DOMESTIC SLAVERY, AS A SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE AFRICANS IN
AMERICA, EXAMINED AND DEFENDED ON THE GROUND OF ITS ADAPTATION
TO THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE RACE.
There should be a separate and subordinate government for our
African population--Objection answered--Africans are not
competent to that measure of self-government which entitles a
man to political sovereignty--They were not prepared for
freedom when first brought into the country, hence they were
placed under the domestic form of government--The humanity of
this policy--In the opinion of Southern people they are still
unprepared--The fanaticism and rashness of some, and the
inexcusable wickedness of others, who oppose the South.
It having been proved that both the doctrine and the assumption of
fact by Northern fanatics, in regard to the claim of the African to a
republican form of government, are false, and that the presumption is
in favor of the position of the South, that domestic slavery is the
appropriate form of government for them, we are now left free to
pursue our inquiry, without offset from these vagaries, into the
merits of this system, and its appropriateness to the African race in
this country.
The African is now here. Whether right or wrong originally, is not the
question before us. He is here. What form of government is best suited
to him, and those with whom he is necessarily associated? And,
I. Let it be observed, that they are a distinct race of people,
separated by strongly marked lines of moral and physical condition
from those amongst whom they reside. This difference is so strongly
marked that there can be no spontaneous amalgamation by intermarriage,
and consequently no reciprocity of social rights and privileges
between the races. Their history in the whole country shows this to be
the case. They must therefore continue to exist as a separate race. To
this state of things the government over them should be adapted,
unless we would violate a material condition of the problem to be
solved. For if the law should not provide for this state of the case,
the conventional usages of the superior race amongst whom they dwell
will certainly do so. This is in proof from the example of all those
States which have failed to provide for the African as a separate and
distinct race; for the usages of society always supply the deficiency.
This omission on the part of the law is evidently to the injury of
the African. The history of the race in the Northern States will show
this. Essential liberty is founded in, and is inseparable from,
certain social rights and privileges. But in these respects, the
African is a far more proscribed and degraded race in the Northern
than in the Southern States.
A government, then, should be provided for the African, as a distinct
and separate race, existing in the bosom of another and superior race.
Of course this will be an _imperium in imperio_. And as they are
confessedly the inferior race, who can never enjoy essential liberty
or reciprocity of social condition with the whites, the government
adapted to them must be inferior and subordinate to that of the whites
amongst whom they dwell. It must be subordinate; for, in the nature of
things, it must be an independent or a subordinate one. But two
independent civil governments cannot coëxist, and control distinct
races dwelling together in the same community. It follows that it must
be subordinate. As subordinate, it must either assume some form of
military government, or it must conform to the patriarchal species of
government--a kind of family government--that is, the domestic form
for which we contend. And as between a subordinate military or
patriarchal form of government, both as regards the expense and the
comfort, there can be no controversy, we may consider the claims of
the patriarchal form, or the system of domestic slavery, as
established in this case.
But it may be supposed that the experiment in the Northern States
invalidates the position, that this, being a distinct race of people,
must be controlled by a separate and subordinate form of government.
These States have a portion of this race, and it is said they find no
difficulty to result from having placed them on a political footing
with other citizens. But this is a mere assumption. It is not borne
out by the facts of history.
As before stated, the conventional usages of society have denied them
the social rights and privileges of free citizens! They have
proscribed them as an inferior and degraded race.
The usage which forbids intermarriage is at once a bar to all social
equality. The road to offices of trust, honor, and profit, is closed
against them--nay, even the means of subsistence beyond a scanty
supply of the necessaries of life. These facts are undeniable. Now, to
talk of liberty when we effectually deny to a people all that
essentially constitutes it, is idle in the extreme. It is a mere
paper liberty!--liberty to submit to the crushing usages of
society!--liberty to perish, in many instances, and that without
sympathy from the State. In these respects the condition of the race
is unquestionably better in the Southern States. If they must be a
degraded race in the North as well as in the South, I hesitate not to
affirm that our domestic system affords them a much better security
for a competent and comfortable living. It makes better provision for
them in old age and in youth, in sickness and in health, than is
secured to them by their so-called liberty in the Northern States.
