Timely articles on slavery

Front matter

TIMELY ARTICLES

ON

SLAVERY.

Preface

The history of the following articles on Slavery, as briefly stated in the Advertisement, is exceedingly interesting. It transmits to us the views and feelings of some of the most eminent statesmen of revolutionary times — men most prominent in the early history of our national compact. The publication of these articles at this time is well and appropriate. They should be carefully read by all our politicians who would know what were the views of those illustrious men of 177G. They should be read by all clergymen, and every intelligent citizen while the subject of slavery is exciting such deep interest through the land, that they may learn the views, and see the disinterested boldness and fidelity of a great and good man

— a friend of the oppressed,’ and a fearless rebuker of popular sin

— whose name will be revered and honored by the good in all fu¬ ture time.

Says his learned biographer: “ Dr. Hopkins believed that if he lifted his voice in behalf of the bondmen, lie should advance the interests of his race and the honor of his Maker. lie offered himself as a sacrifice. lie did it deliberately, solemnly. Anticipating the indignation of his people, and the anger of the community, he preached a sermon against the kidnapping, and purchasing, and

IV

PREFACE.

retaining of slaves. A New-England poet has said: ‘ It may well be doubted whether, on that Sabbath-day, the angels of God in their wide survey of His universe, looked upon a nobler spectacle than that of the minister of Newport rising up before his slavehold¬ ing congregation, and demanding, in the name of the Highest, the deliverance of the captive, and the opening of the prison doors to them that were bound.’ The citizens of Newport were startled by this novel discourse. No minister in the land had preached on slavery in so bold a manner. Hopkins stood up alone ; not, indeed, without any in the .State who would give liim their sympathies, but without any who would rise in bold resistance to the dominant powers. He anticipated the worst, and showed the spirit of a martyr. His sermons offended a few and made them permanently his enemies; but the majority of his hearers were astonished that they, of them¬ selves, had not long before seen and felt the truths which he disclosed to them.

“ The following Dialogue is a remarkable document It op¬ poses both the purchasing and the owning of slaves. Very few reasons and motives have since been adduced for manumission which are not found in this pamphlet. He published it in the midst of the revolutionary war. He deemed it a fitting time for such an appeal; because while men were expending their treasures for their own free¬ dom, they would feel (lie consistency of giving freedom to their own bondmen. Hopkins meant to sound a trumpet which would be heard throughout, the land. He dedicated his pamphlet to the ‘ Honorable Continental Congress.’ It was reprinted in an edition of two thousand copies, by the New York Manumission Society; and a copy of it was sent to every member of Congress and of the New York Legislature, (see Advertisement). Dr. Hopkins was admitted an honorary mem¬ ber of the above-named Society ; and about the same time he was elected an honorary member of the .Pennsylvania Society for the Manumission of Slaves, of wl^ieh Society Benjamin Franklin was President, and Dr. Benjamin Push was Secretary.

PREFACE.

V

“It must not be supposed that Hopkins confined his efforts to the pulpit and the press. In one instance lie borrowed, on his own responsibility, the sum requisite to secure the freedom of a slave in whom he became interested. He was a kind of anti-slavery apostle, visiting from house to house, and urging masters to free their bondmen. He persuaded several of his neighbors to perform this duty; and his conversation with many clergymen awakened their minds to exertion in this branch of benevolence. While on a visit at the house of Dr. Bellamy, who then owned a slave, lie pressed upon his friend the objections against slavery. Bellamy defended the system with the usual argument^ and Hopkins refuted them, and then called on his friend to free his slave at once. Bellamy replied, that his slave was a most faithful and judicious servant; that in the management of his farm he could be trusted with everything; and that he was so happy in his servitude that he would, in the opinion of his master, refuse his freedom were it offered him. ‘ Will you consent to his lib¬ eration/ said Dr. Hopkins, e if he really desires it?’ ‘Yes/ replies Dr. Bellamy, ‘ I will.’ The slave was then at work in the Held. ‘ Call him in/ said Dr. Hopkins. The slave came to receive as he supposed the. commands of his master. ‘ Have you a good master?’ said Dr. Hopkins, -addressing the slave. What could the slave answer but — ‘Yes?’ ‘Are you hapyy in your present condition?’ How could the slave deny that he was ? ‘Would you be more happy if you were free?’ ‘ O, yes, Massa, — me would be much more happy 1 ’ ‘ You have your desire/ exclaimed Dr. Bellamy ; ‘ from this moment you are free ! ! ”

