subject, it must be with reference to future results. One course of
measures, it is claimed, tends to perpetuate slavery, or to end it by
scenes of terror and bloodshed. Another course tends to bring it to an
end sooner, and by safe and peaceful influences. And the whole
discussion of duty rests on these probabilities. But where do the laws
of mind and experience oppose the terrific tendencies of Abolitionism
that have been portrayed? Are not the minds of men thrown into a
ferment, and excited by those passions which blind the reason, and warp
the moral sense? Is not the South in a state of high exasperation
against Abolitionists? Does she not regard them as enemies, as reckless
madmen, as impertinent intermeddlers? Will the increase of their numbers
tend to allay this exasperation? Will the appearance of a similar body
in their own boundaries have any tendency to soothe? Will it not still
more alarm and exasperate? If a movement of a minority of such men
attempt to alter the laws, are not the probabilities strong that still
more unjust and oppressive measures will be adopted?--measures that will
tend to increase the hardships of the slave, and to drive out of the
community all humane, conscientious and pious men? As the evils and
dangers increase, will not the alarm constantly diminish the proportion
of whites, and make it more and more needful to increase such
disabilities and restraints as will chafe and inflame the blacks? When
this point is reached, will the blacks, knowing, as they will know, the
sympathies of their Abolition friends, refrain from exerting their
physical power? _The Southampton insurrection occurred with far less
chance of sympathy and success._
If that most horrible of all scourges, a servile war, breaks forth, will
the slaughter of fathers, sons, infants, and of aged,--will the cries of
wives, daughters, sisters, and kindred, suffering barbarities worse than
death, bring no fathers, brothers, and friends to their aid, from the
North and West?
And if the sympathies and indignation of freemen can already look such
an event in the face, and feel that it would be the slave, rather than
the master, whom they would defend, what will be the probability, after
a few years' chafing shall have driven away the most christian and
humane from scenes of cruelty and inhumanity, which they could neither
alleviate nor redress? I should like to see any data of past experience,
that will show that these results are not more probable than that the
South will, by the system of means now urged upon her, finally be
convinced of her sins, and voluntarily bring the system of slavery to an
end. I claim not that the predictions I present will be fulfilled. I
only say, that if Abolitionists go on as they propose, such results are
_more_ probable than those they hope to attain.
I have not here alluded to the probabilities of the severing of the
Union by the present mode of agitating the question. This may be one of
the results, and, if so, what are the probabilities for a Southern
republic, that has torn itself off for the purpose of excluding foreign
interference, and for the purpose of perpetuating slavery? Can any
Abolitionist suppose that, in such a state of things, the great cause of
emancipation is as likely to progress favourably, as it was when we were
one nation, and mingling on those fraternal terms that existed before
the Abolition movement began?
The preceding are some of the reasons which, on the general view, I
would present as opposed to the proposal of forming Abolition Societies;
and they apply equally to either sex. There are some others which seem
to oppose peculiar objections to the action of females in the way you
would urge.
To appreciate more fully these objections, it will be necessary to recur
to some general views in relation to the place woman is appointed to
fill by the dispensations of heaven.
It has of late become quite fashionable in all benevolent efforts, to
shower upon our sex an abundance of compliments, not only for what they
have done, but also for what they can do; and so injudicious and so
frequent, are these oblations, that while I feel an increasing respect
for my countrywomen, that their good sense has not been decoyed by these
appeals to their vanity and ambition, I cannot but apprehend that there
is some need of inquiry as to the just bounds of female influence, and
the times, places, and manner in which it can be appropriately exerted.
It is the grand feature of the Divine economy, that there should be
different stations of superiority and subordination, and it is
impossible to annihilate this beneficent and immutable law. On its first
entrance into life, the child is a dependent on parental love, and of
necessity takes a place of subordination and obedience. As he advances
in life these new relations of superiority and subordination multiply.
The teacher must be the superior in station, the pupil a subordinate.
The master of a family the superior, the domestic a subordinate--the
ruler a superior, the subject a subordinate. Nor do these relations at
all depend upon superiority either in intellectual or moral worth.
However weak the parents, or intelligent the child, there is no
reference to this, in the immutable law. However incompetent the
teacher, or superior the pupil, no alteration of station can be allowed.
However unworthy the master or worthy the servant, while their mutual
relations continue, no change in station as to subordination can be
allowed. In fulfilling the duties of these relations, true dignity
consists in conforming to all those relations that demand subordination,
with propriety and cheerfulness. When does a man, however high his
character or station, appear more interesting or dignified than when
yielding reverence and deferential attentions to an aged parent, however
weak and infirm? And the pupil, the servant, or the subject, all equally
sustain their own claims to self-respect, and to the esteem of others,
by equally sustaining the appropriate relations and duties of
subordination. In this arrangement of the duties of life, Heaven has
appointed to one sex the superior, and to the other the subordinate
station, and this without any reference to the character or conduct of
either. It is therefore as much for the dignity as it is for the
interest of females, in all respects to conform to the duties of this
relation. And it is as much a duty as it is for the child to fulfil
similar relations to parents, or subjects to rulers. But while woman
holds a subordinate relation in society to the other sex, it is not
because it was designed that her duties or her influence should be any
the less important, or all-pervading. But it was designed that the mode
of gaining influence and of exercising power should be altogether
different and peculiar.
