Negro slavery continues to exist in fifteen of the United States of America. In Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, attempts have been made to bring about emancipation by the State governments; it being admitted by all that the Federal Government has no power to interfere with or seek to regulate the institution within the States. In 1787, the first abolition society was formed, since which time they have greatly increased, their object being to bring to bear upon the slaveholding States the powerful public sentiment of the other States; to bring into action the powers of Congress, wherever legitimately to be exercised, against the continuance of the institution, and thus indirectly to effect what could not be done directly. The infatuated zeal of many fanatics has carried them farther, and induced them to endeavor, by incendiary publications and agents, to excite insurrections among the slaves, and in other ways to force the masters to consent to their emancipation. In later years, some of the more excited have weighed against the Constitution of the United States, as a "league with hell," because of its provisions limited the powers of the general government on this subject. In fact, the history of abolitionism in the United States has been the history of fanaticism everywhere, whose later deeds are not even shadowed forth in Its earlier years; and with whom obstacles and impediments, the more insurmountable they are in fact but feed the flame of zeal, and more effectually dethrone the reason. This class of abolitionists, however, have ever been comparatively few in number; while those who sympathize with the objects above-mentioned (the legitimate use of means to extinguish slavery), have ever been, in the non-slaveholding States, numerous and respectable. The points of conflict in our national assemblies, upon which difficulties have arisen between the advocates of these doctrines and their opponents, are based upon the question, what powers were given by the Constitution to Congress, and at what time and in what way they could be exercised? Such have been the questions as to the admission of new States into the Union, where slavery was recognized; the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade in the District of Columbia, and in the forts and arsenals, and other public property belonging to the United States, and situated within the slaveholding States; the prohibition of slavery within the territories of the United States, before their application for admission as States, and the regulation of the domestic slave-trade between the slaveholding States.
It is not my purpose to extend this sketch, by giving the history of the conflicts upon each of these questions. They have threatened, seriously, the existence of the government. Suffice it to say, that the right of each State to regulate for itself its domestic relations, so far as this question is concerned, seems now to be acknowledged by the statesmen of the country; and that, hence, the existence of slavery in a State is no ground for rejecting its admission into the Union. The slave-trade in the District of Columbia has been properly abolished; and slavery therein, and in the public forms, is left, as required by good faith, to abide the fate of the institution in the adjacent States by which they were ceded. The right to prohibit slavery in the territories of the United States has been denied by the Supreme Court, in late and most elaborate decision. And the same Court long since decided, that an attempt to regulate the domestic slave-trade between the States, would give virtually to Congress the right to abolish or establish slavery in every State of the Union. That these questions may be allowed here to rest, and be no longer used as hobbies by interested demagogues to excite sectional strifes for personal advancement, should be the sincere wish of every true American citizen.
Having been generally well-treated, the slaves have never exhibited that disposition to revolt so frequently seen in the West Indies. No Maroons have infested our mountains; no wars of the Maroons stain our annals. But one insurrection, worthy the name, has ever occurred, and that was in Virginia in the year 1800. The plot (as all others will be) was made known by faithful slaves to their masters, and effectual measures taken for its suppression. Several negroes, leaders in the rebellion, were tried and executed. The evidence on their trial showed that they were instigated by a white man, and that their whole plans manifested a weakness in conception unequalled except by the history of the negro.
Cases of individual manumission have been frequent in all the States. In many of them, the idle and lazy habits of the free negroes, and the continual agitation of the question of abolition by Northern fanatics, have induced the legislatures to prohibit domestic emancipation, and thereby compelled masters, thus disposed, to send their slaves either to other States or to Africa in order to receive their freedom. This influx of free negroes has not been acceptable to the non-slaveholding States, especially the new States of the West, to which they were principally sent. Hence most, if not all of them, some by their constitution, and some by legislative acts, have prohibited the introduction of free negroes into their territory. Liberia is therefore left as the only home of the emancipated negro. Africa gave birth to the negro. Africa alone offers him, as a freeman, a grave. The work to which this sketch is an introduction, is intended to exhibit the exact status of the slave in the United States; a repetition here upon these points would be inappropriate. That their bondage has been mild is evidenced by their great and rapid increase. For about 333,000 slaves imported, there are now more than 4,000,000. Their physical development is unquestionably much superior to that of the negro in his native country. Their longevity is remarkable. Their mental development has advanced very considerably, still retaining, however, the negro characteristics, except in the case of the mulattoes, where the traits of the white parents are sometimes developed. But above all, their moral improvement is most evident. Though still inclined to superstition, they are frequently exemplary Christians, and generally inclined to be religious. An avowed infidel is a rara avis among the negroes. The statistics of the different churches in the slaveholding States show a greater number of negroes converted and admitted into the Church than all the conversions which have crowned the missionary efforts of the world. The improved negro, however, exhibits still the moral weaknesses of the native Ebo ; his sins, if any, are theft, lust, and falsehood both politically and socially negro slavery has its benefits and its evils. To the negro himself the former greatly preponderate. To the owners, the masters, the question is a greater problem, and there is more room for honest differences of opinion.
