"There, arranged like horses at a fair, they are branded like cattle, and
then driven to toil, to starve and to languish for a few years on the
different plantations of those citizens.
"If negroes are permitted to become fathers, this fatal indulgence only
tends to increase their misery.... How many have I seen cursing the
irresistible propensity, and regretting that by having tasted of those
joys, they had become the authors of double misery to their wives.... Their
paternal fondness is embittered by considering that if their children live,
they must live to be slaves like themselves: no time is allowed them to
exercise their pious offices, the mothers must fasten them on their backs,
and, with the double load follow their husbands in the fields, where they
too often hear no other sound than that of the voice or whip of the
taskmaster, and the cries of their infants, broiling in the sun.... It is
said, I know, that they are much happier here than in the West Indies;
because land being cheaper upon this continent than in those Islands, the
field allowed them to raise their subsistence from, are in general more
extensive.
"... We have slaves likewise in our northern provinces; I hope the time
draws near when they will be all emancipated; but how different their lot,
how different their situation, in every possible respect! They enjoy as
much liberty as their masters, they are as well clad, and as well fed; in
health and sickness they are tenderly taken care of; they live under the
same roof, and are, truly speaking, a part of our families. Many of them
are taught to read and write, and are well instructed in the principles of
religion; they are the companions of our labours, and treated as such; they
enjoy many perquisites, many established holidays, and are not obliged to
work more than white people. They marry when their inclination leads them;
visit their wives every week; are as decently clad as the common people;
they are indulged in education, cherishing and chastising their children,
who are taught subordination to them as to their lawful parents; in short,
they participate in many of the benefits of our society without being
obliged to bear any of its burdens. They are fat, healthy, and hearty, and
far from repining at their fate; they think themselves happier than many of
the lower class whites: they share with their master the wheat and meat
provision, they help to raise; many of those whom the good Quakers have
emancipated, have received that great benefit with tears of regret, and
have never quitted, though free, their former masters and
benefactors."--St. John de Crèvecoeur, "_Letters from an American Farmer,
1782_," pp. 226 et seq.