Of course, poor families (in the literal sense) in the South do not
own slaves. They are usually held by those who at least enjoy the
necessaries of life. Now, the progress of civilization has established
the custom in all such families of sharing with their slaves the
necessaries, and, not unfrequently, many of the comforts of life. The
exceptions only make the rule general.
Again, the Southern system, by making the African a part of the family
circle, brings him into more immediate contact with the habits of
civilized life, and cultivates a high degree of sympathy between him
and his owners. Hence, the well-known attachment of slaves to the
families in which they were brought up; and their utter repugnance to
being hired to a Northern family, whatever may be their reputation for
piety. They are without practical sympathy for them. They often
subject them to a degree of hard labor to which they are not
accustomed. Many humane men in the South decline hiring their servants
to such persons.
There are evils, it is true, inseparable from the presence of the race
in this country, under any circumstances. By conferring on them a mere
paper liberty, the Northern States have adroitly freed themselves of a
portion of these evils; but then they have evidently accumulated them
upon the African. The policy is marked by no sympathy for the blacks.
There is much more of selfishness than of benevolence in the working
of the system. We conclude that our position is true, that the
Africans, being a separate and distinct race of people, who cannot
spontaneously amalgamate with the whites, should be placed under a
separate and subordinate form of government, if we consult either
their welfare or our own. The examples referred to, as proof of the
contrary, are strongly confirmatory of the position.
But to claim for the African political equality with the whites is
subject to still stronger objections. We may further appeal to facts
in support of our proposition.
II. They are not, in point of intellectual and moral development, in
the condition for freedom: that is, they are not fitted for that
measure of self-government which is necessary to political
sovereignty. It cannot, therefore, be justly claimed for them. They
have no right to it. It would not be to them an essential good, but an
essential evil, a curse. To confer it on them, either by an act of
direct or gradual emancipation, would be eminently productive of
injury to the whole country, and utterly ruinous to them.
This proposition is capable of division. We will discuss the points in
the order in which they stand.
First. They are not, in point of intellectual and moral development,
fitted for that measure of self-government which is necessary to
political sovereignty.
We have said they are an inferior race. That they are so in the
original structure of their minds I pretend not to affirm--nay, I do
not believe it. I believe in the unity of the races--that _God “hath
made of one blood all nations of men_.” Acts xvii. 26. But that the
race in this country are inferior, in the general development of their
intellectual and moral faculties, I am free to affirm. This I
attribute to the crushing influence of the ages of barbarous and pagan
life to which their forefathers in Africa were subjected. For, as, in
the progress of civilization, each succeeding generation of civilized
persons occupies a higher intellectual and moral platform, so, in the
descending scale of barbarism, each succeeding generation of
barbarians occupies a lower platform of intellectual and moral
development. Hence, we can account for the exceedingly barbarous
condition of the race when first brought into this country. It also
follows, that a race of men whose intellects have been long stultified
by ages of barbarism, cannot, by any contact with the principles and
usages of civilized life, be speedily thrown up to an elevated
platform.
This also accounts, in a good degree, for the slow progress which the
race has made in civilization, since their introduction into the
country.
