrowed from   
his condition1 expresses the ruin       
wrought by slavery within him4 ,the     
idea1 that he was made for his own      
virtue and happiness1 scarcely dawns on 
his mind4 ,to be an instrument of  the  
physical1 material good of another1     
whose will is his highest law1  he is   
taught to regard as the great purpose of
 his being4 ,here lies the  evil of     
slavery4 ,its whips1 imprisonments1 and 
even the horrors of the  middle passage 
from ,africa to ,america1 these are not 
to be named1 in  comparison with this   
extinction of the proper consciousness  
of a human  being1 with the degradation 
of a man into a brute4    ,it may be    
said1 that the slave is used to his     
yoke2 that his  sensibilities are       
blunted2 that he receives1 without a    
pang or a  thought1 the treatment which 
would sting other men to madness4 ,and  
to  what does this apology amount8 ,it  
virtually declares1 that slavery has    

done its perfect work1 has quenched the 
spirit of humanity1 that the ,man  is   
dead within the ,slave4 ,is slavery1    
therefore1 no wrong8 ,it is not1        
however1 true1 that this work of        
debasement is ever so effectually done  
as to extinguish all feeling4 ,man is   
too great a creature to be wholly       
ruined by man4 ,when he seems dead he   
only sleeps4 ,there are occasionally    
some sullen murmurs in the calm of      
slavery1 showing that life still  beats 
in the soul1 that the idea of ,rights   
cannot be wholly effaced from  the human
 being4    ,it would be too painful1 and
 it is not needed1 to detail the        
processes  by which the spirit is broken
 in slavery4 ,i refer to one only1 the  
selling of slaves4 ,the practice of     
exposing fellow-creatures for sale1  of 
having markets for men as for cattle1 of
 examining the limbs and  muscles of a  
man and a woman as of a brute1 of       
putting human beings  under the hammer  
of an auctioneer1 and delivering them1  

like any other  articles of merchandise1
 to the highest bidder1 all this is such
 an  insult to our common nature1 and so
 infinitely degrading to the poor       
victim1 that it is hard to conceive of  
its existence1 except in a  barbarous   
country4    ,that slavery should be most
 unpropitious to the slave as a moral   
being  will be farther apparent1 if we  
consider that his condition is          
throughout a ,wrong1 and that           
consequently it must tend to unsettle   
all  his notions of duty4 ,the violation
 of his own rights1 to which he is      
inured from birth1 must throw confusion 
over his ideas of all human  rights4 ,he
 cannot comprehend them2 or1 if he does1
 how can he respect  them1 seeing them1 
as he does1 perpetually trampled on in  
his own  person8 ,the injury to the     
character from living in an atmosphere  
of  wrong1 we can all understand4 ,to   
live in a state of society1 of which    
injustice is the chief and all-pervading
 element1 is too severe a trial  for    

human nature1 especially when no means  
are used to counteract its  influence4  
,accordingly the most common            
distinctions of morality are faintly    
apprehended by the slave4 ,respect for  
property1 that fundamental law of  civil
 society1 can hardly be instilled into  
him4 ,his dishonesty is  proverbial4    
,theft from his master passes with him  
for no crime4 ,a system  of force is    
generally found to drive to fraud4 ,how 
necessarily will this  be the result of 
a relation1 in which force is used to   
extort from a man  his labor1 his       
natural property1 without an attempt to 
win his consent6  ,can we wonder that   
the uneducated conscience of the man who
 is daily  wronged should allow him in  
reprisals to the extent of his power8   
,thus  the primary social virtue1       
justice1 is undermined in the slave4    
,that the slave should yield himself to 
intemperance1 licentiousness1  and1 in  
general1 to sensual excess1 we must also
 expect4 ,doomed to live  for the       

physical indulgences of others1 unused  
to any pleasures but  those of sense1   
stripped of self-respect1 and having    
nothing to gain in  life1 how can he be 
expected to govern himself8 ,how        
naturally1 ,i had  almost said          
necessarily1 does he become the creature
 of sensation1 of  passion1 of the      
present moment6 ,what aid does the      
future give him in  withstanding desire8
 ,that better condition1 for which other
 men postpone  the cravings of appetite1
 never opens before him4 ,the sense of  
character1 the power of opinion1 another
 restraint on the free1 can do  little  
or nothing to rescue so abject a class  
from excess and  debasement4 ,in truth1 
power over himself is the last virtue we
 should  expect in the slave1 when we   
think of him as subjected to absolute   
power1 and made to move passively from  
the impulse of a foreign will4 ,he  is  
trained to cowardice1 and cowardice     
links itself naturally with low  vices4 
,idleness to his apprehension is        

paradise1 for he works without  hope of 
reward4 ,thus slavery robs him of moral 
force1 and prepares him  to fall a prey 
to appetite and passion4    ,that the   
slave finds in his condition little     
nutriment for the social  virtues we    
shall easily understand1 if we consider 
that his chief  relations are to an     
absolute master1 and to the companions  
of his  degrading bondage1 that is1 to a
 being who wrongs him1 and to associates
  whom he cannot honor1 whom he sees    
debased4 ,his dependence on his owner   
loosens his ties to all other beings4   
,he has no country to love1 no  family  
to call his own1 no objects of public   
utility to espouse1 no  impulse to      
generous exertion4 ,the relations1      
dependencies1 and  responsibilities1 by 
which ,providence forms the soul to a   
deep1  disinterested love1 are almost   
struck out of his lot4 ,an arbitrary    
rule1  a foreign1 irresistible will1    
taking him out of his own hands1 and    
placing him beyond the natural          

influences of society1 extinguishes in a
  great degree the sense of what is due 
to himself1 and to the human  family    
around him4    ,the effects of slavery  
on the character are so various1 that   
this part  of the discussion might be   
greatly extended2 but ,i will touch only
 on  one topic4 ,let us turn1 for a     
moment1 to the great ,motive by which   
the  slave is made to labor4 ,labor1 in 
one form or another1 is appointed by    
,god for man's improvement and          
happiness1 and absorbs the chief part of
  human life1 so that the ,motive which 
excites to it has immense influence  on 
character4 ,it determines very much1    
whether life shall serve or fail  of its
 end4 ,the man1 who works from honorable
 motives1 from domestic  affections1    
from desire of a condition which will   
open to him greater  happiness and      
usefulness1 finds in labor an exercise  
and invigoration of  virtue4 ,the       
day-laborer1 who earns1 with horny hand 
and the sweat of his  face1 coarse food 

for a wife and children whom he loves1  
is raised1 by  this generous motive1 to 
true dignity2 and1 though wanting the   
refinements of life1 is a nobler being  
than those who think themselves         
absolved by wealth from serving others4 
,now the slave's labor brings no        
dignity1 is an exercise of no virtue1   
but throughout a degradation2 so  that  
one of ,god's chief provisions for human
 improvement becomes a  curse4 ,the     
motive from which he acts debases him4  
,it is the ,whip4 ,it is  corporal      
punishment4 ,it is physical pain        
inflicted by a fellow-creature4         
,undoubtedly labor is mitigated to the  
slave1 as to all men1 by habit4  ,but   
this is not the motive4 ,take away the  
,whip1 and he would be idle4  ,his labor
 brings no new comforts to wife or      
child4 ,the motive which  spurs him is  
one by which it is base to be swayed4   
,stripes are1 indeed1  resorted to by   
civil government1 when no other         
consideration will deter  from crime2   

but he1 who is deterred from wrong doing
 by the  whipping-post1 is among the    
most fallen of his race4 ,to work in    
sight of  the whip1 under menace of     
blows1 is to be exposed to perpetual    
insult  and degrading influences4 ,every
 motion of the limbs1 which such a      
menace  urges is a wound to the soul4   
,how hard must it be for a man who lives
  under the lash to respect himself6    
,when this motive is substituted for    
all the nobler ones which ,god ordains1 
is it not almost necessarily  death to  
the better and higher sentiments of our 
nature8 ,it is the part  of a man to    
despise pain1 in comparison with        
disgrace1 to meet it  fearlessly in well
 doing1 to perform the work of life from
 other  impulses4 ,it is the part of a  
brute to be governed by the whip4 ,even 
the  brute is seen to act from more     
generous incitements4 ,the horse of a   
noble breed will not endure the lash4   
,shall we sink man below the horse8     
,let it not be said that blows are      

seldom inflicted4 ,be it so4 ,we are    
glad to know it4 ,but this is not the   
point4 ,the complaint now urged is  not 
of the amount of the pain inflicted1 but
 of its influence on the  character when
 made the great motive to human labor4  
,it is not the  endurance1 but the dread
 of the whip1 it is the substitution of 
this for  natural and honorable motives 
to action1 which we abhor and condemn4  
,it  matters not whether few or many are
 whipped4 ,a blow given to a single     
slave is a stripe on the souls of all   
who see or hear it4 ,it makes all       
abject1 servile4 ,it is not of the wound
 given to the flesh of which we  now    
complain4 ,scar the back1 and you have  
done nothing1 compared with  the wrong  
done to the soul4 ,you have either stung
 that soul with  infernal passions1 with
 thirst for revenge2 or1 what perhaps is
 more  discouraging1 you have broken and
 brutalized it4 ,the human spirit has   
perished under your hands1 as far as it 
can be destroyed by human force4    ,i  

know it is sometimes said1 in reply to  
these remarks1 that all men1 as  well as
 slaves1 act from necessity2 that we    
have masters in hunger and  thirst2 that
 no man loves labor for itself2 that the
 pains1 which are  inflicted on us by   
the laws of nature1 the elements1 and   
seasons1 are so  many lashes driving us 
to our daily task4 ,be it so4 ,still the
 two cases  are essentially different4  
,the necessity laid on us by natural    
wants is  most kindly in its purpose4   
,it is meant to awaken all our          
faculties1 to  give a full play to body 
and mind1 and thus to give us a new     
consciousness of the powers derived to  
us from ,god4 ,we are1 indeed1          
subjected to a stern nature2 we are     
placed amidst warring elements1         
scorching heat1 withering cold1 storms1 
blights1 sickness1 death4 ,and  what is 
the design8 ,to call forth our powers1  
to lay on us great duties1  to make us  
nobler beings4 ,we are placed in the    
midst of a warring  nature1 not to yield

 to it1 not to be its slaves1 but to    
conquer it1 to  make it the monument of 
our skill and strength1 to arm ourselves
 with  its elements1 its heat1 winds1   
vapors1 and mineral treasures1 to find1 
in its painful changes1 occasions and   
incitements to invention1 courage1      
endurance1 mutual and endearing         
dependencies1 and religious trust4 ,the 
development of human nature1 in all its 
powers and affections1 is the  end of   
that hard necessity which is laid on us 
by nature4 ,is this one  and the same   
thing with the whip laid on the slave8  
,still more2 it is  the design of nature
 that by energy1 skill1 and self-denial 
we should so  far anticipate our wants  
or accumulate supplies1 as to be able to
  diminish the toil of the hands1 and to
 mix with it more intellectual and      
liberal occupations4 ,nature does not   
lay on us an unchangeable task1 but  one
 which we may all lighten by honest1    
self-denying industry4 ,thus she        
invites us to throw off her yoke1 and to

 make her our servant4 ,is this  the    
invitation which the master gives his   
slaves8 ,is it his aim to  awaken the   
powers of those on whom he lays his     
burdens1 and to give them  increasing   
mastery over himself8 ,is it not his aim
 to curb their will1  break their       
spirits1 and shut them up for ever in   
the same narrow and  degrading work8    
,oh1 let not nature be profaned1 let not
 her parental  rule be blasphemed1 by   
comparing with her the slaveholder6     
#b4 ,having considered the moral        
influence of slavery1 ,i proceed to     
consider its ,intellectual influence1   
another great topic4 ,god gave us       
intellectual power1 that it should be   
cultivated2 and a system which  degrades
 it1 and can only be upheld by its      
depression1 opposes one of  his most    
benevolent designs4 ,reason is ,god's   
image in man1 and the  capacity of      
acquiring truth is among his best       
inspirations4 ,to call  forth the       
intellect is a principal purpose of the 

circumstances in which  we are placed1  
of the child's connexion with the       
parent1 and of the  necessity laid on   
him in maturer life to provide for      
himself and others4  ,the education of  
the intellect is not confined to youth2 
but the various  experience of later    
years does vastly more than books and   
colleges to  ripen and invigorate the   
faculties4    ,now1 the whole lot of the
 slave is fitted to keep his mind in    
childhood  and bondage4 ,though living  
in a land of light1 few beams find their
 way  to his benighted understanding4   
,no parent feels the duty of instructing
  him4 ,no teacher is provided for him1 
but the ,driver1 who breaks him1  almost
 in childhood1 to the servile tasks     
which are to fill up his life4  ,no book
 is opened to his youthful curiosity4   
,as he advances in years1 no  new       
excitements supply the place of         
teachers4 ,he is not cast on himself1   
made to depend on his own energies4 ,no 
stirring prizes in life awaken  his     

dormant faculties4 ,fed and clothed by  
others like a child1 directed  in every 
step1 doomed for life to a monotonous   
round of labor1 he lives  and dies      
without a spring to his powers1 often   
brutally unconscious of  his spiritual  
nature4 ,nor is this all4 ,when         
benevolence would approach  him with    
instruction1 it is repelled4 ,he is not 
allowed to be taught4  ,the light is    
jealously barred out4 ,the voice1 which 
would speak to him  as a man1 is put to 
silence4 ,he must not even be enabled to
 read the  ,word of ,god4 ,his immortal 
spirit is systematically crushed4    ,it
 is said1 ,i know1 that the ignorance of
 the slave is necessary to the  security
 of the master1 and the quiet of the    
state2 and this is said  truly4 ,slavery
 and knowledge cannot live together4 ,to
 enlighten the  slave is to break his   
chain4 ,to make him harmless1 he must be
 kept  blind4 ,he cannot be left to read
 in an enlightened age1 without         
endangering his master2 for what can he 

read which will not give1 at  least1    
some hint of his wrongs8 ,should his eye
 chance to fall on the  ,declaration of 
,independence1 how would the truth glare
 on him1 that  all men are born free and
 equal6 ,all knowledge furnishes        
arguments  against slavery4 ,from every 
subject light would break forth to      
reveal  his inalienable and outraged    
rights4 ,the very exercise of his       
intellect  would give him the           
consciousness of being made for         
something more than a  slave4 ,i agree  
to the necessity laid on his master to  
keep him in  darkness4 ,and what        
stronger argument against slavery can be
 conceived8  ,it compels the master to  
degrade1 systematically1 the mind of the
 slave2  to war against human           
intelligence2 to resist that improvement
 which is  the end of the ,creator4 ,wo 
to him that taketh away the key of      
knowledge6 ,to kill the body is a great 
crime4 ,the ,spirit we cannot  kill1 but
 we can bury it in deathlike lethargy2  

and is this a light  crime in the sight 
of its ,maker8    ,let it not be said1  
that almost every where the laboring    
classes are  doomed to ignorance1       
deprived of the means of instruction4   
,the  intellectual advantages of the    
laboring freeman1 who is entrusted with 
the care of himself1 raise him far above
 the slave2 and1 accordingly1  superior 
minds are constantly seen to issue from 
the less educated  classes4 ,besides1 in
 free communities1 philanthropy is not  
forbidden to  labor for the improvement 
of the ignorant4 ,the obligation of the 
prosperous and instructed to elevate    
their less favored brethren is  taught1 
and not taught in vain4 ,benevolence is 
making perpetual  encroachments on the  
domain of ignorance and crime4 ,in      
communities1 on  the other hand1 cursed 
with slavery1 half the population1      
sometimes  more1 are given up1          
intentionally and systematically1 to    
hopeless  ignorance4 ,to raise this mass
 to intelligence and self-government is 

a  crime4 ,the sentence of perpetual    
degradation is passed on a large        
portion of the human race4 ,in this     
view1 how great the ill desert of       
slavery6      #c4 ,i proceed1 now1 to   
the ,domestic influences of slavery2 and
 here we  must look for a dark picture4 
,slavery virtually dissolves the        
domestic  relations4 ,it ruptures the   
most sacred ties on earth4 ,it violates 
home4  ,it lacerates the best           
affections4 ,the domestic relations     
precede1 and1  in our present existence1
 are worth more than all our other      
social ties4  ,they give the first throb
 to the heart1 and unseal the deep      
fountains of  its love4 ,home is the    
chief school of human virtue4 ,its      
responsibilities1 joys1 sorrows1 smiles1
 tears1 hopes1 and solicitudes1  form   
the chief interests of human life4 ,go  
where a man may1 home is the  centre to 
which his heart turns4 ,the thought of  
his home nerves his arm  and lightens   
his toil4 ,for that his heart yearns1   

