blacks that I apprehend the most serious objections to the plan I have
ventured to suggest.--Those slave holders (whose numbers I trust are
few) who have been in the habit of considering their fellow creatures as
no more than cattle, and the rest of the brute creation, will exclaim
that they are to be deprived of their _property_, without compensation.
Men who will shut their ears against this moral truth, that all men are
by nature _free_, and _equal_, will not even be convinced that they do
not possess a _property_ in an _unborn_ child: they will not distinguish
between allowing to _unborn_ generations the absolute and unalienable
rights of human nature, and taking away that which they _now possess_;
they will shut their ears against truth, should you tell them, the loss
of the mother's labour for nine months, and the maintenance of a child
for a dozen or fourteen years, is amply compensated by the services of
that child for as many years more, as he has been an expence to them.
But if the voice of reason, justice and humanity be not stifled by
sordid avarice, or unfeeling tyranny, it would be easy to convince even
those who have entertained such erroneous notions, that the right of one
man over another is neither founded in nature, nor in sound policy. That
it cannot extend to those _not in being_; that no man can in reality be
_deprived_ of what he doth not possess: that fourteen years labour by a
young person in the prime of life, is an ample compensation for a few
months of labour lost by the mother, and for the maintenance of a child,
in that coarse homely manner that Negroes are brought up: And lastly,
that a state of slavery is not only perfectly incompatible with the
principles of government, but with the safety and security of their
masters. History evinces this. At this moment we have the most awful
demonstrations of it. Shall we then neglect a duty, which every
consideration, moral, religious, political, or _selfish_, recommends.
Those who wish to postpone the measure, do not reflect that every day
renders the task more arduous to be performed. We have now 300,000
slaves among us. Thirty years hence we shall have double the number. In
sixty years we shall have 1,200,000. And in less than another century
from this day, even that enormous number will be doubled. Milo acquired
strength enough to carry an ox, by beginning with the ox while he was
yet a calf. If we complain that the calf is too heavy for our shoulders,
what will not the ox be?
To such as apprehend danger to our agricultural interest, and the
depriving the families of those whose principal reliance is upon their
slaves, of support, it will be proper to submit a view of the gradual
operation, and effects of this plan. They will no doubt be surprized to
hear, that whenever it is adopted, the number of slaves will not be
diminished for forty years after it takes place; that it will even
encrease for thirty years; that at the distance of sixty years, there
will be one-third of the number at its first commencement: that it will
require _above a century_ to complete it; and that the number of blacks
_under twenty-eight_, and consequently bound to service, in the families
they are born in, will always be at least as great, as the present
number of slaves. These circumstances I trust will remove many
objections, and that they are truly stated will appear upon enquiry.[30]
It will further appear, that females only will arrive at the age of
emancipation within the first forty-five years; all the males during
that period, continuing either in slavery, or bound to service till the
age of twenty-eight years. The earth cannot want cultivators, whilst our
population increases as at present, and three-fourths of those employed
therein are held to service, and the remainder compellable to labour.
For we must not lose sight of this important consideration, that these
people must be _bound_ to labour, if they do not _voluntarily_ engage
therein. Their faculties are at present only calculated for that object;
if they be not employed therein they will become drones of the worst
description. In absolving them from the yoke of slavery, we must not
forget the interests of the society. Those interests require the
exertions of every individual in some mode or other; and those who have
not wherewith to support themselves honestly without corporal labour,
whatever be their complexion, ought to be compelled to labour. This is
the case in England, where domestic slavery has long been unknown. It
must also be the case in every well ordered society; and where the
numbers of persons without property increase, there the coertion of the
laws becomes more immediately requisite. The proposed plan would
necessarily have this effect, and therefore ought to be accompanied with
such a regulation. Though the rigours of our police in respect to this
unhappy race ought to be softened, yet, its regularity, and punctual
administration should be increased, rather than relaxed. If we doubt the
propriety of such measures, what must we think of the situation of our
country, when instead of 300,000, we shall have more than _two millions_
of SLAVES among us? This _must happen within a_ CENTURY, if we do not
set about the abolition of slavery. Will not our posterity curse the
days of their nativity with all the anguish of Job? Will they not
execrate the memory of those ancestors, who, having it in their power to
avert evil, have, like their first parents, entailed a curse upon all
future generations? We know that the rigour of the laws respecting
slaves unavoidably must increase with their numbers: What a
blood-stained code must that be which is calculated for the restraint of
_millions_ held in bondage! Such must our unhappy country exhibit within
a century, unless we are both wise and just enough to avert from
posterity the calamity and reproach, which are otherwise unavoidable.
[Footnote 30: As it may not be unacceptable to some readers to observe
the operation of this plan, I shall subjoin the following statement:
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
1. The number of slaves in Virginia by the late census being found to be
292,427, they may now, in round numbers be estimated at 300,000.
2. Let it be supposed that the males and females are nearly or
altogether equal in number.
