Letters on American slavery, addressed to Mr. Thomas Rankin, merchant at Middlebrook, Augusta County, Va

Preface

~*Fhe Ifellowing Letters were originally designed for the benefit of the Brother to whom they were addressed. For his convenience they were inserted in the Castigator, and by that means were first brought to public view.

The solicitations of a few friends, in connection with the desire of aiding and encouraging every effort for the liberation of the enslaved and degraded Africans, were the means of bringing them before the public a second time, and in another form.

They have received several alterations and additions. And some efforts have been made to render the work more complete than it was in its original form ; but still, it is far from possessing that excellence of composition which the importance of its subject requires. Therefore, it is desired that its imperfections may be attributed to the weakness of its author, and not to that of the cause it is intended to support.

But little can reasonably be hoped in relation iv.

to the success of this work, when it is considered that, in addition to the difficulties arising from its own imperfections, it must bear the charge of fanaticism, and contend with prejudices that have been rapidly increasing forages. In opposition to it, more than ten thousand envenomed tongues, and pens dipt in the gall of unrelenting avarice, may be expected to plead the cause of injustice.

These difficulties, however, should be considered as so many arguments in favor of the work. If but a little good can be done, it is the more necessary that that little should be done. That involuntary slavery is a very dangerous evil, and that our nation is involved in it, none can, with truth, deny. And that the safety of our government, and the happiness of its subjects depend upon the extermination of this evil, must be obvious to every enlightened mind. Nor is it less evident, that it is the duty of every citizen, according to his station, talents and opportunity, to use suitable exertions for the abolition of an evil which is pregnant with the growing principles of ruin. Surely, no station should be unimproved, no talent, however small, should be buried ; nor should any opportunity of doing good be lost when the safety of a vast nation, and the happiness of millions of the human family, demand prompt and powerful exertions. Every thing that can be done, either by fair discussion, or by any other lawful means?

ought to be done, and done speedily, in order to avert the hastening ruin that must otherwise soon overtake us !

Let all the friends of justice and suffering humanity, do what little they can, in their several circles, and according to their various stations, capacities and opportunities ; and all their little streams of exertion will, in process of time, flow together, and constitute a mighty river that shall sweep away the yoke of oppression, and purge our nation from the abominations of slavery.

To the Reader :

The present edition of the Rev. Mr. Rankin's valuable letters, which is now reprinted at the request of the Providence Anti- Slavery Society, owes its publication to the following circumstance. During the last summer a clergyman of Massachusetts who had been travelling in the Western States, disclosed to me some most appalling facts concerning the treatment to which our colored brethren are frequently subjected, and to which they are always exposed, in the Slaveholding States, and that a detail of some of these enormities might be found in a little book, which he had seen at Maysville. I accordingly directed a letter to the Rev. Dyer Burgess of Cincinnati, request-

VI.

hig him to procure, if possible, a copy of the work. In a few weeks a copy was received from him, for which, I beg leave, though late, thus publicly to return my most grateful acknowledgements, not only to the donor, but to the author, of the book, who I have understood from good authority, has cheerfully consented to its republication. It is now most affectionately commended to the attentive perusal of all persons into whose hands it may fall. Let such recollect that slavery all over the world and especially in the United States is, in the indignant language of Wilberforce, u the full measure of pure, unsophisticated wickedness ; and scorning all competition or comparison, it stands without a rival in the secure, undisputed possession of its detestable pre-eminence." In the language of O'Connell, " of all men living an American slaveholder is the most despicable; he is a political hypocrite of the very worst description. 99 Finally, let all who doubt this, remember the emphatic language of the Rev. Samuel J. Mills : u Facts will always produce an effect, at least on pious minds. You can easily possess yourself oifacts^ the bare recital of which will make the heart bleed. These facts must be proclaimed in the ears of the people, that they may be induced to send the hope of the gospel to the expiring and despairing slave, as well as to the debased and miserable free black." JOSHUA COFFIN,

LETTER t

My Dear Brother,

I received yours of the 2d December, with mingled sensations of pleasure and pain ; it gave me pleasure to hear of your health, and pain to hear of your purchasing slaves. I consider involuntary slavery, a never failing fountain of the grossest immorality, and one of the deepest sources of human misery ; it hangs like the mantle of night over our republic, and shrouds its rising glories. I sincerely pity the man who tinges his hand in the unhallowed thing that is fraught with the tears, and sweat, and groans, and blood of hapless millions of innocent, unoffending people.

