The maxim that "Knowledge is power," has ever more or less influenced
the conduct of aristocracies. Education elevates the inferior classes of
society, teaches them their rights, and points out the means of
enforcing them. Of course, it tends to diminish the influence of wealth,
birth, and rank. In 1671, Sir William Berkley, then Governor of
Virginia, in his answer to the inquiries of the Committee of the
Colonies, remarked, "I thank God that there are no free schools nor
printing presses, and I hope we shall not have them these hundred
years." The spirit of Sir William seems still to preside in the councils
of his own Virginia, and to actuate those of the other slave States.
The power of the slaveholders, as we have already showed you, depends on
the acquiescence of the major part of the white inhabitants in their
domination. It cannot be, therefore, the interest or the inclination of
the sagacious and reflecting among them, to promote the intellectual
improvement of the inferior class.
In the free States, on the contrary, where there is no caste answering
to your slaveholders--where the _People_ literally partake in the
government, mighty efforts are made for general education; and in most
instances, elementary instruction is, through the public liberality,
brought within the reach of the children of the poor. You have
lamentable experience, that such is not the case where slaveholders bear
rule.
But you will receive with distrust whatever _we_ may say as to the
comparative ignorance of the free and slave States. Examine then for
yourselves the returns of the last census on this point. This document
gives us the number of white persons over twenty years of age in each
State, who cannot read _and_ write. It appears that these persons are to
the _whole_ white population in the several States as follows, viz.:
Connecticut, 1 to every 568 Louisiana, 1 to every 38-1/2
Vermont, 1 " 473 Maryland, 1 " 27
N. Hamp., 1 " 310 Mississippi, 1 " 20
Mass., 1 " 166 Delaware, 1 " 18
Maine, 1 " 108 S. Carolina, 1 " 17
Michigan, 1 " 97 Missouri, 1 " 16
R. Island, 1 " 67 Alabama, 1 " 15
New Jersey, 1 " 58 Kentucky, 1 " 13-1/2
New York, 1 " 56 Georgia, 1 " 13
Penn., 1 " 50 Virginia, 1 " 12-1/2
Ohio, 1 " 43 Arkansas, 1 " 11-1/2
Indiana, 1 " 18 Tennessee, 1 " 11
Illinois, 1 " 17 N. Carolina, 1 " 7[4]
[4] This summary from the return of the census, is copied from
the Richmond (Va.) Compiler.
It will be observed by looking at this table, that Indiana and Illinois
are the _only_ free States, which in point of education are surpassed by
_any_ of the slave States: for this disgraceful circumstance three
causes may be assigned, viz., their recent settlement, the influx of
foreigners, and emigration from the slave States. The returns from New
York, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, are greatly affected by
the vast number of foreigners congregated in their cities, and employed
in their manufactories and on their public works. In Ohio, also, there
is a large foreign population: and it is well known that comparatively
few emigrants from Europe seek a residence in the slave States, where
there is little or no employment to invite them. But what a commentary
on slavery and slaveholders is afforded by the gross ignorance
prevailing in the old States of South Carolina, Virginia, and North
Carolina! But let us proceed. The census gives a return of "scholars at
public charge."
Of these, there are in the free States, 432,173
" " slave States, 35,580
Ohio alone has 51,812 such scholars,--more than are to be found in the
13 slave States! Her neighbor Kentucky has 429!! Let us compare in this
particular the _largest_ and the _smallest_ State in the Union.
Virginia has scholars at public charge 9,791
Rhode Island 10,912[5]
[5] See American Almanac for 1842, page 226.
But we have some _official_ confessions, which give a still more
deplorable account of Southern ignorance. In 1837, Governor Clarke, in
his message to the Kentucky Legislature, remarked, "By the computation
of those most familiar with the subject, ONE THIRD OF THE ADULT
POPULATION OF THE STATE ARE UNABLE TO WRITE THEIR NAMES."
Governor Campbell reported to the Virginia Legislature, that from the
returns of 98 clerks, it appeared that of _4614 applications for
marriage licenses in 1837, no less than 1047 were made by men unable to
write_.
These details will enable you to estimate the impudence of the following
plea in behalf of slavery:
"It is by the existence of slavery, exempting so large a portion
of our citizens from the necessity of bodily labor, that we have
leisure for _intellectual pursuits_, and the means of attaining
a liberal education."--_Chancellor Harper of South Carolina on
Slavery._--_Southern Literary Messenger, Oct. 1838._
Whatever may be the leisure enjoyed by the slaveholders, they are
careful not to afford the means of literary improvement to their
fellow-citizens who are too poor to possess slaves, and who are, by
their very ignorance, rendered more fit instruments for doing the will,
and guarding the human property of the wealthier class.