when he is far off4  ,there he garners  
up his best treasures4 ,god has ordained
 for all men  alike the highest earthly 
happiness1 in providing for all the     
sanctuary  of home4 ,but the slave's    
home does not merit the name4 ,to him it
 is no  sanctuary4 ,it is open to       
violation1 insult1 outrage4 ,his        
children belong  to another1 are        
provided for by another1 are disposed of
 by another4 ,the  most precious burden 
with which the heart can be charged1 the
 happiness  of his child1 he must not   
bear4 ,he lives not for his family1 but 
for a  stranger4 ,he cannot improve     
their lot4 ,his wife and daughter he    
cannot  shield from insult4 ,they may be
 torn from him at another's pleasure1   
sold as beasts of burden1 sent he knows 
not whither1 sent where he  cannot reach
 them1 or even interchange inquiries and
 messages of love4  ,to the slave       
marriage has no sanctity4 ,it may be    
dissolved in a moment  at another's     
will4 ,his wife1 son1 and daughter may  

be lashed before his  eyes1 and not a   
finger must be lifted in their defence4 
,he sees the scar  of the lash on his   
wife and child4 ,thus the slave's home  
is desecrated4  ,thus the tenderest     
relations1 intended by ,god equally for 
all1 and  intended to be the chief      
springs of happiness and virtue1 are    
sported  with wantonly and cruelly4     
,what outrage so great as to enter a    
man's  house1 and tear from his side the
 beings whom ,god has bound to him by   
the holiest ties8 ,every man can make   
the case his own4 ,every mother can     
bring it home to her own heart4    ,and 
let it not be said that the slave has   
not the sensibilities of other  men4    
,nature is too strong even for slavery  
to conquer4 ,even the brute  has the    
yearnings of parental love4 ,but suppose
 that the conjugal and  parental ties of
 the slave may be severed without a     
pang4 ,what a curse  must be slavery1 if
 it can so blight the heart with more   
than brutal  insensibility1 if it can   

sink the human mother below the polar   
she-bear1  which howls and dies for her 
sundered cub6 ,but it does not and      
cannot  turn the slave to stone4 ,it    
leaves1 at least1 feeling enough to make
  these domestic wrongs occasions of    
frequent and deep suffering4 ,still it  
must do much to quench the natural      
affections4 ,can the wife1 who has  been
 brought under influences most          
unfriendly to female purity and  honor1 
who is exposed to the whip1 who may be  
torn away at her master's  will1 and    
whose support and protection are not    
committed to a husband's  faithfulness1 
can such a wife1 if the name may be     
given her1 be loved  and honored as a   
woman should be8 ,or can the love1 which
 should bind  together man and his      
offspring1 be expected1 under an        
institution1 which  subverts1 in a great
 degree1 filial dependence and parental 
authority  and care8 ,slavery withers   
the affections and happiness of home at 
their  very root1 by tainting female    

purity4 ,woman1 brought up in           
degradation1  placed under another's    
power and at another's disposal1 and    
never taught  to look forward to the    
happiness of an inviolate1 honorable    
marriage1  can hardly possess the       
feelings and virtues of her sex4 ,a     
blight falls  on her in her early years4
 ,those who have daughters can          
comprehend her  lot4 ,in truth1         
licentiousness among bond and free is   
the natural issue  of all-polluting     
slavery4 ,domestic happiness perishes   
under its touch1  both among bond and   
free4    ,how wonderful is it1 that in  
civilized countries men can be so       
steeled  by habit as to invade without  
remorse the peace1 purity1 and sacred   
relations of domestic life1 as to put   
asunder those whom ,god has joined      
together1 as to break up households by  
processes more painful than  death6 ,and
 this is done for pecuniary profit6     
,what6 ,can men1 having  human feeling1 
grow rich by the desolation of families8

 ,we hear of some  of the ,southern     
,states enriching themselves by breeding
 slaves for sale4  ,of all the licensed 
occupations of society this is the most 
detestable4  ,what6 ,grow men1 like     
cattle6 ,rear human families1 like herds
 of swine1  and then scatter them to the
 four winds for gain6 ,among the        
imprecations  uttered by man on man1 is 
there one more fearful1 more ominous1   
than the  sighing of the mother bereft  
of her child by unfeeling cupidity8 ,if 
blood cry to ,god1 surely that sigh will
 be heard in heaven4    ,let it not be  
said that members of families are often 
separated in all  conditions of life4   
,yes1 but separated under the influence 
of love4 ,the  husband leaves wife and  
children1 that he may provide for their 
support1  and carries them with him in  
his heart and hopes4 ,the sailor1 in his
  lonely night-watch1 looks homeward1   
and well known voices come to him       
amidst the roar of the waves4 ,the      
parent sends away his children1 but     

sends them to prosper1 and to press them
 again to his heart with a joy  enhanced
 by separation4 ,are such the           
separations which slavery makes8  ,and  
can he1 who has scattered other         
families1 ask ,god to bless his own8    
#d4 ,i proceed to another important view
 of the evils of slavery4 ,slavery      
produces and gives license to ,cruelty4 
,by this it is not meant that  cruelty  
is the universal1 habitual1 unfailing   
result4 ,thanks to ,god1  ,christianity 
has not entered the world in vain4      
,where it has not cast  down1 it has    
mitigated bad institutions4 ,slavery in 
this country differs  widely from that  
of ancient times1 and from that which   
the ,spaniards  imposed on the          
aboriginals of ,south ,america4 ,there  
is here an increasing  disposition to   
multiply the comforts of the slaves1 and
 in this let us  rejoice4 ,at the same  
time1 we must remember1 that1 under the 
light of  the present day1 and in a     
country where ,christianity and the     

rights of  men are understood1 a        
diminished severity may contain more    
guilt than  the ferocity of darker ages4
 ,cruelty in its lighter forms is now a 
greater crime than the atrocious usages 
of antiquity at which we  shudder4 ,the 
times of that ignorance ,god winked at1 
but now he  calleth men every where to  
repent4 ,it should also be considered   
that  the slightest cruelty to the slave
 is an aggravated wrong1 because he is  
unjustly held in bondage1 unjustly held 
as property4 ,we condemn the man  who   
enforces harshly a righteous claim4     
,what1 then1 ought we to think of       
lashing and scarring fellow-creatures1  
for the purpose of upholding an         
unrighteous1 usurped power1 of extorting
 labor which is not our due8    ,i have 
said that cruelty is not the habit of   
the slave ,states of this  country4     
,still1 that it is frequent we cannot   
doubt4 ,reports1 which  harrow up our   
souls1 come to us from that quarter2 and
 we know that they  must be essentially 

correct1 because it is impossible that a
 large part1  perhaps the majority1 of  
the population of a country can be      
broken to  passive1 unlimited           
submission1 without examples of terrible
 severity4    ,let it not be said1 as is
 sometimes done1 that cruel deeds are   
perpetrated every where else1 as well as
 in slave-countries4 ,be it so2  but in 
all civilized nations unscourged by     
slavery1 a principal object  of         
legislation is to protect every man from
 cruelty1 and to bring every  man to    
punishment1 who wantonly tortures or    
wounds another2 whilst  slavery plucks  
off restraint from the ferocious1 or    
leaves them to  satiate their rage with 
impunity4--,let it not be said that     
these  barbarities are regarded no where
 with more horror than at the ,south4   
,be  it so4 ,they are abhorred1 but     
allowed4 ,the power of individuals to   
lacerate their fellow-creatures is given
 to them by the community4 ,the         
community abhors the abuse1 but confers 

the power which will certainly  be      
abused1 and thus strips itself of all   
defence before the bar of  ,almighty    
,justice4 ,it must answer for the crimes
 which are shielded by  its laws4--,let 
it not be said1 that these cruelties are
 checked by the  private interest of the
 slaveholder4 ,does regard to private   
interest  save from brutal treatment the
 draught-horse in our streets8 ,and may 
not  a vast amount of suffering be      
inflicted1 which will not put in peril  
the  life or strength of the slave8     
,to substantiate the charge of cruelty1 
,i shall not1 as ,i have said1 have     
recourse to current reports1 however    
well established4 ,i am willing to      
dismiss them all as false4 ,i stand on  
other ground4 ,reports may lie1 but  our
 daily experience of human nature cannot
 lie4 ,i summon no witnesses1  or rather
 ,i appeal to a witness every where     
present1 a witness in every  heart4 ,who
 that has watched his own heart1 or     
observed others1 does not  feel that man

 is not fit to be trusted with absolute1
 irresponsible  power over men8 ,it must
 be abused4 ,the selfish passions and   
pride of our  nature will as surely     
abuse it1 as the storm will ravage1 or  
the ocean  swell and roar under the     
whirlwind4 ,a being1 so ignorant1 so    
headstrong1  so passionate1 as man1     
ought not to be trusted with this       
terrible  dominion4 ,he ought not to    
desire it4 ,he ought to dread it4 ,he   
ought to  cast it from him1 as most     
perilous to himself and others4         
,absolute power was not meant for man4  
,there is1 indeed1 an exception to  this
 rule4 ,there is one case1 in which ,god
 puts a human being wholly  defenceless 
into another's hands4 ,i refer to the   
child1 who is wholly  subjected to the  
parent's will4 ,but observe how         
carefully1 ,i might  almost say         
anxiously1 ,god has provided against the
 abuse of this power4  ,he has raised up
 in the heart of the parent a friend1 a 
guardian1 whom  the mightiest on earth  

cannot resist4 ,he has fitted the parent
 for this  trust1 by teaching him to    
love his child better than himself4 ,no 
eloquence on earth is so subduing as the
 moaning of the infant when in  pain4   
,no reward is sweeter than that infant's
 smile4 ,we say1 ,god has put  the      
infant into the parent's hands4 ,might  
we not more truly say1 that he  has put 
the parent into the child's power8 ,that
 little being sends  forth his father to
 toil1 and makes the mother watch over  
him by day1  and fix on him her         
sleepless eyes by night4 ,no tyrant lays
 such a yoke4  ,thus ,god has fenced and
 secured from abuse the power of the    
parent2 and  yet even the parent has    
been known1 in a moment of passion1 to  
be cruel  to his child4 ,is man1 then1  
to be trusted with absolute power over a
  fellow-creature1 who1 instead of being
 commended by nature to his  tenderest  
love1 belongs to a despised race1 is    
regarded as property1 is  made the      
passive instrument of his gratification 

and gain8 ,i ask no  documents to prove 
the abuses of this power1 nor do ,i care
 what is said  to disprove them4        
,millions may rise up and tell me that  
the slave  suffers little from cruelty4 
,i know too much of human nature1 human 
history1 human passion to believe them4 
,i acquit slaveholders of all  peculiar 
depravity4 ,i judge them by myself4 ,i  
say1 that absolute power  always        
corrupts human nature more or less4 ,i  
say1 that extraordinary1  almost        
miraculous self-control is necessary to 
secure the slaveholder  from provocation
 and passion2 and is self-control the   
virtue which above  all others grows up 
amidst the possession of irresponsible  
dominion8  ,even when the slaveholder   
honestly acquits himself of cruelty1 he 
may be  criminal4 ,his own consciousness
 is to be distrusted4 ,having begun with
  wronging the slave1 with wresting from
 him sacred rights1 he may be  expected 
to multiply wrongs1 without thought4    
,the degraded state of the  slave may   

induce in the master a mode of treatment
 essentially inhuman  and insulting1 but
 which he never dreams to be cruel4 ,the
 influence of  slavery in indurating the
 moral feeling and blinding men to      
wrongs is  one of its worst evils4      
,but suppose the master to be ever so   
humane4 ,still1 he is not always        
watching over his slave4 ,he has his    
pleasures to attend to4 ,he is often    
absent4 ,his terrible power must be     
delegated4 ,and to whom is it           
delegated8 ,to men prepared to govern   
others1 by having learned to govern     
themselves8 ,to men having a deep       
interest in the slaves8 ,to wise men1   
instructed in human nature8 ,to         
,christians1 trained to purity and love8
  ,who does not know1 that the office of
 ,overseer is among the last1 which  an 
enlightened1 philanthropic1             
self-respecting man would choose8 ,who  
does not know1 how often the overseer   
pollutes the plantation by his          
licentiousness1 as well as scourges it  

by his severity8 ,in the hands of  such 
a man the lash is placed4 ,to such a man
 is committed the most  fearful trust on
 earth6 ,for his cruelties the master   
must answer1 as  truly as if they were  
his own4 ,nor is this all4 ,the master  
does more  than delegate his power to   
the overseer4 ,how often does he part   
with it  wholly to the slave-dealer6    
,and has he weighed the responsibility  
of  such a transfer8 ,does he not know1 
that1 in selling his slaves into        
merciless hands1 he is merciless        
himself1 and must give an account to    
,god for every barbarity of which they  
become the victims8 ,the notorious      
cruelty of the slave-dealers can be no  
false report1 for it belongs to  their  
vocation4 ,these are the men1 who throng
 and defile our ,seat of  ,government1  
whose slave-markets and slave-dungeons  
turn to mockery the  language of freedom
 in the halls of ,congress1 and who make
 us justly the  by-word and the scorn of
 the nations4 ,is there no cruelty in   

putting  slaves under the bloody lash of
 the slave-dealer1 to be driven like    
herds of cattle to distant regions1 and 
there to pass into the hands of         
strangers1 without a pledge of their    
finding justice or mercy8 ,what  heart1 
not seared by custom1 would not recoil  
from such barbarity8    ,it has been    
seen that ,i do not ground my argument  
at all on cases of  excessive cruelty4  
,i should attach less importance to     
these than do most  persons1 even were  
they more frequent4 ,they form a very1  
very small  amount of suffering1        
compared with what is inflicted by      
abuses of power  too minute for notice4 
,blows1 insults1 privations1 which make 
no noise1  and leave no scar1 are       
incomparably more destructive of        
happiness than a  few brutal violences  
which move general indignation4 ,a weak1
 despised  being1 having no means of    
defence or redress1 living in a         
community  armed against his rights1    
regarded as property1 and as bound to   

entire1  unresisting compliance with    
another's will1 if not subjected to     
inflictions of ferocious cruelty1 is yet
 exposed to less striking and  shocking 
forms of cruelty1 the amount of which   
must be a fearful mass of  suffering4   
,but could it be proved that there are  
no cruelties in slave-countries1  we    
ought not then to be more reconciled to 
slavery than we now are4 ,for  what     
would this show8 ,that cruelty is not   
needed4 ,and why not needed8  ,because  
the slave is entirely subdued to his    
lot4 ,no man will be wholly  unresisting
 in bondage1 but he who is thoroughly   
imbued with the spirit  of a slave4 ,if 
the colored race never need punishment1 
it is because the  feelings of men are  
dead within them1 because they have no  
consciousness  of rights1 because they  
are cowards1 without respect for        
themselves1 and  without confidence in  
the sharers of their degraded lot4 ,the 
quiet of  slavery is like that which the
 ,roman legions left in ancient         

,britain1  the stillness of death4 ,why 
were the ,romans accustomed to work     
their  slaves in chains by day1 and     
confine them in dungeons by night8 ,not 
because they loved cruelty for its own  
sake2 but because their slaves  were    
stung with a consciousness of           
degradation1 because they brought  from 
the forests of ,dacia some rude ideas of
 human dignity1 or from  civilized      
countries some experience of social     
improvements1 which  naturally issued in
 violence and exasperation4 ,they needed
 cruelty1 for  their own wills were not 
broken to another's1 and the spirit of  
freemen  was not wholly gone4 ,the slave
 must meet cruel treatment either       
inwardly or outwardly4 ,either the soul 
or the body must receive the  blow4     
,either the flesh must be tortured or   
the spirit be struck down4  ,dreadful   
alternative to which slavery is reduced6
      #e4 ,i proceed to one more view of
 the evils of slavery4 ,i refer to its  
influence on the ,master4 ,this topic   

cannot1 perhaps1 be so handled as to    
avoid giving offence2 but without it an 
imperfect view of the subject  would be 
given4 ,i will pass over many views4 ,i 
will say nothing of the  tendency of    
slavery to unsettle the ideas of ,right 
in the slaveholder1  to impair his      
convictions of ,justice and             
,benevolence2 or of its tendency  to    
associate with labor ideas of           
degradation1 and to recommend idleness  
as an honorable exemption4 ,i will      
confine myself to two considerations4   
,the first is1 that slavery1 above all  
other influences1 nourishes the  passion
 for power and its kindred vices4 ,there
 is no passion which needs  a stronger  
curb4 ,men's worst crimes have sprung   
from the desire of being  masters1 of   
bending others to their yoke4 ,and the  
natural tendency of  bringing others    
into subjection to our absolute will is 
to quicken into  fearful activity the   
imperious1 haughty1 proud1 self-seeking 
propensities of our nature4 ,man cannot1

 without imminent peril to his  virtue1 
own a fellow-creature1 or use the word  
of absolute command to  his brethren4   
,god never delegated this power4 ,it is 
an usurpation of the  ,divine dominion1 
and its natural influence is to produce 
a spirit of  superiority to divine as   
well as to human laws4    ,undoubtedly  
this tendency is in a measure           
counteracted by the spirit of  the age  
and the genius of ,christianity1 and in 
conscientious individuals  it may be    
wholly overcome2 but we see its fruits  
in the corruptions of  moral sentiment  
which prevail among slaveholders4 ,a    
quick resentment of  whatever is thought
 to encroach on personal dignity1 a     
trembling  jealousy of reputation1      
vehemence of the vindictive passions1   
and  contempt of all laws1 human and    
divine1 in retaliating injury1--these   
take rank among the virtues of men whose
 self-estimation has been fed by  the   
possession of absolute power4    ,of    
consequence the direct tendency of      

slavery is to annihilate the  control of
 ,christianity4 ,humility is by eminence
 the spirit of  ,christianity4 ,no vice 
was so severely rebuked by our ,lord1 as
 the  passion for ruling over others4 ,a
 deference towards all human beings as  
our brethren1 a benevolence which       
disposes us to serve rather than to     
reign1 to concede our own rather than to
 encroach on others' rights1 to         
forgive1 not avenge wrongs1 to govern   
our own spirits instead of  breaking the
 spirit of an inferior or foe1--this is 
,christianity2 a  religion too high and 
pure to be understood and obeyed any    
where as it  should be1 but which meets 
singular hostility in the habits of mind
  generated by slavery4    ,the         
slaveholder1 indeed1 values himself on  
his loftiness of spirit4 ,he  has a     
consciousness of dignity1 which imposes 
on himself and others4 ,but  truth      
cannot stoop to this lofty mien4 ,truth1
 moral1 ,christian truth1  condemns it1 
and condemns those who bow to it4       