A mistaken brother, who has manifested to me a kind and generous heart, claims my strongest sympathies. When I see him involved in what is both sinful and dangerous, shall I not strive to liberate him? Does he wander from the paths of rectitude, and shall not fraternal affection pursue, and call him from the verge of ruin, and the unperceived precipice of wo, to

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the fair and pleasant walks of piety and peace ? Shall I suffer sin upon my brother ? No, his kindness to me forbids it, fraternal love forbids it, and what is still more to be regarded, the law of God forbids it. Though he has wandered for the moment, may I riot hope to show him his error, and restrain his wanderings ?

Under such views and feelings, I have resolved to address you in a series of letters, on the injustice of enslaving the Africans. This I hope you will receive as an expression of fraternal affection, as well as of gratitude to you for former favors. I entreat you to give me that candid attention which the fondness of a brother solicits, and the importance of the subject demands. In the commencement I think it proper to apprize you that several things, connected with the present condition of the Africans, tend to bias the mind against them, and consequently incapacitate it for an impartial decision with respect to their rights.

L Their color is very different from our own. This leads many to conclude that Heaven has expressly marked them out for servitude ; and when the mind once settles upon such a conclusion, it is completely fortified against the strongest arguments that reason can suggest, or the mind of man invent. In order to save you from a conclusion, so false and unreasonable, let me invite your attention to the book of inspirarion ; there you will find that the blackness of the African is not the horrible mark of Cain, nor the direful effects of Noah's curse, but the mark of a scorching sun. i Look not upon me because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me : my mother's children were angry with me ; the}) made me the keeper of the vineyards' Canticles i. 6. In this passage the Church of Christ evident-

LETTER f.

ly speaks of herself under the figure of an Ethiopian, on whom the sun had looked with such intensity as changed his color, and so rendered him the object of hatred to the rest of mankind, who with himself originally sprang from the same mother, and- were in reality his brethren. The text may be thus paraphrased. Look not upon me (with indignation) because I am black ; because the sun hath looked upon me (so as to make me black) my mothers children were- angry with me. This conveys evidently the true meaning of the passage, and shows that the Divine Spirit by whom it was dictated, assumed it as a correct principle, that the blackness of the Ethiopian's skin is caused by the sun. The word Ethiopian, which is frequently found in Scripture, denotes, according to its derivation, a person whose visage is changed to blackness by burning. The same truth is evident from the face of the world, which exhibits various shades of human color, according to all its variegated climates.

' To prove that color is the effect of climate it is only necessary to attend to certain facts which are notorious to the slightest observation.

'Geographers have divided our earth into five Zones — the Torrid, two temperate and two Frigid Zones. The torrid zone extending 23 1-2 degrees on each side of the equator forms a belt of 47 degrees, running from east to west quite round the globe ; to every part of which the sun is vertical at least once in the year. The ancients supposed that this region was not habitable, in consequence of the intense heat of a vertical sun. In this they were mistaken. It is found supporting, in general, as dense a population as either of the temperate zones, which lie between it and the polar

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circles ; with however this remarkable difference — its inhabitants are black or approaching to black. As this zone in its whole breadth sweeps over the continent of Africa, it embraces most of its inhabitants, who are consequently black or nearly so. As we recede from the equator toward the poles, the complexion of the inhabitants becomes gradually lighter, until in the extremities of the temperate and in the frigid zones, which lie around the poles, they are white.

6 Such is the fact. And this fact alone, were we unable in the slightest degree to account for it, ought to be sufficient to satisfy the honest inquirer after truth, that color is the effect of climate. But the fact may be, we apprehend, in some degree at least, accounted for. Various anatomical experiments prove, beyond all contradiction, that the human skin consists of two lamina or coats, which are in all cases white ; and that the color depends on a coagulated substance, which lies between those coats. The exterior coat being transparent and exceedingly porous permits the sun's rays to act upon the coagulated substance freely ; which, in every instance, if the action be sufficiently protracted, gives a tinge or coloring proportioned to the intensity of the sun's heat.

' To this it may be objected, that the color of the inhabitants of the several countries of our globe is not invariably the same in both parallels. This is admitted ; but the objection when examined, goes to establish our position. It is well known that the intensity of the sun's heat depends much on the nature of the earth's surface. From a smooth, level surface the power of reflection is much greater, than it is on a broken and irregular surface ; and it has long been re-

Letter I

II marked, that the inhabitants of the level sandy countries of Africa are much blacker, than those of the hilly and mountainous parts.