The first Society in the world for the abolition of Slavery seems to have been formed in Philadelphia, by a few Quakers, in 1775. A new impulse was given to it in 1787, when Benjamin Franklin was chosen its Preside!it. The second was formed in New York, January, 1785. John Jay, then Secretary of State, was its first President, and Alexander Hamilton its second President. The third Society was formed iti Rliode-island, under the influence of Hopkins ; the

VI

PREFACE.

first meeting for consultation was held in the large front parlor of his house. Judge David Howell, a member of the Old Congress, was its first President, and Gov. Arthur Fenner one of its standing Committee. The Connecticut Society was instituted in 1790. Dr. Stiles was President, and Judge Baldwin, Secretary. Dr. Hart was very active in its formation, and was appointed to preach the annual sermon before it in 1792. Virginia and New Jersey formed Aboli¬ tion Societies in 1791. In the Memoir of Dr. Hopkins, recently published by the Congregational Board of Publication, is much that is deeply interesting on this subject; showing the lively interest then felt, not only by Dr. Hopkins, but by the most distinguished men in the country, on the subject of emancipating the slaves. The Memoir contains Hopkins’s correspondence with the most distinguished men of this land, and of Europe — such as Zachary Macaulay, the Editor of the Christian Observer, the companion of Scott, Newton, Wilberforce, the father of the Historian Macaulay; with Dr. Erskine, of Edinburgh, the friend of President Edwards, and numerous others. For further particulars, relating to the deep interest then felt on the subject of emancipation and the distinguished men then prominent in this work, we refer to the above-mentioned Memoir of Hopkins, by Prof. E. A. Park. It will bo seen that the distinguished men of revolutionary time, while striving for their own liberty were aware of the inconsistency of holdihg tlicir fellow-men in bondage.

Editor.

A DIALOGUE

CONCERNING! THE

SLAVERY OF TIIE AFRICANS,

SHOWING IT TO HE THE

DUTY AND INTEREST OF TIIE AMERICAN COLONIES TO EMANCIPATE ALL TIIE AFRICAN SLAVES.

WITH AN

ADDRESS TO THE OWNERS OF SUCH SLAVES.

DEDICATED TO

TIIE HONORABLE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

“ Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.” — Pr. xxxi. 9.

“ Anti as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise,” — I.vke vi. 31

ADVERTISEMENT,

Tun first edition of the following Dialogue, written by Dr. Hopkins, waa published in 1770. The second edition was published by the New York Manumission Society, established in New York, January, 1785, under the presidency of John Jay, then secretary of state for foreign affairs.

Extract from the Minutes of said Society.

“ Dec. 11, 1785. Resolved , That the Standing Committee take order for printing two thousand copies of a pamphlet, entitled ‘A Dialogue concerning the Slavery of the Africans; showing it to be the Duty and Interest of the American Colonies to emancipate all the African Slaves: with an Address to the Owners of such Slaves. Dedicated to the Honorable Continental Congress, and published at Norwich, 177<>.’

“ Eeb, M, 1780. Resolved , That each of the members of Congress, and ot the senate and assembly of this state, be furnished, with one of the pam¬ phlets, entitled, 4 A Dialogue on the Slavery of the Africans,’ etc.”

It may show something of the estimation in which Dr. Hopkins was held as a writer, and his influence as a man, as also the views of distinguished men of that day, to state further that the mayor of the city of New York, Hon. James Duane, Hon. Robert R. Livingston, then chancellor of the state of New York, and Hon. Alexander Hamilton, were active members of the society which adopted and published this Dialogue; and also that Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, was, in 1790, elected president of the society in the place of John Jay, who resigned on being appointed chief justice of the United States.