3. According to Dr. Franklin, the people of America double their numbers
in about twenty-eight years; and according to Mr. Jefferson, the negroes
increase as fast as the whites, they will therefore double, at least
every thirty years.
4. Let it be supposed that in thirty years one half of the present race
of negroes will be extinct.
5. Let it be supposed that in forty-five years there will not remain
more than one-fifth of the present race alive.
6. Let it be likewise supposed, that in sixty years the whole of the
present race will be extinct.
7. For conciseness sake, let the present race be called _ante-nati_,
those born after the adoption of the plan, _post-nati_.
FROM HENCE IT WILL FOLLOW,
1. That the present number of slaves being 300,000.
2. In thirty years their numbers will amount to 600,000.
3. But at that period as one half of them will be extinct, (rem. 4.)
their numbers will stand thus:
Ante-nati, 150,000
Post-nati, 450,000
---- 600,000.
4. The mean increase of the post-nati for
the next thirty years will therefore be 450000/30, annually,
or 15,000.
5. If one half of these be males, who are still
to remain slaves, there will in the first sixteen years,
be born 120,000.
6. After the first sixteen years, the post-nati females will
begin to breed; the proportion of males born to slavery in the next
twelve years may be estimated at one-fourth of the whole number
born after the commencement of that period. Their number
will be 52,000.
7. The number of _slaves_ living in Virginia at the end of _thirty_
years from the adoption of the plan, will be, ante-nati
(prop. 3.) 150,000
Post-nati males born in the first
16 years, 120,000
Post-nati males born in the last
12 years, 52,500
---- 322,500.
8. The number of _negroes_ at the same time will stand thus:
Slaves, 322,500
Post-nati
free born, 277,500
---- 600,000.
9. After twenty-eight years from the first adoption, this plan of
gradual emancipation will first begin to manifest its effects, by the
complete emancipation of one twenty-eighth part of the post-nati free
born during that period each succeeding year, for twenty-eight years
more; their numbers will be, 277500/28, or 9,910.
These will be all females.
10. It being admitted that the negroes double every thirty years, the
supposition that in forty-five years, their numbers will be half as many
more as in thirty, will not be very erroneous, if so, the whole race of
them at that period will be 900,000.
11. Their numbers will stand thus:
Ante-nati, 60,000
Post-nati, 840,000
---- 900,000.
12. After twenty-eight years are past, the number of slaves born must
continually diminish. Suppose their number born in the last 17 years, to
be one-fourth as many as those born in the preceding twelve years, they
will be 52500/4, or 13,125.
13. The slaves in Virginia in forty-five years will then be,
ante-nati, 60,000
Post-nati males born in the first
sixteen years, 120,000
Ditto, born in the next
twelve years 52,500
Ditto, born in the last
seventeen years, 13,125
---- 245,625.
At this period the emancipation of males will begin.
14. But after twenty eight years it has been shewn that 9,910 negroes
will annually arrive at the age of emancipation, their whole number in
forty-five years will be 168,470.
15. The state of the negroes at the end of 45 years, will then be,
slaves, 245,625
Post-nati fully emancipated
(females), 168,470
Post-nati not
emancipated, 485,905
---- 900,000.
16. In sixty years the whole number of negroes will be
1,200,000.
17. At that period the whole of the present race will be extinct; and we
may also infer that one half of those born in the first thirty years
will be also extinct; the number of slaves born in that period has been
shewn, (prop. 7.) to be 172,500, the number of these then living will be
172,500/2, or 86,250.
18. One half of the post-nati free born, during that period, being now
fully emancipated, may be likewise presumed to be extinct; their numbers
(prop. 8.) will be, 277,500/2, or 138,750.
19. The state of the negroes at the end of sixty years, will therefore
be:
Slaves born during the first
thirty years, 86,250
Ditto born after
that period, 13,125
Post-nati fully
emancipated, 138,750
Post-nati
under 28 years
of age, 961,875
---- 1,200,000.
20. At the end of ninety years the number of negroes will be
2,400,000
21. Of this number, those only born after the first thirty years, being
supposed to be living, the number of slaves (prop. 12) will then be
reduced to 13,125.
22. And as the last mentioned number of slaves are supposed to be born
within forty-five years, their whole number will be extinct in fifteen
years more, that is, in _one hundred =and= five_ years from the first
adoption of the plan.
23. By prop. 19. it appears, that out of 1,200,000 negroes, there will
then be 961,875 under the age of twenty-eight years, the period of
emancipation.
24. We may therefore conclude, that from _two-thirds_ to _three-fourths_
of the whole number of blacks will _always_ be liable to service.]
I am not vain enough to presume the plan I have suggested entirely free
from objection; nor that in offering my own ideas on the subject, I have
been more fortunate than others: but from the communication of sentiment
between those who lament the evil, it is possible that an effectual
remedy may at length be discovered. Whenever that happens the golden age
of our country will begin. Till then,
----_Non hospes ab hospite tutus,
Non Herus a Famulie: fratrum quoque gratia rara._
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's Dissertation on Slavery, by St. George Tucker