,self-respect1 founded on  a            
consciousness of our moral nature and   
immortal destiny1 is1 indeed1 a  noble  
principle2 but this sentiment includes1 
as a part of itself1  respect for all   
who partake our nature4 ,a consciousness
 of dignity1  founded on the subjection 
of others to our absolute will1 is      
inhuman and  unjust4 ,it is time that   
the teachings of ,christ were           
understood4 ,in  proportion as a man    
acquires a lofty bearing from the habit 
of command  over wronged and depressed  
fellow-creatures1 so far he casts away  
true  honor1 so far he has fallen in the
 sight of ,god and ,virtue4    ,i       
approach a more delicate subject1 and   
one on which ,i shall not  enlarge4 ,to 
own the persons of others1 to hold      
females in slavery1 is  necessarily     
fatal to the purity of a people4 ,that  
unprotected females1  stripped by their 
degraded condition of woman's           
self-respect1 should be  used to        
minister to other passions in men than  

the love of gain1 is next  to           
inevitable4 ,accordingly1 in such a     
community the reins are given to        
youthful licentiousness4 ,youth1 every  
where in perils1 is in these            
circumstances urged to vice with a      
terrible power4 ,and the evil cannot    
stop at youth4 ,early licentiousness is 
fruitful of crime in mature life4  ,how 
far the obligation to conjugal fidelity1
 the sacredness of domestic  ties1 will 
be revered amidst such habits1 such     
temptations1 such  facilities to vice1  
as are involved in slavery1 needs no    
exposition4 ,so  terrible is the        
connexion of crimes6 ,they1 who invade  
the domestic  rights of others1 suffer  
in their own homes4 ,the household of   
the slave  may be broken up arbitrarily 
by the master2 but he finds his revenge1
 if  revenge he asks1 in the blight     
which the master's unfaithfulness sheds 
over his own domestic joys4 ,a          
slave-country reeks with licentiousness4
  ,it is tainted with a deadlier        

pestilence than the plague4    ,but the 
worst is not told4 ,as a consequence of 
criminal connexions1 many  a master has 
children born into slavery4 ,of these1  
most1 ,i presume1  receive protection1  
perhaps indulgence1 during the life of  
the fathers2  but at their death not a  
few are left to the chances of a cruel  
bondage4  ,these cases must have        
increased1 since the difficulties of    
emancipation  have even multiplied4     
,still more1 it is to be feared1 that   
there are  cases1 in which the master   
puts his own children under the whip of 
the  overseer1 or else sells them to    
undergo the miseries of bondage among   
strangers4 ,i should rejoice to learn   
that my impressions on this point  are  
false4 ,if they be true1 then our own   
country1 calling itself  enlightened and
 ,christian1 is defiled with one of the 
greatest  enormities on earth4 ,we send 
missionaries to heathen lands4 ,among   
the  pollutions of heathenism ,i know   
nothing worse than this4 ,the heathen1  

who feasts on his country's foe1 may    
hold up his head by the side of the     
,christian who sells his child for gain1
 sells him to be a slave4 ,god  forbid  
that ,i should charge this crime on a   
people6 ,but however rarely  it may     
occur1 it is a fruit of slavery1 an     
exercise of power belonging  to slavery1
 and no laws restrain or punish it4     
,such are the evils which  spring       
naturally from the licentiousness       
generated by slavery4      ,i have now  
placed before the reader the chief evils
 of slavery4 ,we are  told1 however1    
that these are not without mitigation1  
that slavery has  advantages which do   
much to counterbalance its wrongs and   
pains4 ,not a  few are partially        
reconciled to the institution by the    
language of  confidence in which its    
benefits are sometimes announced4 ,i    
shall  therefore close this chapter with
 a very brief consideration of what are 
thought to be the advantages of slavery4
    ,it is often said1 that the slave   

does less work than the free laborer4   
,he bears a lighter burden than liberty 
would lay on him4 ,perhaps this is      
generally true2 yet when circumstances  
promise profit to the master from  the  
imposition of excessive labor1 the slave
 is not spared4 ,in the ,west  ,indies1 
the terrible waste of life among the    
overworked cultivators  required large  
supplies from ,africa to keep up the    
failing population4  ,in this country it
 is probably true that the slave works  
less than the  free laborer2 but it does
 not therefore follow that his work is  
lighter4  ,for what is it that lightens 
toil8 ,it is ,hope2 it is ,love2 it is  
,strong  ,motive4 ,that labor is light1 
which we do from the heart2 to which a  
great good quickens us2 which is to     
better our lot4 ,that labor is light1   
which is to comfort1 adorn1 and cheer   
our homes1 to give instruction to  our  
children1 to solace the declining years 
of a parent1 to give to our  grateful   
and generous sentiments the means of    

exertion4 ,great effort  from great     
motives is the best definition of a     
happy life4 ,the easiest  labor is a    
burden to him who has no motive for     
performing it4 ,how  wearisome is the   
task imposed by another1 and wrongfully 
imposed8 ,the  slave cannot easily be   
made to do a freeman's work2 and why8   
because he  wants a freeman's spirit1   
because the spring of labor is impaired 
within  him1 because he works as a      
machine1 not a free agent4 ,the         
compulsion1  under which he toils for   
another1 takes from labor its sweetness1
 makes  the daily round of life arid and
 dull1 makes escape from toil the chief 
interest of life4    ,we are farther    
told that the slave is freed from all   
care1 that he is  sure of future        
support1 that when old he is not        
dismissed to the  poor-house1 but fed   
and sheltered in his own hut4 ,this is  
true2 but it  is also true that nothing 
can be gained by violating the great    
laws and  essential rights of our       

nature4 ,the slave1 we are told1 has no 
care1 his  future is provided for4 ,yet 
,god created him to provide for the     
future1  to take care of his own        
happiness2 and he cannot be freed from  
this care  without injury to his moral  
and intellectual life4 ,why has ,god    
given  foresight and power over the     
future1 but to be used8 ,is it a        
blessing to  a rational creature1 to be 
placed in a condition which chains his  
faculties to the present moment1 which  
leaves nothing before him to  rouse the 
intellect or touch the heart8 ,be it    
also remembered1 that the  same         
provision1 which relieves the slave from
 anxiety1 cuts him off from  hope4 ,the 
future is not1 indeed1 haunted by       
spectres of poverty1 nor is  it         
brightened by images of joy4 ,it        
stretches before him sterile1           
monotonous1 expanding into no refreshing
 verdure1 and sending no  cheering      
whisper of a better lot4    ,it is true 
that the free laborer may become a      

pauper2 and so may the  free rich man1  
both of the ,north and the ,south4      
,still1 our capitalists  never dream of 
flying to slavery as a security against 
the almshouse4  ,freedom undoubtedly has
 its perils4 ,it offers nothing to the  
slothful  and dissolute4 ,among a people
 left to seek their own good in their   
own  way1 some of all classes fail from 
vice1 some from incapacity1 some from   
misfortune4 ,all classes will furnish   
members to the body of the poor4  ,but  
in this country the number is small1 and
 ought constantly to  decrease4 ,the    
evil1 however lamentable1 is not so     
remediless and  spreading as to furnish 
a motive for reducing half the          
population to  chains4 ,benevolence does
 much to mitigate it4 ,the best minds   
are  inquiring how it may be prevented1 
diminished1 removed4 ,it is giving      
excitement to a philanthropy which      
creates out of misfortune new bonds  of 
union between man and man4    ,our      
slave-holding brethren1 who tell us that

 the condition of the slave  is better  
than that of the free laborer at the    
,north1 talk ignorantly  and rashly4    
,they do not1 cannot know1 what to us is
 matter of daily  observation1 that from
 the families of our farmers and        
mechanics have  sprung our most         
distinguished men1 men who have done    
most for science1  arts1 letters1       
religion1 and freedom2 and that the     
noblest spirits among  us would have    
been lost to their country and mankind1 
had the laboring  class here been doomed
 to slavery4 ,they do not know1 what we 
rejoice to  tell them1 that this class  
partakes largely of the impulse given to
 the  whole community2 that the means of
 intellectual improvement are           
multiplying to the laborious as fast as 
to the opulent2 that our most           
distinguished citizens meet them as     
brethren1 and communicate to them in    
public discourses their own most        
important acquisitions4 ,undoubtedly1   
the ,christian1 republican spirit is not

 working1 even here1 as it  should4 ,the
 more improved and prosperous classes   
have not yet learned  that it is their  
great mission to elevate morally and    
intellectually the  less advanced       
classes of the community2 but the great 
truth is more and  more recognised1 and 
accordingly a new era may be said to be 
opening on  society4    ,it is said1    
however1 that the slave1 if not to be   
compared to the free  laborer at the    
,north1 is in a happier condition than  
the ,irish  peasantry4 ,let this be     
granted4 ,let the security of the       
peasant's  domestic relations1 let his  
church1 and his schoolhouse1 and his    
faint  hope of a better lot pass for    
nothing4 ,because ,ireland is suffering 
from  the misgovernment and oppression  
of ages1 does it follow that a less     
grinding oppression is a good8 ,besides1
 are not the wrongs of ,ireland         
acknowledged8 ,is not ,british          
legislation laboring to restore her     
prosperity8 ,is it not true1 that1      

whilst the slave's lot admits no        
important change1 the most enlightened  
minds are at work to confer on  the     
,irish peasant the blessings of         
education1 of equal laws1 of new        
springs to exertion1 of new sources of  
wealth8 ,other men1 however  fallen1 may
 be lifted up4 ,an immovable weight     
presses on the slave4    ,but still we  
are told the slave is gay4 ,he is not as
 wretched as our  theories teach4 ,after
 his toil1 he sings1 he dances1 he gives
 no signs  of an exhausted frame or     
gloomy spirit4 ,the slave happy6 ,why1  
then1  contend for ,rights8 ,why follow 
with beating hearts the struggles of the
  patriot for freedom8 ,why canonize the
 martyr to freedom8 ,the slave  happy6  
,then happiness is to be found in giving
 up the distinctive  attributes of a    
man2 in darkening intellect and         
conscience2 in quenching  generous      
sentiments2 in servility of spirit2 in  
living under a whip2 in  having neither 
property nor rights2 in holding wife and

 child at  another's pleasure2 in       
toiling without hope2 in living without 
an end6  ,the slave1 indeed1 has his    
pleasures4 ,his animal nature survives  
the  injury to his rational and moral   
powers2 and every animal has its        
enjoyments4 ,the kindness of ,providence
 allows no human being to be  wholly    
divorced from good4 ,the lamb frolics2  
the dog leaps for joy2 the  bird fills  
the air with cheerful harmony2 and the  
slave spends his  holiday in laughter   
and the dance4 ,thanks to ,him who never
 leaves  himself without witness2 who   
cheers even the desert with spots of    
verdure2 and opens a fountain of joy in 
the most withered heart6 ,it is  not    
possible1 however1 to contemplate the   
occasional gayety of the slave  without 
some mixture of painful thought4 ,he is 
gay1 because he has not  learned to     
think2 because he is too fallen to feel 
his wrongs2 because  he wants just      
self-respect4 ,we are grieved by the    
gayety of the insane4  ,there is a      

sadness in the gayety of him1 whose     
lightness of heart would  be turned to  
bitterness and indignation1 were one ray
 of light to awaken  in him the spirit  
of a man4    ,that there are those among
 the free1 who are more wretched than   
slaves1  is undoubtedly true2 just as   
there is incomparably greater misery    
among  men than among brutes4 ,the brute
 never knew the agony of a human spirit 
torn by remorse or wounded in its love4 
,but would we cease to be human1        
because our capacity for suffering      
increases with the elevation of our     
nature8 ,all blessings may be perverted1
 and the greatest perverted most4  ,were
 we to visit a slave-country1           
undoubtedly the most miserable human    
beings would be found among the free2   
for among them the passions have  wider 
sweep1 and the power they possess may be
 used to their own ruin4  ,liberty is   
not a necessity of happiness4 ,it is    
only a means of good4 ,it  is a trust   
which may be abused4 ,are all such      

trusts to be cast away8 ,are  they not  
the greatest gifts of ,heaven8    ,but  
the slave1 we are told1 often manifests 
affection to his master1  grieves at his
 departure1 and welcomes his return4 ,i 
will not endeavour  to explain this1 by 
saying that the master's absence places 
the slave  under the overseer4 ,nor will
 ,i object1 that the slave's propensity 
to  steal from his master1 his need of  
the whip to urge him to toil1 and the   
dread of insurrection which he inspires1
 are signs of any thing but  love4      
,there is1 undoubtedly1 much more       
affection in this relation than  could  
be expected4 ,of all races of men1 the  
,african is the mildest and  most       
susceptible of attachment4 ,he loves1   
where the ,european would hate4  ,he    
watches the life of a master1 whom the  
,north-,american ,indian1 in like       
circumstances1 would stab to the heart4 
,the ,african is affectionate4 ,is  this
 a reason for holding him in chains8 ,we
 cannot1 however1 think of  this most   

interesting feature of slavery with     
unmixed pleasure4 ,it is  the curse of  
slavery1 that it can touch nothing which
 it does not  debase4 ,even love1 that  
sentiment given us by ,god to be the    
germ of a  divine virtue1 becomes in the
 slave a weakness1 almost a degradation4
  ,his affections lose much of their    
beauty and dignity4 ,he ought1 indeed1  
to feel benevolence towards his master2 
but to attach himself to a man  who     
keeps him in the dust and denies him the
 rights of a man2 to be  grateful and   
devoted to one who extorts his toil and 
debases him into a  chattel2 this has a 
taint of servility1 which makes us      
grieve whilst we  admire4 ,however1 we  
would not diminish the attachment of the
 slave4 ,he  is the happier for his     
generosity4 ,let him love his master1   
and let the  master win love by         
kindness4 ,we only say1 let not this    
manifestation of  a generous nature in  
the slave be turned against him4 ,let it
 not be made  an answer to an exposition

 of his wrongs4 ,let it not be used as a
 weapon  for his perpetual degradation4 
,but the slave1 we are told1 is taught  
,religion4 ,this is the most  cheering  
sound which comes to us from the land of
 bondage4 ,we are  rejoiced to learn    
that any portion of the slaves are      
instructed in that  truth1 which gives  
inward freedom4 ,they hear at least one 
voice of deep1  genuine love1 the voice 
of ,christ2 and read in his cross what  
all other  things hide from them1 the   
unutterable worth of their spiritual    
nature4  ,this portion1 however1 is     
small4 ,the greater part are still      
buried in  heathen ignorance4 ,besides1 
,religion1 though a great good1 can     
hardly  exert its full power on the     
slave4 ,will it not be taught to make   
him  obedient to his master1 rather than
 to raise him to the dignity of a  man8 
,is slavery1 which tends so proverbially
 to debase the mind1 the  preparation   
for spiritual truth8 ,can the slave     
comprehend the principle  of ,love1 the 

essential principle of ,christianity1   
when he hears it from  the lips of those
 whose relations to him express         
injustice and  selfishness8 ,but suppose
 him to receive ,christianity in its    
purity1 and  to feel all its power4 ,is 
this to reconcile us to slavery8 ,is a  
being1  who can understand the sublimest
 truth which has ever entered the human 
mind1 who can love and adore ,god1 who  
can conform himself to the  celestial   
virtue of the ,saviour1 for whom that   
,saviour died1 to whom  heaven is       
opened1 whose repentance now gives joy  
in heaven1--is such a  being to be held 
as property1 driven by force as the     
brute1 and denied  the rights of man by 
a fellow-creature1 by a professed       
disciple of the  just and merciful      
,saviour8 ,has he a religious nature1   
and dares any one  hold him as a slave8 
,i have now completed my views of the   
evils of slavery1 and have shown  how   
little they are mitigated by what are   
thought its advantages4 ,in  this whole 