It is Christianity that has given to woman her true place in society.
And it is the peculiar trait of Christianity alone that can sustain her
therein. "Peace on earth and good will to men" is the character of all
the rights and privileges, the influence, and the power of woman. A man
may act on society by the collision of intellect, in public debate; he
may urge his measures by a sense of shame, by fear and by personal
interest; he may coerce by the combination of public sentiment; he may
drive by physical force, and he does not outstep the boundaries of his
sphere. But all the power, and all the conquests that are lawful to
woman, are those only which appeal to the kindly, generous, peaceful and
benevolent principles.
Woman is to win every thing by peace and love; by making herself so
much respected, esteemed and loved, that to yield to her opinions and to
gratify her wishes, will be the free-will offering of the heart. But
this is to be all accomplished in the domestic and social circle. There
let every woman become so cultivated and refined in intellect, that her
taste and judgment will be respected; so benevolent in feeling and
action, that her motives will be reverenced;--so unassuming and
unambitious, that collision and competition will be banished;--so
"gentle and easy to be entreated," as that every heart will repose in
her presence; then, the fathers, the husbands, and the sons, will find
an influence thrown around them, to which they will yield not only
willingly but proudly. A man is never ashamed to own such influences,
but feels dignified and ennobled in acknowledging them. But the moment
woman begins to feel the promptings of ambition, or the thirst for
power, her aegis of defence is gone. All the sacred protection of
religion, all the generous promptings of chivalry, all the poetry of
romantic gallantry, depend upon woman's retaining her place as
dependent and defenceless, and making no claims, and maintaining no
right but what are the gifts of honour, rectitude and love.
A woman may seek the aid of co-operation and combination among her own
sex, to assist her in her appropriate offices of piety, charity,
maternal and domestic duty; but whatever, in any measure, throws a woman
into the attitude of a combatant, either for herself or others--whatever
binds her in a party conflict--whatever obliges her in any way to exert
coercive influences, throws her out of her appropriate sphere. If these
general principles are correct, they are entirely opposed to the plan of
arraying females in any Abolition movement; because it enlists them in
an effort to coerce the South by the public sentiment of the North;
because it brings them forward as partisans in a conflict that has been
begun and carried forward by measures that are any thing rather than
peaceful in their tendencies; because it draws them forth from their
appropriate retirement, to expose themselves to the ungoverned violence
of mobs, and to sneers and ridicule in public places; because it leads
them into the arena of political collision, not as peaceful mediators to
hush the opposing elements, but as combatants to cheer up and carry
forward the measures of strife.
If it is asked, "May not woman appropriately come forward as a suppliant
for a portion of her sex who are bound in cruel bondage?" It is replied,
that, the rectitude and propriety of any such measure, depend entirely
on its probable results. If petitions from females will operate to
exasperate; if they will be deemed obtrusive, indecorous, and unwise, by
those to whom they are addressed; if they will increase, rather than
diminish the evil which it is wished to remove; if they will be the
opening wedge, that will tend eventually to bring females as petitioners
and partisans into every political measure that may tend to injure and
oppress their sex, in various parts of the nation, and under the various
public measures that may hereafter be enforced, then it is neither
appropriate nor wise, nor right, for a woman to petition for the relief
of oppressed females.
The case of Queen Esther is one often appealed to as a precedent. When a
woman is placed in similar circumstances, where death to herself and all
her nation is one alternative, and there is nothing worse to fear, but
something to hope as the other alternative, then she may safely follow
such an example. But when a woman is asked to join an Abolition Society,
or to put her name to a petition to congress, for the purpose of
contributing her measure of influence to keep up agitation in congress,
to promote the excitement of the North against the iniquities of the
South, to coerce the South by fear, shame, anger, and a sense of odium
to do what she has determined not to do, the case of Queen Esther is not
at all to be regarded as a suitable example for imitation.
In this country, petitions to congress, in reference to the official
duties of legislators, seem, IN ALL CASES, to fall entirely without the
sphere of female duty. Men are the proper persons to make appeals to
the rulers whom they appoint, and if their female friends, by arguments
and persuasions, can induce them to petition, all the good that can be
done by such measures will be secured. But if females cannot influence
their nearest friends, to urge forward a public measure in this way,
they surely are out of their place, in attempting to do it themselves.