It is supposed to be owing to the influence of this Dialogue, that, in May, 1786, a petition was submitted and adopted by the society, praying the legis¬ lature of New York to prohibit the exportation of slaves. It commenced as follows: “Your memorialists, being deeply affected by the situation of those who, although free by the la ws of God , are held in slavery by the laws of this state, view with pain and regret the additional miseries which these un¬ happy people experience from the practice of exporting them like cattle to the West Indies and the Southern States.” This petition was drafted and headed by the president, John Jay, and also signed by Robert R. Livingston, chancellor, and Alexander Hamilton, and the clergy of the city of New York.

TO

THE HONORABLE MEMBERS OP THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS,

ItKlUmSKNTATlYES OF THE THI15TEEN UNITED AMERICAN COLONIES.*

Mucii-iionored Gentlemen :

As God, Hie grout Father of the universe, has made you the fathers of these colonics, — and in answer to the prayers of his people given you coun¬ sel, and that wisdom and integrity in the .exertion of which you have been such great and extensive blessings, end obtained the approbation and ap¬ plause of your constituents and the respect and veneration of the nations in whose sight you have acted in the important, noble struggle for liberty,— we naturally look to you in behalf of more than half a million of persons in these colonics, who are under such a degree of oppression and tyranny as to be wholly deprived of all civil and personal liberty, to which they have ns good a right as any of their follow-men, and are reduced to the most abject state of bondage and shivery without, any just cause.

We have particular encouragement thus to apply to you, since you have had the honor and happiness of leading these colonies to resolve to stop the slave trade, and to buy no more slaves imported from Africa. We have the satisfaction of the best assurances that you .have done this not merely from political reasons, hut from a conviction of the unrighteousness and cruelty of that trade, and a regard to justice and benevolence, — deeply sensible of the inconsistence of promoting the slavery of the Africans, at the same time we are asserting our own civil liberty at. the risk of our fortunes and lives. This leaves in our minds no doubt of your being sensible of the equal unright¬ eousness and oppression, as well as inconsistence with ourselves, in holding so many hundreds of thousands of blacks in slavery, who have an equal right to freedom with ourselves, while wo are maintaining this struggle for our own and our children’s liberty'; and a hope and confidence that the cries and tears of these oppressed will he regarded by you, and that your Avisdom and

* The reader is desired to observe that the first edition of this Dialogue Ava.s published early in the year 177b, before the declaration of our indegf ndenec.

Dedication

the great influence you have in these colonies will be so properly and effec¬ tually exerted as to bring about a total abolition of slavery, in such a manner as shall greatly promote the happiness of those oppressed strangers and the best interest of the public.

There are many difficulties and obstacles, we arc sensible, in the way of this good work; but when the propriety, importance, and necessity of it come into view, we think ourselves warranted to address you in the words spoken to Ezra on an occasion not wholly dissimilar: “ Arise, for this matter bclongcth unto you; we also will be with you: be of good courage and do it.”

The righteous and merciful Governor of the world has given the greatest encouragement to go on, and thoroughly execute judgment, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, both in his word, and in the won¬ derful things he has done for us since we have begun to reform this public iniquity. Rut, if we stop here, what will be the consequence ?

Appendix

Tiie proposal of assisting the Machs among us to go and make a settle¬ ment in Africa, which has been mentioned in the preceding discourse, I have thought to be of such importance as to require a more particular explanation to l)e laid before the public, with the reasons for it, for their consideration; hoping that, if it be generally approved, it will excite those united, generous exertions which are necessary in order to effect it.