discussion ,i have cautiously avoided   
quoting particular  examples of its     
baneful influences4 ,i have not brought 
together  accounts of horrible cruelty  
which come to us from the ,south4 ,i    
have  confined myself to the natural    
tendencies of slavery1 to evils bound up
  in its very nature1 which1 as long as 
man is man1 cannot be separated  from   
it4 ,that these evils are unmixed or    
universal1 ,i do not say4 ,there  are   
and must be exceptions to them1 and more
 or less of good may often  be found in 
connexion with them4 ,no institution1 be
 it what it may1 can  make the life of a
 human being wholly evil1 or cut off    
every means of  improvement4 ,god's     
benevolence triumphs over all the       
perverseness and  folly of man's        
devices4 ,he sends a cheering beam into 
the darkest abode4  ,the slave has his  
hours of exhilaration4 ,his hut         
occasionally rings with  thoughtless    
mirth4 ,among this class1 too1 there are
 and must be1  occasionally1 higher     

pleasures4 ,god is no respecter of      
persons2 and in  some slaves there is a 
happy nature which no condition can     
destroy1 just  as among children we find
 some whom the worst education cannot   
spoil4  ,the ,african is so             
affectionate1 imitative1 and docile1    
that in favorable  circumstances he     
catches much that is good2 and          
accordingly the  influence of a wise and
 kind master will be seen in the very   
countenance  and bearing of his slaves4 
,among this degraded people1 there are1 
occasionally1 examples of superior      
intelligence and virtue1 showing the    
groundlessness of the opinion that they 
are incapable of filling a  higher rank 
than slavery1 and showing that human    
nature is too generous  and hardy to be 
wholly destroyed in the most            
unpropitious state4 ,we also  witness in
 this class1 and very often1 a superior 
physical development1  a grace of form  
and motion1 which almost extorts a      
feeling approaching  respect4 ,i mean   

not to affirm that slavery excludes all 
good1 for human  life cannot long endure
 under the privation of every thing     
happy and  improving4 ,i have spoken of 
its natural tendencies and results4     
,these  are wholly and only evil4    ,i 
am aware that it will be replied to the 
views now given of slavery1  that       
persons living at a distance from it    
cannot comprehend it1 that its  true    
character can be learned only from      
those1 who1 know it practically1  and   
are familiar with its operations4 ,to   
this ,i will not reply1 that ,i  have   
seen it near at hand4 ,it is sufficient 
to reply1 that men may lose  the power  
of seeing an object fairly1 by being too
 near as well as by  being too remote4  
,the slaveholder is too familiar with   
slavery to  understand it4 ,to be       
educated in injustice1 is almost        
necessarily to be  blinded by it more or
 less4 ,to exercise usurped power from  
birth1 is the  surest way to look upon  
it as a right and a good4 ,the          

slaveholder tells  us that he only can  
instruct us about slavery4 ,but suppose 
that we  wished to learn the true       
character of despotism2 should we go to 
the  palace and take the despot as our  
teacher8 ,should we pay much heed to    
his assurance1 that he alone could      
understand the character of absolute    
power1 and that we in a republic could  
know nothing of the condition of  men   
subjected to irresponsible will8 ,the   
sad influence of slavery1 in  darkening 
the mind which is perpetually conversant
 with it1 is disclosed  to us in the    
recent attempts made at the ,south to   
represent this  institution as a good4  
,freemen1 who would sooner die than     
resign their  rights1 talk of the       
happiness of those from whom every right
 is wrested4  ,they talk of the slave as
 property1 with the same confidence as  
if  this were the holiest claim4 ,this  
is one of the mournful effects of       
slavery4 ,it darkens the moral sense of 
the master4 ,and can men1 whose         

position is so unfavorable to just1     
impartial judgment1 expect us to        
acquiesce in their views8    ,there is  
another reply4 ,if the slave-holding    
,states expect us to admit  their views 
of this institution1 they must allow it 
to be freely  discussed among           
themselves4 ,of what avail is their     
testimony in favor of  slavery1 when not
 a tongue is allowed to say a word in   
its condemnation8  ,of what use is the  
press1 when it can publish only on one  
side8 ,in the  slave-holding ,states    
freedom of speech is at an end4 ,whoever
 should  express among them the         
sentiments respecting slavery which are 
universally adopted through the         
civilized world1 would put his life in  
jeopardy1 would probably be flayed or   
hung4 ,on this great subject1 which     
affects vitally their peace and         
prosperity1 their moral and political   
interests1 no philanthropist1 who has   
come to the truth1 can speak his  mind4 
,even the minister of religion1 who     

feels the hostility between  slavery and
 ,christianity1 dares not speak4 ,his   
calling might not save  him from popular
 rage4 ,thus slavery avenges itself4 ,it
 brings the  masters under despotism4   
,it takes away that liberty which a     
freeman  prizes as life1--liberty of    
speech4 ,all this1 we are told1 is      
necessary1  and so it may be2 but an    
institution imposing such a necessity   
cannot be  a good2 and one thing is     
plain2 the testimony of men placed under
 such  restraints cannot be too         
cautiously received4 ,we have better    
sources of  knowledge4 ,we have the     
testimony of ages1 and the testimony of 
the  unchangeable principles of human   
nature4 ,these assure us that slavery is
  evil1 and evil continually4    ,i     
ought not to close this head1 without   
acknowledging1 7what ,i  cheerfully do17
 that in many cases the kindness of     
masters does much for  the mitigation of
 slavery4 ,could it be rendered         
harmless1 the efforts of  many would not

 be spared to make it so4 ,it is evil1  
not through any  singular corruption in 
the slaveholder1 but from its own       
nature1 and in  spite of all efforts to 
make it a good4 ,it is evil1 not because
 it  exists on this or that spot4 ,were 
it planted at the ,north1 it would      
become a greater curse1 more hardening  
and depraving1 than it now proves  under
 a milder sky4 ,it is not of the        
particular form of slavery in this      
country that ,i complain4 ,i am willing 
to allow that it is here  comparatively 
mild2 that on many plantations no abuses
 exist but such as  are inseparable from
 its very nature4 ,the mischief lies in 
its very  nature4 ,men do not gather    
grapes of thorns1 or figs of thistles4  
,an  institution so founded in wrong1 so
 imbued with injustice1 cannot be  made 
a good4 ,it cannot like other           
institutions be perpetuated by being    
improved4 ,to improve it1 is to prepare 
the way for its subversion4 ,every      
melioration of the slave's lot is a step

 toward freedom4 ,slavery is thus       
radically1 essentially evil4 ,every good
 man should earnestly pray and  use     
every virtuous influence1 that an       
institution so blighting to human       
nature may be brought to an end4        
,,chapter ,v4    ,,scripture4           
,attempts are often made to support     
slavery by the authority of             
,revelation4 ,slavery1 it is said1 is   
allowed in the ,old ,testament1 and  not
 condemned in the ,new4 ,paul commands  
slaves to obey4 ,he commands  masters1  
not to release their slaves1 but to     
treat them justly4  ,therefore slavery  
is right1 is sanctified by ,god's ,word4
 ,in this age of  the world1 and amidst 
the light which has been thrown on the  
true  interpretation of the ,scriptures1
 such reasoning hardly deserves notice4 
,a few words only will be offered in    
reply4    ,this reasoning proves too    
much4 ,if usages sanctioned in the ,old 
,testament and not forbidden in the ,new
 are right1 then our moral code  will   

undergo a sad deterioration4 ,polygamy  
was allowed to the  ,israelites1 was the
 practice of the holiest men1 and was   
common and  licensed in the age of the  
,apostles4 ,but the ,apostles no where  
condemn  it1 nor was the renunciation of
 it made an essential condition of      
admission into the ,christian church4   
,it is true that in one passage  ,christ
 has condemned it by implication4 ,but  
is not slavery condemned by  stronger   
implication in the many passages1 which 
make the new religion  to consist in    
serving one another1 and in doing to    
others what we would  that they should  
do to ourselves8 ,why may not ,scripture
 be used to stock  our houses with wives
 as well as with slaves8    ,again4     
,paul is said to sanction slavery4 ,let 
us now ask4 ,what was  slavery in the   
age of ,paul8 ,it was the slavery1 not  
so much of black as  of white men1 not  
merely of barbarians but of ,greeks1 not
 merely of the  ignorant and debased1   
but of the virtuous1 educated1 and      

refined4 ,piracy  and conquest were the 
chief means of supplying the            
slave-market1 and  they heeded neither  
character nor condition4 ,sometimes the 
greater part  of the population of a    
captured city was sold into bondage1    
sometimes  the whole1 as in the case of 
,jerusalem4 ,noble and royal families1  
the  rich and great1 the learned and    
powerful1 the philosopher and poet1 the 
wisest and best men1 were condemned to  
the chain4 ,such was ancient  slavery4  
,and this we are told is allowed and    
confirmed by the ,word of  ,god6 ,had   
,napoleon1 on capturing ,berlin or      
,vienna1 doomed most or the  whole of   
their inhabitants to bondage2 had he    
seized on venerable  matrons1 the       
mothers of illustrious men1 who were    
reposing after  virtuous lives in the   
bosom of grateful families2 had he      
seized on the  delicate1 refined1       
beautiful young woman1 whose education  
had prepared  her to grace the sphere in
 which ,god had placed her1 whose       

plighted love  had opened before her    
visions of bliss1 and over all whose    
prospects the  freshest hopes and most  
glowing imaginations of early life were 
breathed2 had he seized on the minister 
of religion1 the man of science1  the   
man of genius1 the sage1 the guides of  
the world2 had he scattered  these      
through the slave-markets of the world1 
and transferred them to  the highest    
bidders at public auction1 the men to be
 converted into  instruments of slavish 
toil1 the women into instruments of     
lust1 and  both to endure whatever      
indignities and tortures absolute power 
can  inflict2 we should then have had a 
picture in the present age of slavery   
as it existed in the time of ,paul4     
,such slavery we are told was           
sanctioned by the ,apostle6 ,such we are
 told he pronounced to be morally       
right6 ,had ,napoleon sent some cargoes 
of these victims to these shores1  we   
might have bought them1 and degraded the
 noblest beings to our lowest  uses1 and

 might have cited ,paul to testify to   
our innocence6 ,were an  infidel to     
bring this charge against the ,apostle1 
we should say that he  was laboring in  
his vocation2 but that a professed      
,christian should so  insult this       
sainted philanthropist1 this martyr to  
truth and  benevolence1 is a sad proof  
of the power of slavery to blind its    
supporters to the plainest truth4       
,slavery1 in the age of the ,apostle1   
had so penetrated society1 was so       
intimately interwoven with it1 and the  
materials of servile war were so        
abundant1 that a religion1 preaching    
freedom to its victims1 would have      
shaken the social fabric to its         
foundation1 and would have armed against
  itself the whole power of the ,state4 
,of consequence ,paul did not assail    
it4 ,he satisfied himself with spreading
 principles1 which1 however  slowly1    
could not but work its destruction4 ,he 
commanded ,philemon to  receive his     
fugitive slave1 ,onesimus1 not as a     

slave1 but above a  slave1 as a brother 
beloved2 and he commanded masters to    
give to their  slaves that which was    
just and equal2 thus asserting for the  
slave  the rights of a ,christian and a 
,man2 and how1 in his circumstances1 he 
could have done more for the subversion 
of slavery1 ,i do not see4    ,let me   
offer another remark4 ,the perversion of
 ,scripture to the support  of slavery  
is singularly inexcusable in this       
country4 ,paul not only  commanded      
slaves to obey their masters4 ,he       
delivered these precepts3  ,let every   
soul be subject unto the higher powers4 
,for there is no power  but of ,god2 the
 powers that be are ordained of ,god4   
,whosoever1  therefore1 resisteth the   
power1 resisteth the ordinance of ,god2 
and they  that resist shall receive to  
themselves damnation4 ,this passage was 
written in the time of ,nero4 ,it       
teaches passive obedience to despotism  
more strongly than any text teaches the 
lawfulness of slavery4  ,accordingly1 it

 has been quoted for ages by the        
supporters of arbitrary  power1 and made
 the stronghold of tyranny4 ,did our    
fathers acquiesce in  the most obvious  
interpretation of this text8 ,because   
the first  ,christians were taught to   
obey despotic rule1 did our fathers feel
 as if  ,christianity had stript men of 
their rights8 ,did they argue that      
tyranny  was to be excused1 because     
forcible opposition to it is in most    
cases  wrong8 ,did they argue that      
absolute power ceases to be unjust1     
because1  as a general rule1 it is the  
duty of subjects to obey8 ,did they     
infer  that bad institutions ought to be
 perpetual1 because the subversion of   
them by force will almost always inflict
 greater evil than it removes8  ,no2    
they were wiser interpreters of ,god's  
,word4 ,they believed that  despotism   
was a wrong1 notwithstanding the general
 obligation upon its  subjects to obey2 
and that whenever a whole people should 
so feel the  wrong as to demand its     

removal1 the time for removing it had   
fully come4  ,such is the school in     
which we here have been brought up4 ,to 
us1 it is  no mean proof of the divine  
original of ,christianity1 that it      
teaches  human brotherhood and favors   
human rights2 and yet1 on the ground of 
two  or three passages1 which admit     
different constructions1 we make        
,christianity the minister of slavery1  
the forger of chains for those  whom it 
came to make free4    ,it is a plain    
rule of scriptural criticism1 that      
particular texts  should be interpreted 
according to the general tenor and      
spirit of  ,christianity4 ,and what is  
the general1 the perpetual teaching of  
,christianity in regard to social duty8 
,all things whatsoever ye would  that   
men should do to you1 do ye even so to  
them2 for this is the law  and the      
prophets4 ,now does not every man feel  
that nothing1 nothing1  could induce him
 to consent to be a slave8 ,does he not 
feel1 that1 if  reduced to this abject  

lot1 his whole nature1 his reason1      
conscience1  affections1 would cry out  
against it as the greatest of calamities
 and  wrongs8 ,can he pretend1 then1    
that in holding others in bondage he    
does  to his neighbour what he would    
that his neighbour should do to him8 ,of
  what avail are a few texts1 which were
 designed for local and temporary  use1 
when urged against the vital1 essential 
spirit1 and the plainest  precepts of   
our religion8    ,i close this section  
with a few extracts from a recent work  
of one of  our most distinguished       
writers2 not that ,i think additional   
arguments  necessary1 but because the   
authority of ,scripture is more         
successfully  used than any thing else  
to reconcile good minds to slavery4     
,the very course1 which the ,gospel     
takes on this subject1 seems to have    
been the only one that could have been  
taken in order to effect the  universal 
abolition of slavery4 ,the gospel was   
designed1 not for one  race or for one  

time1 but for all men and for all times4
 ,it looked not  at the abolition of    
this form of evil for that age alone1   
but for its  universal abolition4 ,hence
 the important object of its author was 
to  gain it a lodgment in every part of 
the known world2 so that1 by its        
universal diffusion among all classes of
 society1 it might quietly and          
peacefully modify and subdue the evil   
passions of men2 and thus1 without      
violence work a revolution in the whole 
mass of mankind4 ,in this manner  alone 
could its object1 a universal moral     
revolution1 have been  accomplished4    
,for if it had forbidden the evil       
instead of subverting  the principle1 if
 it had proclaimed the unlawfulness of  
slavery1 and  taught slaves to resist   
the oppression of their masters1 it     
would  instantly have arrayed the two   
parties in deadly hostility throughout  
the civilized world2 its announcement   
would have been the signal of  servile  
war2 and the very name of the ,christian

 religion would have been  forgotten    
amidst the agitations of universal      
bloodshed4 ,the fact1 under  these      
circumstances1 that the ,gospel does not
 forbid slavery1 affords no  reason to  
suppose that it does not mean to        
prohibit it2 much less does  it afford  
ground for belief that ,jesus ,christ   
intended to authorize it4    ,it is     
important to remember that two grounds  
of moral obligation are  distinctly     
recognised in the ,gospel4 ,the first is
 our duty to man as  man2 that is1 on   
the ground of the relation which men    
sustain to each  other2 the second is   
our duty to man as a creature of ,god2  
that is1 on  the relation which we all  
sustain to ,god4--,now1 it is to be     
observed1  that it is precisely upon    
this latter ground that the slave is    
commanded  to obey his master4 ,it is   
never urged like the duty to obedience  
to  parents1 because it is right1 but   
because the cultivation of meekness  and
 forbearance under injury will be well  

pleasing unto ,god4--,the manner  in    
which the duty of servants or slaves is 
inculcated1 therefore1  affords no      
ground for the assertion that the       
,gospel authorizes one man  to hold     
another in bondage1 any more than the   
command to honor the king1  when that   
king was ,nero1 authorized the tyranny  
of the emperor2 or than  the command to 
turn the other cheek1 when one is       
smitten1 justifies the  infliction of   
violence by an injurious man4#a         
,,footnote3    #a ,wayland's ,elements  
of ,moral ,science1 pages #bbe-f4 ,the  
discussion of ,slavery1 in the chapter  
from which these extracts are  made1 is 
well worthy attention4                  
,,chapter ,,vi4    ,,means ,,of         
,,removing ,,slavery4      ,how slavery 
shall be removed1 is a question for the 
slaveholder1 and one  which he alone can
 fully answer4 ,he alone has an intimate
 knowledge of  the character and habits 
of the slaves1 to which the means of    
emancipation should be carefully        