There are some other considerations, which should make the American
females peculiarly sensitive in reference to any measure, which should
even _seem_ to draw them from their appropriate relations in society.
It is allowed by all reflecting minds, that the safety and happiness of
this nation depends upon having the _children_ educated, and not only
intellectually, but morally and religiously. There are now nearly two
millions of children and adults in this country who cannot read, and who
have no schools of any kind. To give only a small supply of teachers to
these destitute children, who are generally where the population is
sparse, will demand _thirty thousand teachers_; and _six thousand_ more
will be needed every year, barely to meet the increase of juvenile
population. But if we allow that we need not reach this point, in order
to save ourselves from that destruction which awaits a people, when
governed by an ignorant and unprincipled democracy; if we can weather
the storms of democratic liberty with only one-third of our ignorant
children properly educated, still we need _ten thousand_ teachers at
this moment, and an addition of _two thousand every year_. Where is this
army of teachers to be found? Is it at all probable that the other sex
will afford even a moderate portion of this supply? The field for
enterprise and excitement in the political arena, in the arts, the
sciences, the liberal professions, in agriculture, manufactures, and
commerce, is opening with such temptations, as never yet bore upon the
mind of any nation. Will men turn aside from these high and exciting
objects to become the patient labourers in the school-room, and for only
the small pittance that rewards such toil? No, they will not do it. Men
will be educators in the college, in the high school, in some of the
most honourable and lucrative common schools, but the _children_, the
_little children_ of this nation must, to a wide extent, be taught by
females, or remain untaught. The drudgery of education, as it is now too
generally regarded, in this country, will be given to the female hand.
And as the value of education rises in the public mind, and the
importance of a teacher's office is more highly estimated, women will
more and more be furnished with those intellectual advantages which they
need to fit them for such duties.
The result will be, that America will be distinguished above all other
nations, for well-educated females, and for the influence they will
exert on the general interests of society. But if females, as they
approach the other sex, in intellectual elevation, begin to claim, or to
exercise in any manner, the peculiar prerogatives of that sex, education
will prove a doubtful and dangerous blessing. But this will never be the
result. For the more intelligent a woman becomes, the more she can
appreciate the wisdom of that ordinance that appointed her subordinate
station, and the more her taste will conform to the graceful and
dignified retirement and submission it involves.
An ignorant, a narrow-minded, or a stupid woman, cannot feel nor
understand the rationality, the propriety, or the beauty of this
relation; and she it is, that will be most likely to carry her measures
by tormenting, when she cannot please, or by petulant complaints or
obtrusive interference, in matters which are out of her sphere, and
which she cannot comprehend.
And experience testifies to this result. By the concession of all
travellers, American females are distinguished above all others for
their general intelligence, and yet they are complimented for their
retiring modesty, virtue, and domestic faithfulness, while the other sex
is as much distinguished for their respectful kindness and attentive
gallantry. There is no other country where females have so much public
respect and kindness accorded to them as in America, by the concession
of all travellers. And it will ever be so, while intellectual culture in
the female mind, is combined with the spirit of that religion which so
strongly enforces the appropriate duties of a woman's sphere.
But it may be asked, is there nothing to be done to bring this national
sin of slavery to an end? Must the internal slave-trade, a trade now
ranked as piracy among all civilized nations, still prosper in our
bounds? Must the very seat of our government stand as one of the chief
slave-markets of the land; and must not Christian females open their
lips, nor lift a finger, to bring such a shame and sin to an end?
To this it may be replied, that Christian females may, and can say and
do much to bring these evils to an end; and the present is a time and an
occasion when it seems most desirable that they should know, and
appreciate, and _exercise_ the power which they do possess for so
desirable an end.
And in pointing out the methods of exerting female influence for this
object, I am inspired with great confidence, from the conviction that
what will be suggested, is that which none will oppose, but all will
allow to be not only practicable, but safe, suitable, and Christian.
To appreciate these suggestions, however, it is needful previously to
consider some particulars that exhibit the spirit of the age and the
tendencies of our peculiar form of government.
The prominent principle, now in development, as indicating the spirit of
the age, is the perfect right of all men to entire freedom of opinion.
By this I do not mean that men are coming to think that "it is no matter
what a man believes, if he is only honest and sincere," or that they are
growing any more lenient towards their fellow-men, for the evil
consequences they bring on themselves or on others for believing wrong.
But they are coming to adopt the maxim, that no man shall be forced by
pains and penalties to adopt the opinions of other minds, but that every
man shall be free to form his own opinions, and to propagate them by
all lawful means.
At the same time another right is claimed, which is of necessity
involved in the preceding,--the right to oppose, by all lawful means,
the opinions and the practices of others, when they are deemed
pernicious either to individuals or to the community. _Facts_,
_arguments_ and _persuasions_ are, by all, conceded to be lawful means
to employ in propagating our own views, and in opposing the opinions and
practices of others.