There arc a. considerable number of free blacks in New England and in other parts of the United States, some of whom are industrious and of a good moral character, and some of them appear to be truly pious, who are desirous to remove to Africa and settle there. They who are religious would he glad to unite as Christian brethren, and move to Africa, having one instructor or more, and cultivate the land which they may obtain there, and maintain the practice of Christianity in the sight of tlicir now heathen breth¬ ren, and endeavor to instruct and civilize them, and spread the knowledge of the gospel among them.

In order to effect tills in the best manner, a vessel must be procured, and proper sailors provided to go to Africa, with a number of persons, both white and black', perhaps, who shall be thought equal to the business, to search that country, and find a place where a settlement may be made with the consent of the inhabitants there ; the land being given by them, or purchased of them, and so as best to answer the ends proposed. If such a place can be found, as no doubt it may, they must return, and the blacks must be collected who are willing to go and settle there, and form themselves into a civil society, by agreeing in a constitution and a code of laws, by which they will be regulated.

And they must be furnished with every thing necessary and proper to transport and settle them there in a safe and. comfortable manner; with shipping and provisions, till they can procure them in Africa by their own labor; and with instruments and utensils necessary to cultivate the land, build houses, etc., and have all the protection and assistance they will need, while settling and when settled there. And, if necessary, a number of white people must go with them ; one or more to superintend their affairs, and others to survey and lay out their lands, build mills and houses, etc. But these must not think of settling there for life ; and the blacks are to bo left to themselves when they shall be able to conduct their own affairs, and need no further assistance, and be left a free, independent people.

This appears to he the best and only plan to put the blacks among us in the most agreeable situation for themselves, and to render them most useful to their brethren in Africa, by civilizing them, and teaching them how to cultivate their lauds, and spreading the knowledge of the Christian religion among them. Tin' whites are so habituated, by education and custom, to look upon and treat, the blacks as an inferior class of beings, and they arc sunk so low by their situation and the treatment they receive from us, that

APPENDIX.

they Dover enn be raised to an equality with the whites, and enjoy all the liberty and rights to which they have u just claim ; or have all the encourage¬ ments and motives to make improvements of every kind, which are desirable. But if they were removed to Africa this evil would cease, and they would enjoy all desirable equality and liberty, and live in a climate which is pecu¬ liarly suited to their constitution. And they would be under advantages to set an example of industry, and the best manner of cultivating the land, of civil life, of morality and religion, which would te.nd to gain the attention of the inhabitants of that country, and persuade them to receive instruction and embrace the gospel.

These United States are able to be at the expense of prosecuting such a plan, of which these hints are some of the outlines. And is not this the best way that can be taken to compensate the blacks, both in America and Africa, for the injuries they have received by the slave trade and slavery, and that which righteousness and benevolence must dictate ? And even selfishness will be pleased with such a plan as this, and excite to exertions to carry it into elfect, when the advantages of it to the public and to individuals are well considered and realized. This will gradually draw off all the blacks in New England, and even in the Middle and Southern States, as fast as they can be set free, by which this nation will be delivered from that which, in the view of every discerning man, is a great calamity, and inconsistent with the good of society, and is now really a great injury to most of the white in¬ habitants, especially in the Southern States.

And by the increase and flourishing of such a plantation of free people in Africa, where all the tropical fruits and productions and the articles which we fetch from the West Indies may be raised in great abundance, by proper cultivation, and many other useful things procured, a commerce may take place and be maintained between those settlements and the United States of America, which will be of very great and increasing advantage to both.

And this will have the greatest tendency wholly to abolish the abominable trade in human flesh, and will certainly eflcct it, if all other attempts prove unsuccessful.

That such a. plan is practicable, is evident from the experiment which has lately been made in forming a settlement of blacks at Sierra Leone. Above a thousand blacks were transported from Nova Scotia to that place last year, who, by the assistance of a small number of whites and supplies from Eng¬ land, have formed a town and plantation, which, by the latest accounts, is now in a flourishing condition, the inhabitants living in peace and amity with the neighboring nations, and with a promising prospect of being a great ad¬ vantage to them, by teaching them to cultivate tlnur hinds and civilizing them, and showing them the advantages of peace and of industry, and trade in the productions of their country, and spreading the knowledge of Chris¬ tianity among them. This will gradually put an end to the slave trade and to slavery in that part of the continent. And from this settlement there is a rational prospect of a commerce in the productions of that climate with Britain, which will be so profitable as more than to compensate the latter for all the expense of forming and carrying it on, and will be greatly advan¬ tageous to both nations.