adapted4 ,general views and principles  
may and should be suggested at a        
distance2 but the mode of applying them 
can be understood only by those who     
dwell on the spot where the evil        
exists4 ,to the slaveholder belongs the 
duty of settling and employing  the best
 methods of liberation1 and to no other4
 ,we have no right of  interference1 nor
 do we desire it4 ,we hold that the     
dangers of  emancipation1 if such there 
are1 would be indefinitely increased1   
were  the boon to come to the slave from
 a foreign hand1 were he to see it      
forced on the master by a foreign power4
 ,it is of the highest  importance1 that
 slavery should be succeeded by a       
friendly relation  between master and   
slave2 and to produce this1 the latter  
must see in  the former his benefactor  
and deliverer4 ,his liberty must seem to
 him  an expression of benevolence and  
regard for his rights4 ,he must put     
confidence in his superiors1 and look to
 them cheerfully and gratefully  for    

counsel and aid4 ,let him feel1 that    
liberty has been wrung from an          
unwilling master1 who would willingly   
replace the chain1 and jealousy1        
vindictiveness1 and hatred would spring 
up1 to blight the innocence and         
happiness of his new freedom1 and to    
make it a peril to himself and all      
around him4 ,i believe1 indeed1 that    
emancipation1 though so bestowed1  would
 be better than everlasting bondage2 but
 the responsibility of so  conferring it
 is one that none of us are anxious to  
assume4    ,we cannot but fear much from
 the experiment now in progress in the  
,west  ,indies1 on account of its being 
the work of a foreign hand4 ,the        
planters1 especially of ,jamaica1 have  
opposed the mother-country with a       
pertinaciousness bordering on insanity2 
have done much to exasperate the        
slaves1 whose freedom they could not    
prevent2 have done nothing to  prepare  
them for liberty2 have met them with    
gloom on their  countenances1 and with  

evil auguries on their lips2 have taught
 them to  look abroad for relief1 and to
 see in their masters only obstructions 
to  the amelioration of their lot4 ,it  
is possible that under all these        
obstacles emancipation may succeed4 ,god
 grant it success6 ,if it fail1  the    
planter will have brought the ruin very 
much on himself4 ,policy1 as  well as   
duty1 so plainly taught him to take into
 his own hands the work  which a        
superior power had begun1 to spare no   
effort1 no expense1 for  binding to him 
by new ties those who were to throw off 
their former  chains1 that we know not  
how to account for his conduct1 but by  
supposing that his unhappy position as a
 slaveholder had robbed him of  his     
reason1 as well as blunted his moral    
sense4    ,in this country no power but 
that of the slaveholding ,states can    
remove  the evil1 and none of us are    
anxious to take the office from their   
hands4 ,they alone can do it safely4    
,they alone can determine and apply  the

 true and sure means of emancipation4   
,that such means exist ,i cannot  doubt2
 for emancipation has already been      
carried through successfully in  other  
countries2 and even were there no       
precedent1 ,i should be sure1  that1    
under ,god's benevolent and righteous   
government1 there could not  be a       
necessity for holding human beings in   
perpetual bondage4 ,this  faith1        
however1 is not universal4 ,many1 when  
they hear of the evils of  slavery1 say1
 ,it is bad1 but remediless4 ,there are 
no means of relief4  ,they say1 in a    
despairing tone1 ,give us your plan2 and
 justify their  indifference to         
emancipation1 by what they call its     
hopelessness4 ,this  state of mind has  
induced me to offer a few remarks on the
 means of  removing slavery2 not that ,i
 suppose1 that an individual so distant 
can  do the work to which the whole     
intellect and benevolence of the ,south 
should be summoned1 but that ,i may     
suggest a few principles1 which ,i      

think would insure a happy result to the
 benevolent enterprise1 and that  ,i may
 remove the incredulity of which ,i have
 complained4    ,what1 then1 is to be   
done for the removal of slavery8 ,in the
 first  place1 the slaveholders should  
solemnly disclaim the right of property 
in human beings4 ,the great principle1  
that man cannot belong to man1  should  
be distinctly1 solemnly recognised4 ,the
 slave should be  acknowledged as a     
partaker of a common nature1 as having  
the essential  rights of humanity4 ,this
 great truth lies at the foundation of  
every  wise plan for his relief4 ,the   
cordial admission of it would give a    
consciousness of dignity1 of grandeur1  
to efforts for emancipation4  ,there is1
 indeed1 a grandeur in the idea of      
raising more than two  millions of human
 beings to the enjoyment of human       
rights1 to the  blessings of ,christian 
civilization1 to the means of indefinite
  improvement4 ,the slaveholding ,states
 are called to a nobler work of         

benevolence than is committed to any    
other communities4 ,they should         
comprehend its dignity4 ,this they      
cannot do1 till the slave is truly1     
sincerely1 with the mind and heart1     
recognised as a ,man1 till be ceases  to
 be regarded as ,property4    ,it may be
 asked1 whether1 in calling the         
slaveholding ,states to abolish         
property in the slave1 ,i intend that he
 should be immediately set free  from   
all his present restraints4 ,by no      
means4 ,nothing is farther from my      
thoughts4 ,the slave cannot rightfully  
and should not be owned by the          
,individual4 ,but1 like every other     
citizen1 he belongs to the ,community1  
he is subject to the community1 and the 
community has a right and is  bound to  
continue all such restraints1 as its own
 safety and the  well-being of the slave
 demand4 ,it would be cruelty1 not      
kindness1 to  the latter to give him a  
freedom1 which he is unprepared to      
understand  or enjoy4 ,it would be      

cruelty to strike the fetters from a    
man1 whose  first steps would infallibly
 lead him to a precipice4 ,the slave    
should  not have an owner1 but he should
 have a guardian4 ,he needs authority1  
to  supply the lack of that discretion  
which he has not yet attained2 but it   
should be the authority of a friend2 an 
official authority1 conferred by  the   
state1 and for which there should be    
responsibleness to the state1  an       
authority especially designed to prepare
 its subjects for personal  freedom4    
,the slave should not1 in the first     
instance1 be allowed to  wander at his  
will beyond the plantation on which he  
toils2 and if he  cannot be induced to  
work by rational and natural motives1 he
 should be  obliged to labor2 on the    
same principles on which the vagrant in 
other  communities is confined and      
compelled to earn his bread4 ,the gift  
of  liberty would be a mere name1 and   
worse than nominal1 were he to be let   
loose on society under circumstances    

driving him to crimes1 for which he     
would be condemned to severer bondage   
than he had escaped4 ,many  restraints  
must be continued2 but continued1 not   
because the colored  race are property1 
not because they are bound to live and  
toil for an  owner1 but solely and      
wholly because their own innocence1     
security1 and  education1 and the public
 order and peace1 require them1 during  
the  present incapacity1 to be          
restrained4 ,it should be remembered1   
that this  incapacity is not their      
fault1 but their misfortune2 that not   
they1 but  the community1 are           
responsible for it2 and that the        
community cannot  without crime profit  
by its own wrong4 ,if the government    
should make any  distinctions among the 
citizens1 it should be in behalf of the 
injured4  ,instead of urging the past   
existence of slavery1 and the incapacity
  which it has induced1 as apologies or 
reasons for continuing the yoke1  the   
community should find in these very     

circumstances new obligations to  effort
 for the wronged4    ,there is but one  
weighty argument against immediate      
emancipation1  namely1 that the slave   
would not support himself and his       
children by  honest industry2 that1     
having always worked on compulsion1 he  
will not  work without it2 that1 having 
always labored from another's will1 he  
will not labor from his own2 that there 
is no spring of exertion in his  own    
mind2 that he is unused to forethought1 
providence1 and self-denial1  and the   
responsibilities of domestic life2 that 
freedom would produce  idleness2        
idleness1 want2 want1 crime2 and that   
crime1 when it should  become the habit 
of numbers1 would bring misery1 perhaps 
ruin1 not only  on the offenders1 but   
the state4 ,here lies the strength of   
the argument  for continuing present    
restraint4 ,give the slaves disposition 
and power  to support themselves and    
their families by honest industry1 and  
complete emancipation should not be     

delayed one hour4    ,the great step1   
then1 towards the removal of slavery is 
to prepare the  slaves for self-support4
 ,and this work seems attended with no  
peculiar  difficulty4 ,the colored man  
is not a savage1 to whom toil is        
torture1  who has centred every idea of 
happiness and dignity in a wild freedom1
  who must exchange the boundless forest
 for a narrow plantation1 and bend  his 
proud neck to an unknown yoke4 ,labor   
was his first lesson1 and he  has been  
repeating it all his life4 ,can it be a 
hard task to teach him  to labor for    
himself1 to work from impulses in his   
own breast8    ,much may be done at once
 to throw the slave on himself1 to      
accustom him  to work for his own and   
his family's support1 to awaken         
forethought1 and  strengthen the habit  
of providing for the future4 ,on every  
plantation  there are slaves1 who would 
do more for wages than from fear of     
punishment4 ,there are those1 who1 if   
entrusted with a piece of ground1  would

 support themselves and pay a rent in   
kind4 ,there are those1 who1  if        
moderate task-work were given them1     
would gain their whole  subsistence in  
their own time4 ,now every such man     
ought to be committed  very much to     
himself4 ,it is a crime to subject to   
the whip a man who can  be made to toil 
from rational and honorable motives4    
,this partial  introduction of freedom  
would form a superior class among the   
slaves1  whose example would have       
immense moral power on those who needed 
compulsion4 ,the industrious and        
thriving would give an impulse to the   
whole race4 ,it is important that the   
property1 thus earned by the slave1     
should be made as sacred as that of any 
other member of the community1  and for 
this end he should be enabled to obtain 
redress of wrongs4 ,in  case of being   
injured by his master in this or in any 
respect1 he should  either be set free1 
or1 if unprepared for liberty1 should be
 transferred  to another guardian4      

,as another means of raising the slave  
and fitting him to act from higher      
motives than compulsion1 a system of    
bounties and rewards should be          
introduced4 ,new privileges1 increased  
indulgences1 honorable  distinctions1   
expressions of respect1 should be       
awarded to the honest  and industrious4 
,no people are more alive to            
commendation and honorable  distinction 
than the colored race4 ,prizes for good 
conduct1 adapted to  their tastes and   
character1 might in a good degree       
supersede the lash4  ,their love of     
ornament might be turned to a good      
account4 ,the object is  to bring the   
slave to labor from other motives than  
brutal compulsion4  ,such motives may   
easily be found1 if the end be          
conscientiously  proposed4    ,one of   
the great means of elevating the slave1 
and calling forth his  energies1 is to  
place his domestic relations on new     
ground4 ,this is  essential4 ,we wish   
him to labor for his family4 ,then he   

must have a  family to labor for4 ,then 
his wife and children must be truly his 
own4  ,then his home must be inviolate4 
,then the responsibilities of a husband 
and father must be laid on him4 ,it is  
agreed that he will be fit for  freedom1
 as soon as the support of his family   
shall become his habit and  his         
happiness2 and how can he be brought to 
this condition1 as long as  he shall see
 no sanctity in the marriage-bond1 as   
long as he shall see  his wife and his  
children exposed to indignity and to    
sale1 as long as  their support shall   
not be entrusted to his care8 ,no       
measure for  preparing the slave for    
liberty can be so effectual as the      
improvement  of his domestic lot4 ,the  
whole power of religion should be       
employed to  impress him with the       
sacredness and duties of marriage4 ,the 
chaste and  the faithful in this        
connexion should receive open and strong
 marks of  respect4 ,they should be     
treated as at the head of their race4   

,the  husband and wife1 who prove false 
to each other1 and who will not labor   
for their children1 should be visited   
with the severest rebuke4 ,to  create a 
sense of domestic obligation1 to awaken 
domestic affections1 to  give the means 
of domestic happiness1 to fix deeply a  
conviction of the  indissolubleness of  
marriage1 and of the solemnity of the   
parental  relation1 these are the       
essential means of raising the slave to 
a  virtuous and happy freedom4 ,all     
other men labor for their families2 and 
so will the slave1 if the sentiments of 
a man be cherished in his  breast4 ,we  
keep him in bondage1 because1 if free1  
he will leave his wife  and children to 
want2 and this bondage break down all   
the feelings and  habits which would    
incite him to toil for their support4   
,not a step will  be taken towards the  
preparation of the slave for voluntary  
labor1 till  his domestic rights be     
respected4 ,the violation of these cries
 to ,god1  more than any other evil of  

his lot4    ,to carry this and all other
 means of improvement into effect1 it is
  essential that the slave should no    
longer be bought and sold4 ,as long as  
he is made an article of merchandise1 he
 cannot be fitted for the  offices of a 
man4 ,he will have little motive to     
accumulate comforts and  ornaments in   
his hut1 if at any moment he may be torn
 from it4 ,while  treated as property1  
he will have little encouragement to    
accumulate  property1 for it cannot be  
secure4 ,while his wife and children may
 be  exposed at auction1 and carried1 he
 knows not where1 can he be expected  to
 feel and act as a husband and father8  
,it is time1 that this ,christian  and  
civilized country should no longer be   
dishonored by one of the worst  usages  
of barbarism4 ,break up the             
slave-market1 and one of the chief      
obstructions to emancipation will be    
removed4    ,let me only add1 that      
religious instruction should go hand in 
hand with  all other means for preparing

 the slave for freedom4 ,the colored    
race  are said to be peculiarly         
susceptible of the religious sentiment4 
,if  this be addressed wisely and       
powerfully1 if the slave be brought to  
feel  his relation and accountableness  
to ,god1 and to comprehend the spirit of
  ,christianity1 he is fit for freedom4 
,to accomplish this work1 perhaps       
preaching should not be the only or     
chief instrument4 ,were the whole       
colored population to be assembled into 
,sunday-schools1 and were the  whites to
 become their teachers1 a new and       
interesting relation would be  formed   
between the races1 and an influence be  
exerted which would do  much to insure  
safety to the gift of freedom4    ,in   
these remarks ,i have not intended to   
say that emancipation is an easy  work1 
the work of a day1 a good to be         
accomplished without sacrifices  and    
toil4 ,the colored man is1 indeed1      
singularly susceptible of  improvement1 
in consequence of the strength of his   

propensities to  imitation and sympathy4
 ,but all great changes in society have 
their  difficulties and inconveniences1 
and demand patient labor4 ,i ask for no 
precipitate measures1 no violent        
changes4 ,i ask only that the           
slaveholding ,states would resolve      
conscientiously and in good faith to    
remove this greatest of moral evils and 
wrongs1 and would bring  immediately to 
the work all their intelligence1 virtue1
 and power4 ,that  its difficulties     
would yield before such energies1 who   
can doubt8 ,our  weakness for holy      
enterprises lies generally in our own   
reluctant wills4  ,breathe into men a   
fervent purpose1 and you awaken powers  
before  unknown4 ,how soon would slavery
 disappear1 were the obligation to      
remove  it thoroughly understood and    
deeply felt6 ,we are told that the      
slaveholding ,states have recently      
prospered beyond all precedent4 ,this   
accession to their wealth should be     
consecrated to the work of  liberating  

their fellow-creatures4 ,not one        
indulgence should be added to  their    
modes of life1 until the cry of the     
oppressed has ceased from  their fields1
 until the rights of every human being  
are restored4  ,government should devote
 itself to this as its great object4    
,legislatures should meet to free the   
slave4 ,the church should rest not1  day
 or night1 till this stain be wiped     
away4 ,let the deliberation of  the     
wise1 the energies of the active1 the   
wealth of the prosperous1 the  prayers  
and toils of the good1 have             
,emancipation for their great end4  ,let
 this be discussed habitually in the    
family circle1 in the conference  of    
,christians1 in the halls of            
legislation4 ,let it mingle with the    
first  thoughts of the slaveholder in   
the morning and the last at night4 ,who 
can doubt that to such a spirit ,god    
would reveal the means of wise and      
powerful action8 ,there is but one      
obstacle to emancipation1 and that is1  

the want of that spirit in which        
,christians and freemen should resolve  
to exterminate slavery4    ,i have said 
nothing of colonization among the means 
of removing slavery1  because ,i believe
 that to rely on it for this object     
would be equivalent  to a resolution to 
perpetuate the evil without end4        
,whatever good it may  do abroad1 and ,i
 trust it will do much1 it promises     
little at home4 ,if  the slaveholding   
,states1 however1 should engage in      
colonization1 with a  firm faith in its 
practicableness1 with an energy         
proportionate to its  greatness1 and    
with a sincere regard to the welfare of 
the colored race1  ,i am confident it   
will not fail from want of sympathy and 
aid on the  part of the other ,states4  
,in truth1 these ,states will not       
withhold their  hearts or hands from any
 well considered plan for the removal of
  slavery4    ,i have said nothing of   
the inconveniences and sufferings1      
which1 it is  urged1 will follow        

