Produced by Bryan Ness, S. Drawehn and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
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[Transcriber's Note.--Italics in the original are rendered as
_underscores_. The letter 'a' with a macron is shown as [=a]. Greek
characters in the original have been transliterated and appear as
+word+. Transliterated Hebrew words appear as #WORD#, using the author's
own transliteration throughout. (For more on the Hebrew, and a list of
errata, see the end of this document.)]
No. 45.
IS SLAVERY SANCTIONED BY
THE BIBLE?
If there is one subject which, above all others, may be regarded as of
national interest at the present time, it is the subject of Slavery.
Wherever we go, north or south, east or west, at the fireside, in the
factory, the rail-car or the steamboat, in the state legislatures or the
national Congress, this "ghost that will not down" obtrudes itself. The
strife has involved press, pulpit, and forum alike, and in spite of all
compromises by political parties, and the desperate attempts at
non-committal by religious bodies, it only grows wider and deeper.
But the distinctive feature of this, as compared with other questions of
national import, is, that here both parties draw their principal
arguments from the Bible as a common armory of weapons for attack and
defense. On the one side, it is claimed that slavery, as it exists in
the United States, is not a moral evil; that it is an innocent and
lawful relation, as much as that of parent and child, husband and wife,
or any other in society; that the right to buy, sell, and hold men for
purposes of gain, was given by express permission of God, and sanctioned
by Christ and his apostles; that this right is founded on the golden
rule; and says Dr. Shannon of Bacon College, Ky., "I hardly know which
is most unaccountable, the profound ignorance of the Bible, or the
sublimity of cool impudence and infidelity manifested by those who
profess to be Christians; and yet dare affirm that the Book of God gives
no sanction to slaveholding." All these affirmations are fairly summed
up thus: "As slavery was practiced by the patriarchs, received sanction
and legality from God in the Mosaic law, and was not denounced by Christ
and his apostles, it must have been right. If right then, it is so
still; therefore Southern slavery is right."
On the other hand, it is contended that chattel slavery is nowhere
warranted or sanctioned by the Bible, but is totally opposed both to its
spirit and teachings.
It will be the object of the present discussion to determine which of
these opinions is correct.
SLAVERY DEFINED.
What, then, is chattel slavery as understood in American law?
1. It is not the relation of wife or child. In one sense a man may be
said to "possess" these; but he can not buy or sell them. These are
natural relations; and he who violates them for the sake of gain is
branded by all as barbarous and criminal.
2. Not the relation of apprentice or minor. This is temporary, having
for its primary object, not the good of the master or guardian, but that
of the apprentice or minor, his education and preparation for acting his
part as a free and independent member of society; but chattelism is
_life_ bondage, for the _sole_ good of the master.
3. Not the relation of service by contract. Here a bond or agreement is
implied, and therefore reciprocal rights, and the mutual power of
dissolution on failure of either in the terms of mutual agreement; but
chattelism ignores and denies the ability of the slave to _make a
contract_.
4. Not serfdom or villeinage. The serf or villein was attached to the
glebe or soil, and could not be severed from it, deprived of his family,
or sold to another as a chattel; being retained as part of the
indivisible feudal community. But the chattel slave is a "thing"
incapable of family relations, and may be sold when, where, or how the
master pleases.
Chattelism is none of these relations; its principle is "property in
man." Its definition is thus given in the law of Louisiana, (Civil Code,
art. 35:) "A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he
belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry,
his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, acquire nothing, but what
must belong to his master."
South Carolina says, (Prince's Digest, 446,) "Slaves shall be deemed,
sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law, to be chattels personal in
the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors,
administrators, and assigns, to all intents, purposes, and
constructions whatsoever."
Judge Ruffin, giving the opinion of the Supreme Court of North Carolina,
(case of State _v._ Mann,) says a slave is "one doomed in _his own
person_ and _his posterity_ to live without knowledge, and without the
capacity to make any thing his own, and to toil that another may reap
the fruits."
We now come to the point at issue: Does the Bible sanction this system?