There is reason to believe that a settlement may ho made by the blacks now in the United States in some part, of Africa, either on the River Sierra Leone or in some other place, which will be as advantageous to those who shall settle there and t.o the adjacent, nations as this which has been men¬ tioned, and with much loss expense, and wlijch will he a greater benefit to this nation than that may be to Britain.

Are there not, then, motives sufficient to induce the legislature of this nation to enter upon and prosecute this design, to form a plan and execute it, as wisdom shall direct? And is there not reason to think that it; would meet

APPENDIX.

with general approbation? But, if this cannot bo, may not this bo effected by the societies in those states who arc formed with a design to promote the best good of the Africans? Would not this bo answering the end of their institution in the best; way that can be devised, and in imitation of that which lias been formed in Great Britain for the same purpose ?

Is there not reason to believe that, if such a plan was well digested and properly laid before the public, and urged, wiili the reasons which offer, and a company or committee formed to conduct the affair, there might be a sum collected sufficient to carry it into effect?

The general court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts did, some time ago, make a resolve to the following purpose: That when a place can be found in Africa where the blacks in that state may settle to their advantage, they would furnish them with shipping and provisions sufficient to transport them there, and with arms sufficient to defend them, and farming utensils suf¬ ficient to cultivate their lands. If all the states in the Union, or most of them, would take the same measure, such a design might be soon and easily carried into execution. Nothing appears to be wanting but a proper, most reasonable zeal in so good a cause.

When the public or any part of the community are taking those measures, or going into that practice, which may issue in ruin, and most certainly will, unless reformed, he who fore¬ sees the approaching evil cannot act a benevolent or faithful part unless he gives warning of the danger, and does his utmost to reform and save his fellow-citizens, even though he should hereby incur the displeasure and resentment of a num¬ ber of individuals. In this view, Crito asks the candid atten¬ tion of the public to what he has to say on the following interesting and important subject.

Some, perhaps, will not choose to read any further, but drop this paper with a degree of uneasy disgust, when they arc told the subject to which their attention is asked is the African slave trade, which has been practised, and in which numbers in these United States are now actually engaged. So much has been published within a few years past on this subject, describing the fertile country of Africa, and the ease and happiness which the natives of that land enjoy, and might enjoy to a much greater degree, were it not for their own igno¬ rance and folly, and the unhappy influence which the Europe¬ ans and Americans have had among them, inducing them to make war upon each other, and by various methods to capti¬ vate and kidnap their brethren and neighbors, and sell them into the most abject and perpetual slavery, — and at the same time giving a well-authenticated history of this commerce in the human species, pointing out the injustice, inhumanity, and barbarous cruelty of this trade, from beginning to end, until the poor Africans are fixed in a state of the most cruel bondage, in which, without hope, they linger out a wretched life, and then leave their posterity, if they are so unhappy as to have any, in the same miserable state, — so much has been lately pub¬ lished, I say, on these subjects, that it is needless particularly to discuss them here. It is sutlicient to refer the inquisitive to

* Originally published in the Providence Gazette and Country Journal.—E d.