emancipation1 be it ever so safe2 for   
these1 if real1  weigh nothing against  
the claims of justice4 ,the most common 
objection  is1 that a mixture of the two
 races will be the result4 ,can this    
objection be urged in good faith8 ,can  
this mixture go on faster or more       
criminally than at the present moment8  
,can the slaveholder use the word       
amalgamation without a blush8 ,nothing1 
nothing1 can arrest this evil  but the  
raising of the colored woman to a new   
sense of character1 to a  new           
self-respect2 and this she cannot gain  
but by being made free4 ,that           
emancipation will have its evils we     
know2 for all great changes1 however    
beneficial1 in the social condition of a
 people1 must interfere with  some      
interests1 must bring loss or hardship  
to one class or another2 but  the evils 
of slavery exceed beyond measure the    
greatest which can attend  its removal4 
,let the slaveholder desire earnestly1  
and in the spirit of  self-sacrifice1 to

 restore freedom1 to secure the rights  
and the  happiness of the slave1 and a  
new light will break upon his path4     
,every  mountain of difficulty will be  
brought low1 and the rough places be    
made  smooth2 the means of duty will    
become clear4 ,but without this spirit1 
no eloquence of man or angel can        
persuade the slaveholder of the safety  
of emancipation4          ,,chapter     
,,vii4    ,,abolitionism4      ,the word
 ,,abolitionist in its true meaning     
comprehends every man who  feels himself
 bound to exert his influence for       
removing slavery4 ,it is a  name of     
honorable import1 and was worn1 not long
 ago1 by such men as  ,franklin and     
,jay4 ,events1 however1 continually     
modify terms2 and1 of  late1 the word   
,,abolitionist has been narrowed from   
its original import1  and restricted to 
the members of associations formed among
 us to promote  ,immediate              
,emancipation4 ,it is not without       
reluctance that ,i give up to a  small  

body a name which every good man ought  
to bear4 ,but to make myself            
intelligible and to avoid               
circumlocution1 ,i shall use the word in
 what  is now its common acceptation4   
,i approach this subject unwillingly1   
because it will be my duty to  censure  
those whom at this moment ,i would on no
 account hold up to  public displeasure4
 ,the persecutions1 which the           
abolitionists have  suffered and still  
suffer1 awaken only my grief and        
indignation1 and  incline me to defend  
them to the full extent which truth and 
justice  will admit4 ,to the persecuted 
of whatever name my sympathies are      
pledged1 and especially to those who are
 persecuted in a cause  substantially   
good4 ,i would not for worlds utter a   
word to justify the  violence recently  
offered to a party1 composed very much  
of men  blameless in life1 and holding  
the doctrine of nonresistance to        
injuries2 and of women1 exemplary in    
their various relations1 and  acting1   

however mistakenly1 from benevolent and 
pious impulses4    ,of the abolitionists
 ,i know very few2 but ,i am bound to   
say of these1  that ,i honor them for   
their strength of principle1 their      
sympathy with  their fellow-creatures1  
and their active goodness4 ,as a party1 
they are  singularly free from political
 and religious sectarianism1 and have   
been  distinguished by the absence of   
management1 calculation1 and worldly    
wisdom4 ,that they have ever proposed or
 desired insurrection or violence  among
 the slaves there is no reason to       
believe4 ,all their principles  repel   
the supposition4 ,it is a remarkable    
fact1 that1 though the ,south  and the  
,north have been leagued to crush them1 
though they have been  watched by a     
million of eyes1 and though prejudice   
has been prepared to  detect the        
slightest sign of corrupt communication 
with the slave1 yet  this crime has not 
been fastened on a single member of this
 body4 ,a few  individuals at the ,south

 have1 indeed1 been tortured or murdered
 by  enraged multitudes1 on the charge  
of stirring up revolt2 but their guilt  
and their connexion with the            
abolitionists were not1 and from the    
circumstances and the nature of the case
 could not be1 established by  those    
deliberate and regular modes of         
investigation1 which are necessary  to  
an impartial judgment4 ,crimes1 detected
 and hastily punished by the  multitude 
in a moment of feverish suspicion and   
wild alarm1 are  generally creatures of 
fear and passion4 ,the act which caused 
the  present explosion of popular       
feeling was the sending of pamphlets by 
the  ,abolitionists into the            
slave-holding ,states4 ,in so doing1    
they acted  weakly and without decorum2 
but they must have been insane1 had they
  intended to stir up a servile war2 for
 the pamphlets were sent1 not by        
stealth1 but by the public mail2 and not
 to the slaves1 but to the  masters2 to 
men in public life1 to men of the       

greatest influence and  distinction4    
,strange incendiaries these6 ,they      
flourished their  firebrands about at   
noon-day2 and1 still more1 put them into
 the hands  of the very men whom it is  
said they wished to destroy4 ,they are  
accused1 indeed1 of having sent some of 
the pamphlets to the free  colored      
people1 and if so1 they acted with great
 and culpable rashness4  ,but the       
publicity of the whole transaction      
absolves them of corrupt  design4       
,the charge of corrupt design1 so       
vehemently brought against the          
abolitionists1 is groundless4 ,the      
charge of fanaticism ,i have no desire  
to repel4 ,but in the present age it    
will not do to deal harshly with the    
characters of fanatics4 ,they form the  
mass of the people4 ,religion and       
,politics1 ,philanthropy and            
,temperance1 ,nullification and         
,antimasonry1  the ,levelling ,spirit of
 the working man1 and the ,speculating  
,spirit of  the man of business1 all run

 into fanaticism4 ,this is the type of  
all  our epidemics4 ,a sober man who can
 find8 ,the abolitionists have but      
caught the fever of the day4 ,that they 
should have escaped it would have  been 
a moral miracle4--,i offer these remarks
 simply from a sense of  justice4 ,had  
not a persecution1 without parallel in  
our country1 broken  forth against this 
society1 ,i should not have spoken a    
word in their  defence4 ,but whilst ,i  
have power ,i owe it to the ,persecuted4
 ,if they  have laid themselves open to 
the laws1 let them suffer4 ,for all     
their  errors and sins let the tribunal 
of public opinion inflict the full      
measure of rebuke which they deserve4 ,i
 ask no favor for them4 ,but they  shall
 not be stripped of the rights of man1  
of rights guaranteed by the  laws and   
,constitution1 without one voice1 at    
least1 being raised in  their defence4  
,the abolitionists have done wrong1 ,i  
believe2 nor is their wrong to be       
winked at1 because done fanatically or  

with good intention2 for how  much      
mischief may be wrought with good       
design6 ,they have fallen into the      
common error of enthusiasts1 that of    
exaggerating their object1 of  feeling  
as if no evil existed but that which    
they opposed1 and as if no  guilt could 
be compared with that of countenancing  
or upholding it4 ,the  tone of their    
newspapers1 as far as ,i have seen them1
 has often been  fierce1 bitter1 and    
abusive4 ,their imaginations have fed on
 pictures of  the cruelty to which the  
slave is exposed1 till they have seemed 
to  think that his abode was perpetually
 resounding with the lash1 and  ringing 
with shrieks of agony2 and accordingly1 
the slaveholder has been  held up to    
execration1 as a monster of cruelty4 ,i 
know that many of  their publications   
have been calm1 well considered1 and    
abounding in  strong reasoning4 ,but    
those1 which have been most widely      
scattered and  are most adapted to act  
on the common mind1 have had a tone     

unfriendly  both to manners and to the  
spirit of our religion4 ,i doubt not    
that the  majority of the abolitionists 
condemn the coarseness and violence of  
which ,i complain4 ,but in this1 as in  
most associations1 the many are         
represented and controlled by the few1  
and are made to sanction and  become    
responsible for what they disapprove4   
,one of their errors has been the       
adoption of ,immediate ,emancipation as 
their motto4 ,to this they owe not a    
little of their unpopularity4 ,this     
phrase has contributed much to spread   
far and wide the belief1 that they      
wished immediately to free the slave    
from all his restraints4 ,they made     
explanations2 but thousands heard the   
motto who never saw the  explanation2   
and it is certainly unwise for a party  
to choose a  watchword1 which can be    
rescued from misapprehension only by    
labored  explication4 ,it may also be   
doubted1 whether they ever removed the  
objection which their language so       

universally raised1 whether they have   
not always recommended a precipitate    
action1 inconsistent with the           
well-being of the slave and the order of
 the state4    ,another objection to    
their movements is1 that they have      
sought to  accomplish their objects by a
 system of ,agitation2 that is1 by a    
system  of affiliated societies1        
gathered1 and held together1 and        
extended1 by  passionate eloquence4     
,this1 in truth1 is the common mode by  
which all  projects are now             
accomplished4 ,the age of individual    
action is gone4  ,truth cannot be heard 
unless shouted by a crowd4 ,the         
weightiest argument  for a doctrine is  
the number which adopts it4             
,accordingly1 to gather and  organize   
multitudes is the first care of him who 
would remove an abuse  or spread a      
reform4 ,that the expedient is in some  
cases useful is not  denied4 ,but       
generally it is a showy1 noisy mode of  
action1 appealing to  the passions1 and 

driving men into exaggeration2 and there
 are special  reasons why such a mode   
should not be employed in regard to     
slavery2 for  slavery is so to be       
opposed as not to exasperate the slave1 
or endanger  the community in which he  
lives4 ,the abolitionists might have    
formed an  association2 but it should   
have been an elective one4 ,men of      
strong  principles1 judiciousness1      
sobriety1 should have been carefully    
sought  as members4 ,much good might    
have been accomplished by the coperation
 of  such philanthropists4 ,instead of  
this1 the abolitionists sent forth      
their orators1 some of them transported 
with fiery zeal1 to sound the  alarm    
against slavery through the land1 to    
gather together young and  old1 pupils  
from schools1 females hardly arrived at 
years of discretion1  the ignorant1 the 
excitable1 the impetuous1 and to        
organize these into  associations for   
the battle against oppression4 ,very    
unhappily they  preached their doctrine 

to the colored people1 and collected    
these into  their societies4 ,to this   
mixed and excitable multitude1 minute1  
heartrending descriptions of slavery    
were given in the piercing tones of     
passion2 and slaveholders were held up  
as monsters of cruelty and crime4  ,now 
to this procedure ,i must object as     
unwise1 as unfriendly to the  spirit of 
,christianity1 and as increasing1 in a  
degree1 the perils of  the slaveholding 
,states4 ,among the unenlightened1 whom 
they so  powerfully addressed1 was there
 not reason to fear that some might feel
  themselves called to subvert this     
system of wrong1 by whatever means8     
,from the free colored people this      
danger was particularly to be           
apprehended4 ,it is easy for us to place
 ourselves in their situation4  ,suppose
 that millions of white men were        
enslaved1 robbed of all their  rights1  
in a neighbouring country1 and enslaved 
by a black race1 who had  torn their    
ancestors from the shores on which our  

fathers had lived4 ,how  deeply should  
we feel their wrongs6 ,and would it be  
wonderful1 if1 in a  moment of          
passionate excitement1 some enthusiast  
should think it his  duty to use his    
communication with his injured brethren 
for stirring  them up to revolt8        
,such is the danger from abolitionism to
 the slaveholding ,states4 ,i know  no  
other4 ,it is but justice to add1 that  
the principle of nonresistance1  which  
the abolitionists have connected with   
their passionate appeals1  seems to have
 counteracted the peril4 ,i know not a  
case in which a  member of an           
anti-slavery society has been proved by 
legal investigation  to have tampered   
with the slaves2 and after the strongly 
pronounced and  unanimous opinion of the
 free ,states on the subject1 this      
danger may be  considered as having     
passed away4 ,still a mode of action1   
requiring  these checks1 is open to     
strong objections1 and ought to be      
abandoned4  ,happy will it be1 if the   

disapprobation of friends1 as well as of
 foes1  should give to abolitionists a  
caution and moderation1 which would     
secure the acquiescence of the          
judicious1 and the sympathies of the    
friends of mankind6 ,let not a good     
cause find its chief obstruction in  its
 defenders4 ,let the truth1 and the     
whole truth1 be spoken without          
paltering or fear2 but so spoken as to  
convince1 not inflame1 as to give  no   
alarm to the wise1 and no needless      
exasperation to the selfish and         
passionate4    ,i know it is said1 that 
nothing can be done but by excitement   
and  vehemence2 that the zeal which     
dares every thing is the only power to  
oppose to long rooted abuses4 ,but it is
 not true that ,god has committed  the  
great work of reforming the world to    
passion4 ,love is a minister of  good   
only when it gives energy to the        
intellect1 and allies itself with       
wisdom4 ,the abolitionists often speak  
of ,luther's vehemence as a model  to   

future reformers4 ,but who1 that has    
read history1 does not know that        
,luther's reformation was accompanied by
 tremendous miseries and crimes1  and   
that its progress was soon arrested8 and
 is there not reason to  fear1 that the 
fierce1 bitter1 persecuting spirit1     
which he breathed  into the work1 not   
only tarnished its glory1 but limited   
its power8 ,one  great principle1 which 
we should lay down as immovably true1   
is1 that if  a good work cannot be      
carried on by the calm1 self-controlled1
  benevolent spirit of ,christianity1   
then the time for doing it has not      
come4 ,god asks not the aid of our      
vices4 ,he can overrule them for good1  
but they are not the chosen instruments 
of human happiness4    ,we1 indeed1 need
 zeal1 fervent zeal1 such as will fear  
no man's power1  and shrink before no   
man's frown1 such as will sacrifice life
 to truth  and freedom4 ,but this energy
 of will ought to be joined with        
deliberate  wisdom and universal        

charity4 ,it ought to regard the whole1 
in its  strenuous efforts for a part4   
,above all1 it ought to ask first1 not  
what  means are most effectual1 but what
 means are sanctioned by the ,moral ,law
  and by ,christian ,love4 ,we ought to 
think much more of walking in the  right
 path than of reaching our end4 ,we     
should desire virtue more than  success4
 ,if by one wrong deed we could         
accomplish the liberation of  millions1 
and in no other way1 we ought to feel   
that this good1 for  which1 perhaps1 we 
had prayed with an agony of desire1 was 
denied us by  ,god1 was reserved for    
other times and other hands4 ,the first 
object of a  true zeal is1 not that we  
may prosper1 but that we may do right1  
that we  may keep ourselves unspotted   
from every evil thought1 word1 and deed4
  ,under the inspiration of such a zeal1
 we shall not find in the greatness  of 
an enterprise an apology for intrigue or
 for violence4 ,we shall not  need      
immediate success to spur us to         

exertion4 ,we shall not distrust  ,god1 
because he does not yield to the cry of 
human impatience4 ,we shall  not forsake
 a good work1 because it does not       
advance with a rapid step4  ,faith in   
truth1 virtue1 and ,almighty ,goodness1 
will save us alike from  rashness and   
despair4    ,in lamenting the adoption  
by the abolitionists of the system of   
agitation or extensive excitement1 ,i do
 not mean to condemn this mode of       
action as only evil4 ,there are cases to
 which it is adapted2 and1 in  general1 
the impulse which it gives is better    
than the selfish1 sluggish  indifference
 to good objects1 into which the        
multitude so generally  fall4 ,but it   
must not supersede or be compared with  
,individual action4  ,the enthusiasm of 
the ,individual in a good cause is a    
mighty power4 ,the  forced1 artificially
 excited enthusiasm of a multitude1 kept
 together by  an organization which     
makes them the instruments of a few     
leading minds1  works superficially1 and

 often injuriously4 ,i fear that the    
native1  noble-minded enthusiast often  
loses that single-heartedness which is  
his  greatest power1 when once he       
strives to avail himself of the         
machinery  of associations4 ,the true   
power of a ,reformer lies in speaking   
truth  purely from his own soul1 without
 changing one tone for the purpose of   
managing or enlarging a party4 ,truth1  
to be powerful1 must speak in her  own  
words1 and in no other's1 must come     
forth with the authority and            
spontaneous energy of inspiration from  
the depths of the soul4 ,it is the      
voice of the ,individual giving         
utterance to the irrepressible          
conviction of his own thoroughly moved  
spirit1 and not the shout of a  crowd1  
which carries truth far into other      
souls1 and insures it a stable  empire  
on earth4 ,for want of this1 most which 
is now done is done  superficially4 ,the
 progress of society depends chiefly on 
the honest  inquiry of the ,individual  

into the particular work ordained him by
 ,god1  and on his simplicity in        
following out his convictions4 ,this    
moral  independence is mightier1 as well
 as holier1 than the practice of        
getting warm in crowds1 and of waiting  
for an impulse from multitudes4  ,the   
moment a man parts with moral           
independence2 the moment he judges of   
duty1 not from the inward voice1 but    
from the interests and will of a  party2
 the moment he commits himself to a     
leader or a body1 and winks at  evil1   
because division would hurt the cause2  
the moment he shakes off  his particular
 responsibility1 because he is but one  
of a thousand or  million by whom the   
evil is done2 that moment he parts with 
his moral  power4 ,he is shorn of the   
energy of singlehearted faith in the    
,right and  the ,true4 ,he hopes from   
man's policy what nothing but loyalty to
 ,god can  accomplish4 ,he substitutes  
coarse weapons forged by man's wisdom   
for  celestial power4    ,the adoption  