Politically, slavery is a conservative institution. The mass of laborers not being recognized among citizens, every citizen feels that he belongs to an elevated class. It matters not that he is no slaveholder; he is not of the inferior race; he is a freeborn citizen; he engages in no menial occupation. The poorest meets the richest as an equal; sits at his table with him; salutes him as a neighbor; meets him in every public assembly, and stands on the same social platform. Hence, there is no war of classes. There is truthfully republican equality in the ruling class.
The laborers being slaves, there is not the same danger of conflicts between labor and capital, nor the same liability to other excitements in crowded masses, which end in riots. These are unknown in pure slaveholding communities. raising their own laborers, there is no inducement for foreign immigration into slaveholding communities. Their citizens imbibe freedom with their mother's milk. The leisure allowed to the slaveholder gives him an opportunity of informing himself upon current questions of politics, and his interest being identical with his neighbors, in preserving existing institutions, the Southern politician addresses always a body of men having a common sentiment, and not to be influenced to so great an extent by the "humbugs" of demagogues. This is an influential element in forming public opinion, and acts thus conservatively upon the public men of the South. Official position is not very consistent with the interest of the slaveholder, and hence is never sought for its pecuniary emoluments. It is coveted only by those ambitious of distinction. Hence, the public men of the South do not find themselves supplanted by unprovided aspirants, but their services are frequently gratefully received by their constituents. Born to command, and habituated to rule, they frequently commend themselves to the nation by their firmness, their independence, and their fearlessness. These are important elements in the character of a statesman.
Slavery is a protection from pauperism the bane for which the wisdom of civilized man has not yet prepared an antidote. In America, affliction, old age, and idleness, are the only sources of pauperism. Where the laborers are slaves the master is compelled by law to provide against the former, and is authorized to protect himself against the latter. The poorhouse, therefore, is almost unknown. The severities of winter and the depression of financial crises, bring no horrors to the laborers of the South. The interest of the master as well as the law of the land protect the negro against the former, while a change of masters is the worst result which can befall him from the latter. As already intimated, there is perhaps no solution of the great problem of reconciling the interests of labor and capital, so as to protect each from the encroachments and oppressions of the other, so simple and effective as negro slavery. By making the laborer himself capital, the conflict ceases, and the interests become identical. On the other hand, a slaveholding State can never be densely populated. The slaves, moreover, occupying places of free laborers, and three-fifths only of their number being estimated under the Constitution of the United States, for representative purposes, the result is inevitable that the slaveholding States must ever have a smaller voice, politically, than the same territory would command with free labor. To this extent slavery destroys their political equality in the nation.