vol. ii. 52 the following books, viz., several Tracts, collected and pub lished by the late Anthony Benezet;, o(' ‘Philadelphia; “ A ’Dia¬ logue concerning the Slavery of the Africans,” lately reprinted at New York by order of the society there for promoting the manumission of slaves, and protecting such of them as have been, or may be, liberated; and especially “ An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, particularly the Africans,” by Thomas Clarkson, which was honored with the first prize in the University of Cambridge for the year 178*3. If the African slave trade, and the consequent slavery of the negroes in the West Indies and in the United States of America, be an open and gross violation of the rights of man¬ kind, a most unrighteous, inhuman, and cruel practice, which has been the occasion of the death of millions, and of violently forcing millions of others from their dear, native country, and their most tender and desirable connections, and of bringing them to a land of slavery, where they have not a friend to pity and relieve them, but are doomed to cruel bondage, with¬ out hope of redress, till kind death shall release them, as is represented, and seems to be abundantly proved, in the above-mentioned publications and many others, a conviction of which is fast spreading among all ranks of men in Europe and Amer¬ ica, then the following terrible consequence, which may well make all shudder and tremble who realize it, forces itself upon rs, viz., all who have had any hand in this iniquitous busi¬ ness, whether more directly or indirectly, have used their in¬ fluence to promote it, or have consented to it, or even connived at it, and have not opposed it by all proper exertions of which they have been capable, — all these are, in a greater or less degree, chargeable with the injuries and miseries which mil¬ lions have suffered, and are suffering, in consequence of this trade, and arc guilty of the blood of millions who have lost their lives by this traffic of the human species. Not only the '’■merchants who have been engaged in this trade, and for the sake of gain have sacrificed the liberty and happiness, yea, the lives of millions of their fellow-men, and the captains and men who have been tempted by the love of money to engage in this cruel work, to buy, and sell, and butcher men, and the slaveholders of every description, are guilty of shedding rivers ot blood, but all the legislatures who have authorized, encour¬ aged, or even neglected to suppress it to the utmost of their power, and all the individuals in private stations who have in any way aided in this business, consented to it, or have not opposed it to the utmost of their ability, have a share in this guilt. It is, therefore, become a national sin, and a sin of the first magnitude — a sin which righteous Heaven has never suf-

THE SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVERY.

fered to pass unpunished in this world. For the tmtli of this assertion we limy appeal to history, both sacred and profane.

We will leave the inhabitants of Britain and other European , nations who have been, and still are, engaged in the slave trade, to answer for themselves, and consider this subject as it more immediately concerns the United Slates of America.

Hundreds of thousands of slaves have been imported into these states, many thousands are now in slavery here, and many more thousands have been brought from Africa by the inhabitants of these states, and sold in the West Indies, where slavery is attended with cruelty and horror beyond descrip¬ tion. And who can reckon up the numbers who have lost their lives and been really murdered by this trade, or have a full conception of the sufferings and distresses of body and mind which have been the attendants and elfects of it? All this blood which has been shed constantly cries to Heaven; and ail the bitter sighs, and groans, and tears of these injured, distressed, helpless poor have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts, and are calling and waiting for the day of vengeance. The inhabitants of Rhode Island, especially those of Newport, have had by far the greater share in this traffic of all. these United States. This trade in the human species has-been the first wheel of commerce in Newport, on which every other movement in business has chiefly depended. That town has been built up, and flourished in times past, at the expense of the blood, the liberty, and happiness of the poor Africans ; and the inhabitants have lived on this, and by it have gotten most of their wealth and riches. If a bitter wot is pronounced on “ him. who buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong,” (Jcr. xxii. UJ.) “to him who buildeth a town by blood, and established! a city by iniquity/' (Hab. ii. 12,) “ to the bloody city,” (Ezek. xxiv. 0,) what a heavy, dread¬ ful woe hangs over the heads of all those whose hands are defiled by the blood of the Africans, especially the inhabitants of that state, and of that town, who have had a distinguished share in this unrighteous, bloody commerce! All this and more follows as a necessary consequence, which it is pre¬ sumed none will dispute, on supposition the before-mentioned publications give, in any measure, a just representation of the slave trade and the consequent slavery of the Africans, and unless thousands and millions of all ranks, and of the most disinterested, and many of them men of the best, abilities and character for knowledge, uprightness, and benevolence, and who are under the greatest advantages to know the truth and judge right of this matter, both in Europe and America,-— unless all those are grossly deluded.