To recur now to the fact, which cannot be controverted, that they were
brought into this country in a state of extreme barbarism and Pagan
ignorance: in the first place, were they then in a condition which
fitted them for political sovereignty, and equality of social rights
and privileges with the whites? If they were not for the latter, it is
very plain that they were not for the former. It is quite certain that
they were not prepared for either. If they were, why did not the
Puritans of New England allow them this sovereignty and equality? By
their consent and active coöperation, they were brought into the
country. Shall we revilingly say, with some of their ungrateful
descendants, that the good sense and love of liberty which had so
lately driven them from their fatherland, to find an asylum here from
the galling yoke of British oppression, had been so entirely absorbed
in the passion for gain, as to cause them to be deaf to the claims of
justice and humanity in behalf of the African! Shame on their
graceless accusers! No: their good sense forbade that a race of
barbarous Pagans, who could not be absorbed by intermarriage, but who
must continue to exist amongst them as a separate and inferior race,
should be placed on a common platform with free citizens! Their
humanity, no less than their good sense, induced them to adopt the
plan of domestic government, or slavery, sanctioned by the usages of
all civilized nations in similar circumstances. If, for any cause, a
horde of barbarians should be introduced into New England in the
present day, in numbers too great to be absorbed without injury, and
in a physical condition making it improper to permit their absorption
by intermarriage with themselves, as in the case of the Africans, does
any man in his senses pretend to believe that those States would
confer on them either social equality or political freedom? They would
certainly consider it due to themselves, no less than to the
barbarians, to place them under a subordinate government of some
kind. Well, this is precisely what their forefathers did in the case
of the Pagan Africans; and what the Southern colonies did when the New
Engenders brought them South. Thus the origin of domestic slavery, as
a political institution, in the country, shows that it was founded in
the humanity of our forefathers, no less than in their good sense.
Hence the second position stated: Political equality cannot be justly
claimed for them. They have no right to it. To them it would not be an
essential good, but an essential evil--a curse.
On the basis of the doctrine of rights discussed in a preceding
lecture, this proposition follows as a conclusion from the fact here
established in regard to the Africans of this country.
But it may be said that the barbarous character of the race has
greatly improved since their first introduction into this country.
This is true--eminently so. And standing, as this fact evidently does,
connected with the civilization and redemption of a whole continent of
barbarians, upon whom the crushing sceptre of Pagan ignorance has lain
for unnumbered ages, it fully vindicates both the wisdom and
benevolence of the providence of God, which permitted their
introduction in such vast numbers into civilized life, as affording
the only means of accomplishing his humane design.
But the question of practical interest at this point is, Have they
been so far raised in the scale of intellectual and moral elevation as
to acquire for them the right in question? This point can be settled
only by an appeal to facts. I hesitate not to allow, that if they are,
it may be justly claimed for them, because they are in that moral
condition which justly entitles them to it. It is also admitted that
if at the same time, they are in a condition to be absorbed by a
spontaneous amalgamation, they are entitled to it here; and much more
so than a certain other class, who are flocking into the country, and
to whom the right is accorded without scruple! This latter, however,
is certainly not the case, as the facts before alluded to do clearly
show. If, then, they be entitled to political freedom, they should be
removed to another territory. Africa is the rightful home of the
Africans. Thither they must go, if they should ever be fitted for
self-government. Providence has wisely forecast this result, and is
rapidly building up a free government on the coast of Africa, as their
future home, and the centre of civilization and Christianity to that
long-benighted continent.
But what of the question--Are they indeed fitted for political
sovereignty? That many of the free colored population, and some among
the slaves, may be so, I think is more than probably true. Of the
former I would say, that it is a duty they owe themselves no less than
the country to accept the offer of the Colonization Society, and
remove to their native land. For, although it be allowed that they are
in the moral condition of freedom, it is obvious that they never can
be essentially free, in the bosom of a people with whom they can never
amalgamate by marriage. And in regard to the latter, I have to say
that such of their owners as give that play to their benevolent
feelings which their circumstances admit, and, as far as they can do
so with propriety, facilitate their removal to Africa by consent,
entitle themselves to high commendation, and it is usually awarded
them with great unanimity by Southern people.
But that the same admissions can be made in regard to the masses of
this population in the country, I utterly deny. On the contrary, I
affirm that duty to ourselves and humanity to them alike forbid that
civil liberty be conferred on them in Africa, or elsewhere, and least
of all in this country.