Another result of a sparse population is, that a perfect system of thorough common school education is almost an impossibility. Extensive plantations, occupied by slaves only, independent of the exhausting crops cultivated and annually adding to barren fields, render a perfect system of common schools impossible. In a slaveholding State, the greatest evidence of wealth in the planter is the number of his slaves. The most desirable property for a remunerative income, is slaves. The best property to leave to his children, and from which they will part with greatest reluctance, is slaves. Hence, the planter invests his surplus income in slaves. The natural result is, that lands are a secondary consideration. No surplus is left for their improvement. The homestead is valued only so long as the adjacent lands are profitable for cultivation. The planter himself, having no local attachments, his children inherit none. On the contrary, he encourages in them a disposition to seek new lands. His valuable property (his slaves) are easily removed to fresh lands ; much more easily than to bring the fertilizing materials to the old. The result is that they, as a class, are never settled. Such a population is almost nomadic. It is useless to seek to excite patriotic emotions in behalf of the land of birth, when self-interest speaks so loudly. On the other hand, where no slavery exists, and the planter's surplus cannot be invested in laborers, it is appropriated to the improvement or extension of his farm, the beautifying of the homestead where his fathers are buried, and where he hopes lie. Of course we speak of classes, not of individuals. The result is the withdrawal of all investments from the improvement of the lands, another deleterious effect of slavery to the State. It has been asserted that slave labor is exhausting to lands. So far as the cause already alluded to withdraws the planter from the improvement of his land, it is true. But the more satisfactory explanation of the exhausting cultivation of Southern lands, is the nature of the crops planted. "Being clean" crops, the exposure of the naked ploughed lands to the long-continued heat of the summer sun, would be followed by sterility, partial or complete, whether free or slave labor was used in their cultivation. It has often been asserted that free labor is cheaper than slave, and evidence has been industriously sought in the British colonies to show that the labor of the emancipated negro there, is cheaper than that of the slave. In dense populations, where the question is labor or hunger, the assertion is generally true; for the amount invested, either in the purchase or rearing of the laborer, is necessarily that much more than the cost of food and raiment, which both free and bond must have, and which is all that, under such circumstances, competition and necessity leave to the free laborer. If either one of two facts existed, the assertion might be true of the Southern slaveholding States, viz., the successful introduction of a dense white population to take the place of the slaves ; or, the introduction into the negro nature of some principle to counteract that sloth which abhors work, and that absence of pride and principle which prefers theft and beggary to industry and thrift. To the possibility of the former two great obstacles arise, in the first place, climate and disease, which bring death to the Saxon, and health and immunity to the African; in the second impossibility of cultivating extensively the staple productions of the South, rice, sugar, cotton, and tobacco, except by associated labor, not subject to the contingencies of "strikes" or caprices. The possibility of the latter contingency is shown not to exist, by the examples of the negro character wherever and whenever emancipated. The free negroes of the United States, North and South, of the West Indies, and of Liberia, show an indisposition to labor, except from absolute necessity, which manifests a characteristic of the race. The introduction of Coolies, by both Great Britain and France, into their colonies, is upon the avowed allegation of the idleness of the negro. While, then, the general proposition, that free labor is cheaper than slave, may be true, it would seem that slave labor is the only effectual, and therefore cheapest, labor which the Southern States can use in the production of their staples. Experience, at the South, has shown this to be true in the building of railroads. Slave labor must be used successfully on uniform work, requiring physical strength, without judgment or discretion. Wherever such work in large quantity can be found in the Southern climate, slave labor is the cheapest that can be applied. As a social relation, negro slavery has its benefits and its evils. That the slave is incorporated into and becomes a part of the family, that a tie is thus formed between the master and slave, almost unknown to the relation of master and hireling, that in consequence even the young spendthrift experiences a pang in sundering a relation he has recognized from his infancy, that the old and infirm are thus cared for, and the young protected and reared, are indisputable facts. Interest joins with affection in promoting this unity of feeling. To the negro, it insures food, fuel, and clothing, medical attendance, and in most cases religious instruction. The young child is seldom removed from the parent's protection, and beyond doubt, the institution prevents the separation of families, to an extent unknown among the laboring poor of the world. It provides him with a protector, whose interest and feeling combine in demanding such protection. To the master, it gives a servant whose interests are identical with his own, who has indeed no other interest, except the gratification of a few animal passions, for which purpose he considers it no robbery to purloin his master's goods. In short, the Southern slavery is a patriarchal, social system. The master is the head of his family. Next to wife and children, he cares for his slaves. He avenges their