These fundamental principles of liberty have in all past ages been
restrained by coercive influences, either of civil or of ecclesiastical
power. But in this nation, all such coercive influences, both of church
and state, have ceased. Every man may think what he pleases about
government, or religion, or any thing else; he may propagate his
opinions, he may controvert opposite opinions, and no magistrate or
ecclesiastic can in any legal way restrain or punish.
But the form of our government is such, that every measure that bears
upon the public or private interest of every citizen, is decided by
_public sentiment_. All laws and regulations in civil, or religious, or
social concerns, are decided by the _majority of votes_. And the present
is a time when every doctrine, every principle, and every practice which
influences the happiness of man, either in this, or in a future life, is
under discussion. The whole nation is thrown into parties about almost
every possible question, and every man is stimulated in his efforts to
promote his own plans by the conviction that success depends entirely
upon bringing his fellow citizens to think as he does. Hence every man
is fierce in maintaining his own right of free discussion, his own right
to propagate his opinions, and his own right to oppose, by all lawful
means, the opinions that conflict with his own.
But the difficulty is, that a right which all men claim for themselves,
with the most sensitive and pertinacious inflexibility, they have not
yet learned to accord to their fellow men, in cases where their own
interests are involved. Every man is saying, "Let me have full liberty
to propagate my opinions, and to oppose all that I deem wrong and
injurious, but let no man take this liberty with my opinions and
practices. Every man may believe what he pleases, and propagate what he
pleases, provided he takes care not to attack any thing which belongs to
me."
And how do men exert themselves to restrain this corresponding right of
their fellow men? Not by going to the magistrate to inform, or to the
spiritual despot to obtain ecclesiastical penalties, but he resorts to
methods, which, if successful, are in effect the most severe pains and
penalties that can restrain freedom of opinion.
What is dearer to a man than _his character_, involving as it does, the
esteem, respect and affection of friends, neighbours and society, with
all the confidence, honour, trust and emolument that flow from general
esteem? How sensitive is every man to any thing that depreciates his
intellectual character! What torture, to be ridiculed or pitied for such
deficiencies! How cruel the suffering, when his moral delinquencies are
held up to public scorn and reprehension! Confiscation, stripes,
chains, and even death itself, are often less dreaded.
It is this method of punishment to which men resort, to deter their
fellow-men from exercising those rights of liberty which they so
tenaciously claim for themselves. Examine now the methods adopted by
almost all who are engaged in the various conflicts of opinion in this
nation, and you will find that there are certain measures which
combatants almost invariably employ.
They either attack the intellectual character of opponents, or they
labour to make them appear narrow-minded, illiberal and bigoted, or they
impeach their honesty and veracity, or they stigmatize their motives as
mean, selfish, ambitious, or in some other respect unworthy and
degrading. Instead of truth, and evidence, and argument, personal
depreciation, sneers, insinuations, or open abuse, are the weapons
employed. This method of resisting freedom of opinions, by pains and
penalties, arises in part from the natural selfishness of man, and in
part from want of clear distinctions as to the rights and duties
involved in freedom of opinion and freedom of speech.
The great fundamental principle that makes this matter clear, is this,
that a broad and invariable distinction should ever be preserved between
the _opinions_ and _practices_ that are discussed, and the _advocates_
of these opinions and practices.
It is a sacred and imperious duty, that rests on every human being, to
exert all his influence in opposing every thing that he believes is
dangerous and wrong, and in sustaining all that he believes is safe and
right. And in doing this, no compromise is to be made, in order to
shield country, party, friends, or even self, from any just censure.
Every man is bound by duty to God and to his country, to lay his finger
on every false principle, or injurious practice, and boldly say, "this
is wrong--this is dangerous--this I will oppose with all my influence,
whoever it may be that advocates or practises it." And every man is
bound to use his efforts to turn public sentiment against all that he
believes to be wrong and injurious, either in regard to this life, or
to the future world. And every man deserves to be respected and
applauded, just in proportion as he fearlessly and impartially, and in a
_proper spirit_, _time_ and _manner_, fulfils this duty.
The doctrine, just now alluded to, that it is "no matter what a man
believes, if he is only honest and sincere," is as pernicious, as it is
contrary to religion and to common sense. It is as absurd, and as
impracticable, as it would be to urge on the mariner the maxim, "no
matter which way you believe to be north, if you only steer aright." A
man's character, feelings, and conduct, all depend upon his opinions. If
a man can reason himself into the belief that it is right to take the
property of others and to deceive by false statements, he will probably
prove a thief and a liar. It is of the greatest concern, therefore, to
every man, that his fellow-men should _believe right_, and one of his
most sacred duties is to use all his influence to promote correct
opinions.