of the common system of agitation by the
 abolitionists has  proved signally     
unsuccessful4 ,from the beginning it    
created alarm in the  considerate1 and  
strengthened the sympathies of the free 
,states with  the slaveholder4 ,it made 
converts of a few individuals1 but      
alienated  multitudes4 ,its influence at
 the ,south has been evil without       
mixture4 ,it  has stirred up bitter     
passions and a fierce fanaticism1 which 
have shut  every ear and every heart    
against its arguments and persuasions4  
,these  effects are the more to be      
deplored1 because the hope of freedom to
 the  slave lies chiefly in the         
dispositions of his master4 ,the        
abolitionist  proposed1 indeed1 to      
convert the slaveholders2 and for this  
end he  approached them with            
vituperation1 and exhausted on them the 
vocabulary  of abuse6 ,and he has reaped
 as he sowed4 ,his vehement pleadings   
for the  slaves have been answered by   
wilder ones from the slaveholder2 and1  

what  is worse1 deliberate defences of  
slavery have been sent forth1 in the    
spirit of the dark ages1 and in defiance
 of the moral convictions and  feelings 
of the ,christian and civilized world4  
,thus1 with good purposes1  nothing     
seems to have been gained4 ,perhaps     
7though ,i am anxious to repel  the     
thought7 something has been lost to the 
cause of freedom and  humanity4    ,i   
earnestly desire that abolitionism may  
lay aside the form of public  agitation1
 and seek its end by wiser and milder   
means4 ,i desire as  earnestly1 and more
 earnestly1 that it may not be put down 
by lawless  force4 ,there is a worse    
evil than abolitionism1 and that is the 
suppression of it by lawless force4 ,no 
evil greater than this can exist  in the
 ,state1 and this is never needed4 ,be  
it granted1 that it is the  design1 or  
direct1 palpable1 tendency of           
abolitionism1 to stir up  insurrection  
at the ,south1 and that no existing laws
 can meet the  exigency4 ,it is the     

solemn duty of the ,chief ,magistrate of
 the ,state to  assemble immediately the
 legislative bodies1 and their duty     
immediately  to apply the remedy of     
,law4 ,let every friend of freedom1 let 
every good  man lift up his voice       
against mobs4 ,through these lies our   
road to  tyranny4 ,it is these which    
have spread the opinion1 so common at   
the  ,south1 that the free ,states      
cannot long sustain republican          
institutions4  ,no man seems awake to   
their inconsistency with liberty4 ,our  
whole  phraseology is in fault4 ,mobs   
call themselves1 and are called1 the    
,people1 when in truth they assail      
immediately the sovereignty of the      
,people1 involve the guilt of usurpation
 and rebellion against the  ,people4 ,it
 is the fundamental principle of our    
institutions1 that the  ,people is      
,sovereign4 ,but by the ,people we mean 
not an individual here  and there1 not a
 knot of twenty or a hundred or a       
thousand individuals  in this or that   

spot1 but the ,community formed into a  
body politic1 and  expressing and       
executing its will through regularly    
appointed organs4  ,there is but one    
expression of the will or ,sovereignty  
of the ,people1  and this is ,law4 ,law 
is the voice1 the living act of the     
,people4 ,it has  no other4 ,when an    
individual suspends the operation of    
,law1 resists its  established          
ministers1 and forcibly substitutes for 
it his own will1 he  is a usurper and   
rebel4 ,the same guilt attaches to a    
combination of  individuals4 ,these1    
whether many or few1 in forcibly        
superseding public  law and establishing
 their own1 rise up against the ,people1
 as truly as  a single usurper4 ,the    
,people should assert its insulted      
majesty1 its  menaced sovereignty1 in   
one case as decidedly as in the other4  
,the  difference between the mob and the
 individual is1 that the usurpation of  
the latter has a permanence not easily  
given to the tumultuary movements  of   

the former4 ,the distinction is a       
weighty one4 ,little importance is  due 
to sudden bursts of the populace1       
because they so soon pass away4  ,but   
when mobs are organized1 as in the      
,french ,revolution1 or when they  are  
deliberately resolved on and            
systematically resorted to1 as the      
means of putting down an odious party1  
they lose this apology4 ,a  conspiracy  
exists against the ,sovereignty of the  
,people1 and ought to be  suppressed1 as
 among the chief evils of the state4    
,in this part of the country our        
abhorrence of mobs is lessened by the   
fact1 that they were thought to do good 
service in the beginning of the         
,revolution4 ,they probably were useful 
then2 and why8 ,the work of that  day   
was ,revolution4 ,to subvert a          
government was the fearful task to      
which our fathers thought themselves    
summoned4 ,their duty they believed  was
 ,insurrection4 ,in such a work mobs had
 their place4 ,the government of  the   

,state was in the hands of its foes4    
,the ,people could not use the  regular 
organs of administration1 for these were
 held and employed by  the power which  
they wished to crush4 ,violent1         
irregular efforts  belonged to that day 
of convulsion4 ,to resist and subvert   
institutions  is the very work of mobs2 
and when these institutions are popular1
 when  their sole end is to express and 
execute the will of the ,people1 then   
mobs are rebellion against the ,people1 
and as such should be understood  and   
suppressed4 ,a people is never more     
insulted than when a mob takes  its     
name4 ,abolition must not be put down by
 lawless force4 ,the attempt  so to     
destroy it ought to fail4 ,such attempts
 place abolitionism on a  new ground4   
,they make it1 not the cause of a few   
enthusiasts1 but the  cause of freedom4 
,they identify it with all our rights   
and popular  institutions4 ,if the      
,constitution and the laws cannot put it
 down1 it  must stand2 and he who       

attempts its overthrow by lawless force 
is a  rebel and usurper4 ,the ,supremacy
 of ,law and the ,sovereignty of the    
,people are one and indivisible4 ,to    
touch the one is to violate the  other4 
,this should be laid down as a first    
principle1 an axiom1 a  fundamental     
article of faith which it must be heresy
 to question4 ,a  newspaper1 which      
openly or by inuendoes excites a mob1   
should be  regarded as sounding the     
tocsin of insurrection4 ,on this subject
 the  public mind slumbers1 and needs to
 be awakened1 lest it sleep the sleep   
of death4    ,how obvious is it1 that   
pretexts for mobs will never be wanting1
 if this  disorganizing mode of         
redressing evils be in any case allowed6
 ,we all  recollect1 that when a recent 
attempt was made on the life of the     
,president of the ,united ,states1 the  
cry broke forth from his friends1  that 
the assassin was instigated by the      
continual abuse poured forth on  this   
distinguished man1 and especially by the

 violent speeches uttered  daily in the 
,senate of the ,united ,states4         
,suppose1 now1 that his  adherents1 to  
save the ,chief ,magistrate from murder1
 and to guard his  constitutional       
advisers1 had formed themselves into    
mobs1 to scatter the  meetings of his   
opponents4 ,and suppose that they had   
resolved to put to  silence the         
legislators1 who1 it was said1 had      
abused their freedom of  speech to      
blacken the character and put in peril  
the life of the ,chief  ,magistrate4    
,would they not have had a better       
pretext than mobs against  abolition8   
,was not assassination attempted8 ,had  
not the ,president  received letters    
threatening his life unless he would    
change his  measures8 ,can a year or a  
month pass1 which will not afford       
equally  grave reasons for insurrections
 of the populace8 ,a system of mobs and 
a  free government cannot stand         
together4 ,the men who incite the       
former1  and especially those who       

organize them1 are among the worst      
enemies of  the state4 ,of their motives
 ,i do not speak4 ,they may think       
themselves  doing service to their      
country1 for there is no limit to the   
delusions  of the times4 ,i speak only  
of the nature and tendency of their     
actions4  ,they should be suppressed at 
once by law1 and by the moral sentiment 
of  an insulted people4    ,in addition 
to all other reasons1 the honor of our  
nation1 and the cause  of free          
institutions should plead with us to    
defend the laws from  insult1 and social
 order from subversion4 ,the moral      
influence and  reputation of our country
 are fast declining abroad4 ,a letter1  
recently  received from one of the most 
distinguished men of the continent of   
,europe1 expresses the universal feeling
 on the other side of the ocean4  ,after
 speaking of the late encroachments on  
liberty in ,france1 he says1  ,on your  
side of the ,atlantic1 you contribute1  
also1 to put in peril the  cause of     

liberty4 ,we did take pleasure in       
thinking that there was at  least in the
 ,new ,world a country1 where liberty   
was well understood1  where all rights  
were guarantied1 where the people was   
proving itself  wise and virtuous4 ,for 
some time past1 the news we receive from
 ,america  is discouraging4 ,in all your
 large cities we see mobs after mobs1   
and  all directed to an odious purpose4 
,when we speak of liberty1 its enemies  
reply to us by pointing to ,america4    
,the persecuted abolitionists have  the 
sympathies of the civilized world4 ,the 
country which persecutes them  is       
covering itself with disgrace1 and      
filling the hearts of the friends  of   
freedom with fear and gloom4 ,already   
despotism is beginning to  rejoice in   
the fulfilment of its prophecies1 in our
 prostrated laws and  dying liberties4  
,liberty is1 indeed1 threatened with    
death in a country1  where any class of 
men are stripped with impunity of their 
constitutional rights4 ,all rights feel 

the blow4 ,a community1 giving up  any  
of its citizens to oppression and       
violence1 invites the chains which  it  
suffers others to wear4                 
,,chapter ,,viii4    ,,duties4      ,a  
few words remain to be spoken in        
relation to the duties of the ,free     
,states4 ,these need to feel the        
responsibilities and dangers of their   
present position4 ,the country is       
approaching a crisis on the greatest    
question which can be proposed to it1 a 
question not of profit or loss1  of     
tariffs or banks1 or any temporary      
interests1 but a question  involving the
 ,first ,principles of freedom1 morals1 
and religion4 ,yet who  seems to be     
awake to the solemnity of the present   
moment8 ,who seems to  be settling for  
himself the great fundamental truths1 by
 which private  efforts and public      
measures are to be determined8    ,the  
,north has duties to perform towards the
 ,south and towards itself4  ,let it    
resolve to perform them faithfully1     

impartially2 asking first for  the      
,right1 and putting entire confidence in
 ,well-doing4 ,the ,north is  bound to  
suppress all attempts of its citizens1  
should such be  threatened1 to excite   
insurrection at the ,south1 all attempts
 to tamper  with and to dispose to      
violence the minds of the slaves4 ,the  
severest  laws which consist with       
civilization may justly be resorted to  
for this  end1 and they should be       
strictly enforced4 ,i believe1 indeed1  
that there  is no special need for new  
legislation on the subject4 ,i believe  
that  there was never a moment1 when the
 slaveholding ,states had so little to  
apprehend from the free1 when the moral 
feeling of the community in  regard to  
the crime of instigating revolt was so  
universal1 thorough1  and inflexible1 as
 at the present moment4 ,still1 if the  
,south needs  other demonstrations than 
it now has of the moral and friendly    
spirit  which in this respect pervades  
the ,north1 let them be given4 ,still   

more1  it is the duty of the free       
,states to act by opinion1 where they   
cannot  act by law1 to discountenance a 
system of agitation1 on the subject of  
slavery1 to frown on passionate appeals 
to the ignorant1 and on  indiscriminate 
and inflammatory vituperation of the    
slaveholder4 ,this  obligation1 also1   
has been and will be fulfilled4 ,there  
was never a  stronger feeling of        
responsibility in this particular than  
at the  present moment4    ,there are1  
however1 other duties of the free       
,states1 to which they may  prove false1
 and which they are too willing to      
forget4 ,they are bound1  not in their  
public1 but individual capacities1 to   
use every virtuous  influence for the   
abolition of slavery4 ,they are bound to
 encourage that  manly1 moral1 religious
 discussion of it1 through which        
strength will  be given to the          
continually increasing opinion of the   
civilized and  ,christian world in favor
 of personal freedom4 ,they are bound to

 seek and  hold the truth in regard to  
human rights1 to be faithful to their   
principles in conversation and conduct1 
never1 never to surrender them  to      
private interest1 convenience1 flattery1
 or fear4    ,the duty of being true to 
our principles is not easily to be      
performed4  ,at this moment an immense  
pressure is driving the ,north from its 
true  ground4 ,god save it from         
imbecility1 from treachery to freedom   
and  virtue6 ,i have certainly no       
feelings but those of good-will towards 
the  ,south2 but ,i speak the universal 
sentiment of this part of the country1  
when ,i say1 that the tone which the    
,south has often assumed towards the    
,north has been that of a superior1 a   
tone unconsciously borrowed from  the   
habit of command1 to which it is        
unhappily accustomed by the form of  its
 society4 ,i must add1 that this high   
bearing of the ,south has not  always   
been met by a just consciousness of     
equality1 a just self-respect  at the   

,north4 ,the causes ,i will not try to  
explain4 ,the effect ,i fear is  not to 
be denied4 ,it is said1 that those1 who 
have represented the ,north  in         
,congress1 have not always represented  
its dignity1 its honor2 that  they have 
not always stood erect before the lofty 
bearing of the ,south4  ,here lies our  
danger4 ,the ,north will undoubtedly be 
just to the ,south4  ,it must also be   
just to itself4 ,this is not the time   
for sycophancy1 for  servility1 for     
compromise of principle1 for            
forgetfulness of our rights4  ,it is the
 time to manifest the spirit of ,men1 a 
spirit which prizes1  more than life1   
the principles of liberty1 of justice1  
of humanity1 of  pure morals1 of pure   
religion4    ,let it not be thought that
 ,i would recommend to the ,north1 what 
in some  parts of our country is called 
,chivalry1 a spirit of which the        
duelling pistol is the best emblem1 and 
which settles controversies with  blood4
 ,a ,christian and civilized man cannot 

but be struck with the  approach to     
barbarism1 with the insensibility to    
true greatness1 with  the incapacity of 
comprehending the divine virtues of     
,jesus ,christ1  which mark what is     
called chivalry4 ,i ask not the man of  
the ,north to  borrow it from any part  
of the country4 ,but ,i do ask him to   
stand in the  presence of this chivalry 
with the dignity of moral courage and   
moral  independence4 ,let him1 at the   
same moment1 remember the courtesy and  
deference due to the differing opinions 
of others1 and the sincerity and        
firmness due to his own4 ,let him       
understand the lofty position which he  
holds on the subject of slavery1 and    
never descend from it for the  purpose  
of soothing prejudice or disarming      
passion4 ,let him respect the  safety of
 the ,south1 and still manifest his     
inflexible adherence to the  cause of   
human rights and personal freedom4      
,on this point ,i must insist1 because  
,i see the ,north giving way to the     

vehemence of the ,south4 ,in some1      
perhaps many1 of our recent             
,resolutions1 a spirit has been         
manifested1 at which1 if not we1 our    
children will blush4 ,not long ago there
 were rumors1 that some of our  citizens
 wished to suppress by law all          
discussion1 all expression of  opinion  
on slavery1 and to send to the ,south   
such members of our  community as might 
be claimed as instigators of            
insurrection4 ,such  encroachments on   
rights could not1 of course1 be endured4
 ,we are not yet  so fallen4 ,some      
echoes of the old eloquence of liberty  
still come down  to us from our fathers4
 ,some inspirations of heroism and      
freedom still  issue from the           
consecrated walls of ,faneuil ,hall4    
,were we to yield to  such              
encroachments1 would not the soil of    
,new ,england1 so long trodden  by      
freemen1 heave and quake under the steps
 of her degenerate sons8 ,we  are not   
prepared for these4 ,but a weak1        

yielding tone1 for which we seem  to be 
prepared1 may be the beginning of       
concessions which we shall one  day     
bitterly rue4    ,the means used at the 
,south to bring the ,north to compliance
 seem to  demand particular attention4  
,i will not record the contemptuous     
language  which has been thrown on the  
frugal and money-getting habits of ,new 
,england1 or the menaces which have been
 addressed to our cupidity1 for  the    
purpose of putting us to silence on the 
subject of slavery4 ,such  language does
 in no degree move me4 ,i only ask that 
we may give no  ground for its          
application4 ,we can easily bear it1 if 
we do not deserve  it4 ,our             
mother-country has been called a nation 
of shopkeepers1 and ,new  ,england ought
 not to be provoked by the name4 ,only  
let us give no  sanction to the opinion 
that our spirit is narrowed to our      
shops2 that  we place the art of        
bargaining above all arts1 all sciences1
  accomplishments1 and virtues2 that    