injuries, protects their persons, provides for their wants, and guides their labors. In return, he is revered and held as protector and master. Nine-tenths of the Southern masters would be defended by their slaves, at the peril of their own lives. The evils of the system are equally unquestionable. That it engenders in the youth of the South that over- bearing and despotic spirit, ascribed to the relation by Mr. Jefferson, is not true to the extent he alleges. The fact, that Northern men are sometimes the most exacting masters, is well known. The reason of this is that they expect from the slave the amount of work which they have received from a hireling. This he never will do, and the Southern-bred master does not look for it. The security of his place, as well as the indolence of his nature, do not furnish the necessary stimulus. It is true, however, that the young man of the South is accustomed to run, and even the son of a poor man, without a slave, to a certain extent, commands obedience from the negro population. The result is a spirit of independence, which brooks not opposition. Within a proper limit this is not an evil. Indulgence makes it a sin. A good consequence of this is, a more perfect equality in social life, among the rich and poor, than can be had where the menial servants are of the same color. An evil consequence is a too great sensitiveness on questions of personal honor, and a corresponding disposition to settle them "by wager of battle." An evil attributed to slavery, and frequently alluded to, is the want of chastity in female slaves, and a corresponding immorality in the white males. To a certain extent this is true; and to the extent that the slave is under the control and subject to the order of the master, the condition of slavery is responsible. Every well-informed person at the South, however, knows that the exercise of such power for such a purpose is almost unknown. The prevalence of the evil is attributable to other causes. The most prominent of these is the natural lewdness of the negro. It is not the consequence of slavery. The free negro in Africa, in the West Indies, in America, exhibits the same disposition, perhaps not to the same degree when living in a Christian community. Another cause is the fact that the negress knows that the offspring of such intercourse, the mulatto, having greater intelligence, and being in deed a superior race, has a better opportunity of enjoying the privileges of domestics ; in other words, is elevated by the mixture of blood. Her sin does not entail misfortune but good fortune on her children. Nor does she lose any social position even with her own race. Under such circumstances the prevalence of this sin is not surprising. It is undoubtedly true, that from this cause the poor white females of the slaveholding States are not subject to as great temptations and importunities as they would be under other circumstances. That the ignorant poor, under the heating Southern sun, would compare unfavorably with those of colder climates in this particular, except for this institution, is manifested by the immorality of some ignorant districts in slaveholding States, where but few negroes are found. How far such a result counterbalances the evil admitted, can be weighed only by the great Arbiter of the universe.
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A social evil of no small magnitude, arising from this condition, is the imbibing by children of the superstitions, fears, and habits, of the negroes, with whom they are necessarily, to some extent, reared. The negro is not yet more than semi-civilized. The marvellous and the unearthly, ghosts, witches, and charmings, are mingled even with his religion. Great caution is necessary, on the part of the Southern mother, to protect the young child from such influences. The inability of the slave parents to control, and govern their own children from the intervention of another power, the master's, has been considered an evil of this social system. Theoretically it is; practically it is not, for two reasons: first, the master never interferes with, but rather encourages such government; it is an aid to him. And, second, unless the child in some way interferes with the comfort or wishes of the parent, the negro has no disposition to control his waywardness or his vices. That the marriage relation between slaves is not recognized or protected by the law, is another evil to the negro attending the system, and to a qualified extent it is an evil. In practice, public opinion protects the relation. The unfeeling separation of husband and wife, is a rare occurrence. It never happens when both belong to the same master. To regulate properly this relation by legislation, so as to prevent inhumanity on the one hand, and not to bind too much the owner's power of selling an unworthy or unruly slave on the other, requires great sagacity and prudence. It would require a prophetic vision to foretell the future of the American negro slaves. Emancipation, in their present location, can never be peacefully effected. Until the white race of the South is exterminated or driven off, it can never be forcibly effected. Amalgamation, to any great extent, is a moral impossibility. Colonization on the coast of Africa could be effected only at immense cost, and at the sacrifice of the lives of at least one-fourth of the emigrants. So long as climate and disease, and the profitable planting of cotton, rice, tobacco, and cane, make the negro the only laborer in- habiting safely our Southern savannas and prairies, just so long will he remain a slave to the white man. Whenever the white laborer can successfully compete with him in these productions and occupy this soil, the negro will either be driven slowly through the Isthmus, to become amalgamated with the races of South America, or he will fall a victim to disease and neglect, begging bread at the white man's door.
So now that it has been revealed unto you...
Acknowledgements?
Assante,
@Khalid Waltrd @xatnoys @love4mo @Antwon Jones @Dianna Moore