THE CHILDREN OF SLAVES ARE BORN FREE.
The idea that the children of slaves are necessarily born slaves, or
that they necessarily follow that _natural law_ of property, which gives
the natural increase of property to the owner of the original stock, is
an erroneous one.
It is a principle of natural law in regard to property, that a calf
belongs to the owner of the cow that bore it; fruit to the owner of the
tree or vine on which it grew; and so on. But the principle of _natural
law_, which makes a calf belong to the owner of the cow, does not make
the child of a slave belong to the owner of the slave--and why? Simply
because both cow and calf are _naturally_ subjects of property; while
neither men nor children are _naturally_ subjects of property. The law
of nature gives no aid to any thing inconsistent with itself. It
therefore gives no aid to the transmission of property in man--while it
does give aid to the transmission of property in other animals and in
things.
Brute animals and things being _naturally_ subjects of property, there
are obvious reasons why the natural increase should belong to the owner
of the original stock. But men, not being _naturally_ subjects of
property, the law of nature will not transmit any right of property
acquired in violation of her own authority. The law of nature denies all
rights not derived from herself. Of course she cannot perpetuate or
transmit such rights--if rights they can be called.
One important reason why a calf belongs to the owner of the cow that
bore it, is, _that there is no principle of natural law that can be
opposed to that ownership_. For the calf is naturally a subject of
property, and if it were not given to the owner of the cow, it would be
lawful for any other person to assume the ownership. No wrong would be
done to the animal by so doing. But as man is not naturally a subject of
property, and as each separate individual is, on principles of natural
law, entitled to the control of his own person, it is as much a wrong,
and as much a violation of natural law, to make a slave of the child of
a slave, as to make a slave of any other person. The natural rights of
the child to the control of his own person, rise up, from the moment of
his birth, in opposition to the transmission to him of any ownership,
which, in violation of natural law, has been asserted to the parent.
Natural law may be overborne by arbitrary institutions; but she will
never aid, or perpetuate them. For her to do so, would be to resist, and
even deny her own authority. It would present the case of a principle
warring against and overcoming itself. Instead of this, she asserts her
own authority on the first opportunity. The moment the arbitrary law
expires by its own limitation, natural law resumes her reign. If,
therefore, the government declare A to be a slave, natural law may be
practically overborne by this arbitrary authority; but she will not
herself perpetuate it beyond the person of A--for that would be acting
in contradiction to herself.--She will therefore suffer this arbitrary
authority to expend itself on the person of A, according to the _letter_
of the arbitrary law; but she will assert her own authority in favor of
the child of A, to whom the letter of the law enslaving A, does not
apply.
Slavery is a wrong to each individual enslaved; and not merely to the
first of a series. Natural law, therefore, as much forbids the enslaving
of the child, as if the wrong of enslaving the parent had never been
perpetrated.
Slavery, then, is an arbitrary institution throughout. It depends, from
first to last, upon the letter of the arbitrary law. Natural law gives
it no aid, no extension, no new application, under any circumstances
whatever. Unless, therefore, the letter of the arbitrary law explicitly
authorize the enslavement of the child, the child is born free, though
the parent were a slave.
If the views that have already been taken of our written constitutions,
be correct, no parent has ever yet been legally enslaved in this
country; and of course no child. If, however, any one thinks he can
place his finger upon any _constitutional_ law, that has enslaved a
parent, let him follow that law, and see whether it also expressly
authorized the enslavement of the child. If it did not, then the child
would be free.
It is no new principle that the child of a slave would be born free, but
for an express law to the contrary. Some of the slave codes admit the
principle--for they have special provisions that the child shall follow
the condition of the mother; thus virtually admitting that, but for such
a provision, the child would be free, though the mother were a slave.
Under the constitutions of the states and the United States, it requires
as explicit and plenary _constitutional_ authority, to make slaves of
the children of slaves, as it would to make slaves of any body else. Is
there, in any of the constitutions of this country, any general
authority given to the governments, to make slaves of whom they please?
No one will pretend it. Is there, then, any particular authority for
making slaves of the children of those, who have previously been held in
slavery? If there be, let the advocates of slavery point it out. If
there be no such authority, all their statutes declaring that the
children of slaves shall follow the condition of their mothers, are
void; and those children are free by force of the law of nature.
This law of nature, that all men are born free, was recognized by this
country in the Declaration of Independence.--But it was no new principle
then. Justinian says, "Captivity and servitude are both contrary to the
law of nature; for by that law all men are born free." But the principle
was not new with Justinian; it exists in the nature of man, and is as
old as man--and the race of man generally has acknowledged it. The
exceptions have been special; the rule general.
The constitution of the United States recognizes the principle that all
men are born free; for it recognizes the principle that natural birth in
the country gives citizenship[31]--which of course implies freedom. And
no exception is made to the rule. Of course all born in the country
since the adoption of the constitution of the United States, have been
born free, whether there were, or were not any legal slaves in the
country before that time.
Even the provisions, in the several state constitutions, that the
legislatures shall not _emancipate_ slaves, would, if allowed their full
effect, unrestrained by the constitution of the United States, hold in
slavery only those who were then slaves; it would do nothing towards
enslaving their children, and would give the legislatures no authority
to enslave them.
It is clear, therefore, that, on this principle alone, slavery would now
be extinct in this country, unless there should be an exception of a few
aged persons.
[Footnote 31: Art. 2, Sec. 1, Clause 5, "No person, except a _natural
born_ citizen,* * * * shall be eligible to the office of President."]