The assumption of Northern agitators, that the Southern people are not
competent judges in this matter, because they are too much interested
in their bondage, is as untrue in fact as it is offensive to our good
sense and morals. No doubt there are many in the South capable of any
form of wickedness; nor need it be denied that we are as liable to be
misled in our judgments as other people. But it is equally true, that
the good sense and integrity of the great mass of our population is a
full counterbalance to the acknowledged cupidity of the few. And for a
set of Northern agitators, who never resided at the South, and who
know but little or nothing of the African character, to affect to
understand it better than the intelligent communities of the South, is
perhaps the coolest piece of impertinent self-conceit to be found on
record!
The intelligent and honest portion of the country will scarcely fail
to allow that the judgment of the Southern people as to the character
and capabilities of the African is entitled to the highest confidence,
and may be regarded as an authoritative settlement of this question.
What, then, is the concurrent opinion of the Southern people? I think
myself well and fully informed on this point. I hazard nothing in
asserting, that it is the general and well-nigh the universal opinion
of the intelligent and pious portion of our entire population, that
our African subjects, taken as a whole, are not fitted for any form of
political freedom of which we can conceive; that they are not in a
condition to use it to their own advantage, or the peace of the
communities in which they reside; and that to confer it upon them, in
these circumstances, would in all probability lead to the extirpation
of the race, as the only means of protecting civilization from the
insufferable evils of so direct a contact with an unrestrained
barbarism. It is also an opinion equally sanctioned, that if they were
prepared for political freedom, it would be scarcely less disastrous
to confer it upon them in this country. The reason is obvious. As they
cannot spontaneously amalgamate with the whites, they could not, in
the nature of things, enjoy freedom in their midst. Hence, if the
masses should ever reach that point, in the progress of civilization,
at which it might be proper to confer on them the rights of political
freedom, another location would have to be sought for them.
The Southern people (using the term in the sense specified) constitute
a large portion of the whole Union. They have progressed as far in
civilization, and, in many respects, much farther than any people in
the whole country. A very large portion of them are confessedly pious,
as well as intelligent. Taken as a whole, they are as eminently
entitled to be regarded a religious people as any other people on the
face of the globe. Now, that such a people, so obviously entitled to
the highest consideration throughout the civilized world, should, in
their circumstances of proximity to the African race, and
long-continued personal acquaintance with their habits and character,
their capabilities and their liabilities, be of the settled and almost
undisputed opinion that they are not competent to self-government; and
that, in their present circumstances, both the law of reciprocity and
the law of benevolence to the African forbid that the rights of
political freedom be accorded to them, does appear to me to afford the
most conclusive settlement of this question of fact that the subject
is capable of receiving. For, although a question of fact, it is
capable of no more conclusive settlement than an enlightened public
opinion can afford; and who are so well situated to form an opinion as
the free and intelligent communities of the South? and who can be more
honest in its expression?
As we cannot suppose the agitators of the country on this subject to
be ignorant of the fact that such is the opinion of the Southern
people, and as we cannot allow that they are incapable of appreciating
the weight of this testimony, we reach the conclusion that they are
the victims of a fanaticism resulting from a mistaken religious
opinion and feeling, which hurries them madly forward, as regardless
of the extent to which they implicate their own good sense as they are
of the extent to which they are aspersing the reputation of their
fellow-citizens, or the degree to which they are actually putting to
hazard the lives of the very people for whom they piously persuade
themselves they are laboring.
Those whose conduct does not admit of this apology are generally men
who occupy the arena of political agitation. Their object, evidently,
is to accumulate political power in the so-called free States, and to
promote the ends of personal ambition. The fanatical excitement of the
country may be turned to the account of these objects. Hence, they
labor with a zeal worthy of a better cause. We of the South regard the
agitators in Congress, for the most part, to be of this class. We
consider them highly culpable, if, indeed, they be not actually
criminal. For we cannot suppose them to be ignorant of the facts and
reasonings here adduced. And besides these, there are other facts of
great and conclusive authority in the settlement of this question,
which we cannot suppose have escaped the attention of men occupying
their high stations. I propose to notice some of them in the next
lecture.