rather than lose the fruits of the      
slave's labor we would rivet his chains2
 that sooner than lose a market  we     
would make shipwreck of honor2 that     
sooner than sacrifice present  gain we  
would break our faith to our fathers and
 our children1 to our  principles and   
our ,god4 ,to resent or retaliate       
reproaches would be  unwise and         
unchristian4 ,the only revenge worthy of
 a good man is1 to  turn reproaches into
 admonitions against baseness1 into     
incitements to a  more generous virtue4 
,new ,england has long suffered the     
imputation of a  sordid1 calculating    
spirit1 of supreme devotion to gain4    
,let us show  that we have principles1  
compared with which the wealth of the   
world is  light as air4 ,it is a common 
remark here1 that there is not a        
community  under heaven1 through which  
there is so general a diffusion of      
intelligence and healthful moral        
sentiment as in ,new ,england4 ,let not 
the just influence of such a society be 

impaired by any act which would  give to
 prejudice the aspect of truth4    ,the 
free ,states1 it is to be feared1 must  
pass through a struggle4 ,may  they     
sustain it as becomes their freedom6    
,the present excitement at the  ,south  
can hardly be expected to pass away1    
without attempts to wrest  from them    
unworthy concessions4 ,the tone in      
regard to slavery in that  part of our  
country is changed4 ,it is not only more
 vehement1 but more  false than         
formerly4 ,once slavery was acknowledged
 as an evil4 ,now it is  proclaimed to  
be a good4 ,we have even been told1 not 
by a handful of  enthusiasts in private 
life1 but by men in the highest station 
and of  widest influence at the ,south1 
that slavery is the soil into which     
political freedom strikes its deepest   
roots1 and that republican  institutions
 are never so secure as when the        
laboring class is reduced  to servitude4
 ,certainly1 no assertion of the wildest
 abolitionist could  give such a shock  

to the slaveholder1 as this new doctrine
 is fitted to  give to the people of the
 ,north4 ,liberty1 with a slave for her 
pedestal1  and with a chain in her hand1
 differs so entirely from that lovely   
vision1 that benignant ,divinity1 to    
which we1 like our fathers1 have  paid  
homage1 that we cannot endure that both 
should be called by the  same name4 ,a  
doctrine1 more wounding or insulting to 
the mechanics1  farmers1 laborers of the
 ,north than this strange heresy1 cannot
 well be  conceived4 ,a doctrine more   
irreverent1 more fatal to republican    
institutions1 was never fabricated in   
the councils of despotism4 ,it does     
not1 however1 provoke us4 ,i recall it  
only to show the spirit in which        
slavery is upheld1 and to remind the    
free ,states of the calm energy  which  
they will need1 to keep themselves true 
to their own principles of  liberty4    
,there is a great dread in this part of 
the country1 that the union of  the     
,states may be dissolved by the conflict

 about slavery4 ,to avert this  evil1   
every sacrifice should be made but that 
of honor1 freedom1 and  principle4 ,no  
one prizes the ,union more than myself4 
,perhaps ,i may be  allowed to say1 that
 ,i am attached to it by no common love4
 ,most men  value the ,union as a       
,means2 to me it is an ,end4 ,most would
 preserve it  for the prosperity of     
which it is the instrument2 ,i love and 
would  preserve it for its own sake4    
,some value it as favoring public       
improvements1 facilities of commercial  
exchange1 c42 ,i value these            
improvements and exchanges chiefly as   
favoring union4 ,i ask of the  ,general 
,government to unite us1 to hold us     
together as brethren in  peace2 and ,i  
care little whether it does any thing   
else4 ,so dear to me  is union4 ,it is  
our highest national interest4 ,all the 
pecuniary  sacrifices which it can      
possibly demand should be made for it4  
,the  politicians in some parts of our  
country1 who are calculating its value1 

and are willing to surrender it1 because
 they may grow richer by  separation1   
seem to me bereft of reason4 ,still1 if 
the ,union can be  preserved only by the
 imposition of chains on speech and the 
press1 by  prohibition of discussion on 
a subject involving the most sacred     
rights  and dearest interests of        
humanity1 then union would be bought at 
too  dear a rate2 then it would be      
changed from a virtuous bond into a     
league  of crime and shame4 ,language   
cannot easily do justice to our         
attachment  to the ,union4 ,we will     
yield every thing to it but ,truth1     
,honor1 and  ,liberty4 ,these we can    
never yield4    ,let the free ,states be
 firm1 but also patient1 forbearing1 and
 calm4  ,from the slaveholder they      
cannot look for perfect self-control4   
,from his  position he would be more    
than man1 were he to observe the bounds 
of  moderation4 ,the consciousness which
 tranquillizes the mind can hardly be   
his4 ,on this subject he has always been

 sensitive to excess4 ,much             
exasperation is to be expected4 ,much   
should be borne4 ,every thing may be    
surrendered but our principles and our  
rights4           99       99       99  
99       99    ,my work is done4 ,i ask 
and hope for it the ,divine blessing1 as
 far as it  expresses ,truth1 and       
breathes the spirit of ,justice and     
,humanity4 ,if ,i  have written any     
thing under the influence of prejudice1 
passion1 or  unkindness to any human    
being1 ,i ask forgiveness of ,god and   
man4 ,i have  spoken strongly1 not to   
offend or give pain1 but to produce in  
others  deep convictions corresponding  
to my own4 ,nothing but a feeling1 which
 ,i  could not escape1 of the need of   
such a work at this very moment1 has    
induced me to fix my thoughts on so     
painful a subject4 ,the few last  months
 have increased my solicitude for the   
country4 ,public sentiment  has seemed  
to me to be losing its healthfulness and
 vigor4 ,i have seen  symptoms of the   

decline of the old spirit of liberty4   
,servile opinions  have seemed to gain  
ground among us4 ,the faith of our      
fathers in free  institutions has waxed 
faint1 and is giving place to despair of
 human  improvements4 ,i have perceived 
a disposition to deride abstract rights1
  to speak of freedom as a dream1 and of
 republican governments as built  on    
sand4 ,i have perceived a               
faint-heartedness in the cause of human 
rights4 ,the condemnation1 which has    
been passed on abolitionists1 has       
seemed to be settling into acquiescence 
in slavery4 ,the sympathies of  the     
community have been turned from the     
slave to the master4 ,the impious       
doctrine1 that human laws can repeal the
 ,divine1 can convert unjust and        
oppressive power into a moral right1 has
 more and more tinctured the  style of  
conversation and the press4 ,with these 
sad and solemn views of  society1 ,i    
could not be silent2 and ,i thank ,god1 
amidst the  consciousness of great      

weakness and imperfection1 that ,i have 
been able  to offer this humble tribute1
 this sincere1 though feeble1 testimony1
  this expression of heartfelt          
allegiance1 to the cause of ,freedom1   
,justice1 and ,humanity4    ,having     
stated the circumstances which have     
moved me to write1 ,i ought to  say1    
that they do not discourage me4 ,were   
darker omens to gather round  us1 ,i    
should not despair4 ,with a faith like  
his1 who came to prepare the  way for   
the ,great ,deliverer1 ,i feel and can  
say1 ,the ,kingdom of  ,heaven1 the     
,reign of ,justice and ,disinterested   
,love1 is at hand1 and  ,all ,flesh     
shall see the ,salvation of ,god4 ,i    
know1 and rejoice to know1  that a      
power1 mightier than the prejudices and 
oppression of ages1 is  working on earth
 for the world's redemption1 the power  
of ,christian  ,truth and ,goodness4 ,it
 descended from ,heaven in the person of
 ,christ4 ,it  was manifest in his life 
and death4 ,from his cross it went forth

  conquering and to conquer4 ,its       
mission is to preach deliverance to the 
captive1 and to set at liberty them that
 are bound4 ,it has opened many  a      
prison-door4 ,it is ordained to break   
every chain4 ,i have faith in its       
triumphs4 ,i do not1 cannot despair4    
,,notes4      ,,note ,i4    ,i wish to  
add a few statements to show how little 
reliance can be placed  on what seem to 
a superficial observer mitigations or   
advantages of  slavery1 and how much    
safer it is to argue from the experience
 of all  times and from the principles  
of human nature1 than from insulated    
facts4    ,i once passed a colored woman
 at work on a plantation1 who was       
singing  apparently with animation1 and 
whose general manners would have led me 
to set her down as the happiest of the  
gang4 ,i said to her1 ,your work  seems 
pleasant to you4 ,she replied1 ,no1     
,massa4 ,supposing that she  referred to
 something particularly disagreeable in 
her immediate  occupation1 ,i said to   

her1 ,tell me1 then1 what part of your  
work is  most pleasant4 ,she answered1  
with much emphasis1 ,no part pleasant4  
,we forced to do it4 ,these few words   
let me into the heart of the  slave4 ,i 
saw under its apparent lightness a human
 heart4    ,on this plantation1 the most
 favored woman1 whose life was the      
easiest1  earnestly besought a friend of
 mine to buy her and put her in the way 
to  earn her freedom4 ,a daughter of    
this woman1 very young1 had fallen a    
victim to the manager of the estate4    
,how far this cause influenced the      
exasperated mother1 ,i did not learn4   
,i heard of an estate managed by an     
individual who was considered as        
singularly successful1 and who was able 
to govern the slaves without the  use of
 the whip4 ,i was anxious to see him1   
and trusted that some  discovery had    
been made favorable to humanity4 ,i     
asked him how he was  able to dispense  
with corporal punishment4 ,he replied to
 me1 with a very  determined look1 ,the 

slaves know that the work must be done1 
and that  it is better to do it without 
punishment than with it4 ,in other      
words1  the certainty and dread of      
chastisement were so impressed on them  
that  they never incurred it4    ,i then
 found that the slaves on this well     
managed estate decreased in  number4 ,i 
asked the cause4 ,he replied1 with      
perfect frankness and ease1  ,the gang  
is not large enough for the estate4 ,in 
other words1 they were  not equal to the
 work of the plantation and yet were    
made to do it1  though with the         
certainty of abridging life4    ,on this
 plantation the huts were uncommonly    
convenient4 ,there was an  unusual air  
of neatness4 ,a superficial observer    
would have called the  slaves happy4    
,yet they were living under a severe1   
subduing discipline1  and were          
overworked to a degree that shortened   
life4    ,i cannot forget my feelings on
 visiting a hospital belonging to the   
plantation of a gentleman highly        

esteemed for his virtues1 and whose     
manners and conversation expressed much 
benevolence and  conscientiousness4     
,when ,i entered with him the hospital1 
the first  object on which my eye fell  
was a young woman1 very ill1 probably   
approaching death4 ,she was stretched on
 the floor4 ,her head rested on         
something like a pillow2 but her body   
and limbs were extended on the  hard    
boards4 ,the owner1 ,i doubt not1 had1  
at least1 as much kindness as  myself2  
but he was so used to see the slaves    
living without common  comforts1 that   
the idea of unkindness in the present   
instance did not  enter his mind4       
,the severest blow ,i ever saw given to 
a slave was inflicted by a colored      
driver on a young girl1 who1 on removing
 a load of wood from a horse1  had let a
 stick fall against the animal's leg4 ,i
 remonstrated with the  man1 as soon as 
an opportunity offered1 against his     
inhumanity4 ,he said1  ,massa1 ,i have  
the care of the horse1 and the manager  

lick me if it  get hurt4 ,this answer   
explained to me the common remark1 that 
the black  drivers are more cruel than  
the whites4 ,i saw where the cruelty    
began4    ,i once heard some slaves1 who
 had been taken by law from their       
master1  singing a song of their own    
composition1 and at the end of every    
stanza  they joined with a complaining  
tone in a chorus1 of which the burden   
was1 ,we got no ,massa4 ,here seemed a  
striking proof of attachment to  the    
master2 but on inquiry into the rest of 
the song1 ,i found it was an  angry     
repetition of the severities which they 
were suffering from the  new            
superintendent4 ,they wanted their      
master as an escape from cruelty4       
,facts of this kind1 which make no      
noise1 which escape or mislead a  casual
 observer1 help to show the character of
 slavery more than  occasional excesses 
of cruelty though these must be         
frequent4 ,they show  how deceptive are 
the appearances of good connected with  

it2 and how  much may be suffered under 
the manifestation of much kindness4 ,it 
is1  in fact1 next to impossible to     
estimate precisely the evils of slavery4
  ,the slave writes no books1 and the   
slaveholder is too inured to the        
system1 and too much interested in it1  
to be able to comprehend it4  ,perhaps  
the ,laws of the slave ,states are the  
most unexceptionable  witnesses which we
 can obtain from that quarter2 and the  
barbarity of  these is decisive         
testimony against an institution which  
requires such  means for its support4   
99       99       99       99       99  
,,note ,,ii4    ,i think it right to    
state1 that my views of abolitionism    
have been  founded in part1 perhaps     
chiefly1 on the testimony of others4 ,i 
have  attended no abolition-meetings1   
and never heard an abolition-address4   
,but the strong1 and next to universal  
impression1 in regard to the  tendency  
of the operations of this party to      
inflame common minds1  confirmed1 as it 

is1 by what ,i have seen of their       
newspapers1 must be  essentially true4  
,the orator1 who was chiefly employed in
 addressing  their meetings and forming 
societies1 was distinguished by his     
vehemence  and passionate invectives4   
,on one occasion1 there is strong proof 
of his  having given an opinion in favor
 of cruel vengeance on the part of the  
slaves4 ,this seems to contradict what  
,i have said of the steady  inculcation 
of forbearance and non-resistance by the
 abolitionists4 ,but  this case1 if     
correctly reported1 was an exception1 an
 ebullition of  uncontrollable passion  
in an individual1 for which the rest    
were not  responsible4 ,i have thought  
it my duty to state the kind of evidence
 on  which my views of abolitionism are 
founded1 that others may better  judge  
what confidence is due to them4 ,in     
times of great excitement1 it  is not   
easy to arrive at the precise truth4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,,note ,,iii4    ,it was my purpose to  

address a chapter to the ,south1 but the
 failure of  strength compelled me to   
pause2 and when ,i considered1 that the 
circulation of my book in that part of  
the country might be a crime1 ,i  had no
 encouragement to proceed4 ,i beg1      
however1 to say1 that nothing  which ,i 
have written can have proceeded from    
unkind feeling towards the  ,south2 for 
in no other part of the country have my 
writings found a more  gratifying       
reception2 from no other part have ,i   
received stronger  expressions of       
sympathy4 ,to these ,i am certainly not 
insensible4 ,my own  feelings1 had ,i   
consulted them1 would have led me to    
stifle every  expression1 which could   
give pain to those from whom ,i have    
received  nothing but good-will4    ,i  
wished to suggest to the slaveholders1  
that the excitement now  prevalent among
 themselves1 was incomparably more      
perilous1 more fitted  to stir up       
insurrection1 than all the efforts of   
abolitionists1 allowing  these to be    

ever so corrupt4 ,i also wished to      
remind the men of  principle and        
influence in that part of the country1  
of the necessity of  laying a check on  
lawless procedures1 in regard to the    
citizens of the  ,north4 ,we have heard 
of large subscriptions at the ,south for
 the  apprehension of some of the       
abolitionists in the free ,states1 and  
for  the transportation of them to parts
 of the country where they would meet   
the fate1 which1 it is said1 they       
deserve4 ,undoubtedly the respectable   
portion of the slaveholding communities 
are not answerable for these  measures4 
,but does not policy1 as well as        
principle1 require such men  steadily to
 discountenance them8 ,at present1 the  
free ,states have  stronger sympathies  
with the ,south than ever before4 ,but  
can it be  supposed that they will      
suffer their citizens to be stolen1     
exposed to  violence1 and murdered1 by  
other ,states8 ,would not such an       
outrage rouse  them to feel and act as  

one man8 ,would it not identify the     
abolitionists  with our most sacred     
rights8 ,one kidnapped1 murdered        
abolitionist would  do more for the     
violent destruction of slavery than a   
thousand  societies4 ,his name would be 
sainted4 ,the day of his death would be 
set  apart for solemn heart-stirring    
commemoration4 ,his blood would cry     
through the land with a thrilling voice1
 would pierce every dwelling1  and find 
a response in every heart4 ,do men1     
under the light of the  present day1    
need to be told1 that enthusiasm is not 
a flame to be  quenched with blood8 ,on 
this point1 good and wise men1 and the  
friends  of the country at the ,north   
and ,south1 can hold but one opinion2   
and if  the press1 which1 ,i grieve to  
say1 has kept an ominous silence amidst 
the violations of law and rights1 would 
but speak plainly and strongly1  the    
danger would be past4    ,since writing 
the preceding chapters1 ,i have seen in 
a ,newspaper some  notice of a meeting  

of ministers in one of the ,southern    
,states1 in which  slavery was spoken of
 as sinful4 ,if the account was correct1
 the liberty  of speech is not every    
where denied to the degree which ,i had 
supposed4    ,i have only to add1 that  
,i alone am responsible for what ,i have
 now  written4 ,i represent no society1 
no body of men1 no part of the  country4
 ,i have written by no one's            
instigation1 and with no one's          
encouragement1 but solely from my own   
convictions4 ,if offence is given1  ,i  
alone ought to bear it4