6 And no matter what the original complexion of the emigrants to any country may have been, it is always found to accommodate itself to the hue peculiar to that country or climate. Hence the Jews, who were doubtless originally all of the same complexion, and who never intermarry with the nations among whom they sojourn, are found to be white in Germany and Poland, swarthy in Spain and Portugal, olive in the Barbary States and in Egypt, and black in Hindoostan. And hence a colony of Ethiopians, who settled at Colchis, on the Black Sea two thousand years ago, have now become white, and the Portuguese who settled two hundred years since on the coast of Africa, black.

' But still we are asked, " if color be the effect of climate, why the negroes born in the United States are not white ? " We answer, various reasons may be given. Though we are in a great measure ignorant of the economy of nature, yet we see that the complexion as well as the form of the body is propagated from father to son, and that any change which takes place in either form or complexion must be effected by the tardy, but certain operation of natural causes. We know also that it is an established law of nature that it is much easier to communicate a stain, than to purge it away. Hence we frequently see a swarthy hue contracted by boatsmen and sailors in a few months, which it requires years to remove.

i It should moreover be recollected, that ours is not the country of white men naturally — and that as has already been remarked, the color natural to our climate

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will be swarthy, probably very nearly that of the Span* iards who live in the same parallels. Are we then to be surprised that the African, who, under a tropical sun bears the accumulated stain of a thousand generations, is not, in our climate, bleached white in two or three ? '

Thus you see that reason and observation unite in confirming the truth of revelation with regard to the color of the Africans. Hence we conclude, with safety, that a black skin is no peculiar mark of heaven's displeasure, nor any evidence that he, who wears it, is doomed by the Creator to endless servitude. The Africans are the children of our common mother : let us not be angry with them because the sun hath looked upon them ; the change of complexion ought never to break the ties of humanity. God — 1 hath made of one blood all nations of men.' Whenever we find a man, let us treat him as a brother without regard to his color ; let our kindness sooth his sorrows and cheer his heart.

II. The Africans are deeply degraded. The hand of oppression has pressed them down from the rank of men to that of beasts, they are bought and sold, and driven from place to place like mere animal herds — This fetters the mind, and prevents that expansion of soul which dignifies man, and ornaments civilized life. They seldom have any opportunities of improvements, any encouragement for the efforts of genius, or any inducements to enter the field of science — Hence, in many instances, the strongest powers of mind remain unfolded, over them oppression draws her sable mantle, on them she lays her cruel hand, and forbids them ever to rise. Under such circumstances they sink into

LETTER I.

the grossest ignorance, and appear to be very destitute of energetic powers of mind. This leads many to conclude that they are naturally inferior to the rest of mankind in respect to strength of mind, and that the Creator has thus marked them out for servitude. But how false^ how ungenerous, how unreasonable is such a conclusion ! What people, in similar circumstances, have ever given stronger marks of genius than are exhibited by the enslaved Africans in the United States ? A better exhibition of mental capacity than they give, ought not to be expected from a people long enslaved, and sorely oppressed. Under such oppression, powers, of mind, merely ordinary, cannot unfold ; the gloomy prospect of perpetual bondage hovers continually around, and cuts off every enterprise which might elicit the native energies of the soul, or give occasion for the vigorous efforts of genius — Hence talents, that, under other circumstances, would appear to very good advantage, are totally obscured. And, even after a people, that have been long enslaved, are emancipated, it will require them to pass through several generations in order to regain their original strength of mind, and give the world a fair exhibition of the powers they really possess. Under this view of our subject, it is easy to account for the apparent want of talent in our Africans ; it is owing, totally owing to the cruel hand of oppression. There is but one other source from which we suppose it will be pretended it has originated ; which is that of a different organization from the rest of mankind. But such organization would be universal in its effects, and thus prohibit a single instance of prodigious genius ; for if it admit of one, it may on the same principles admit of a thousand. Among the B

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Africans there are many who possess the strongest powers of mind ; this I apprehend none that are well informed will deny.

In a neighboring State lives an African boy, who, while he was a slave, and before he arrived to twenty years of age, by his own exertions, without the benefit of a school, save for the space of two weeks, acquired the science of Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Geography, and made some advances in Astronomy. Would Sir Isaac Newton have done more, had he been a slave ? While other slaves spent in idleness the few leisure moments allowed them, this youth was engaged in acquiring useful knowledge, and he had what is generally called a humane master, who, perhaps, gave him some instruction. Would not this youth, under other circumstances, have dazzled the eyes of the civilized world by the brilliant display of powerful intellect ? Not the mountain weight of oppression could wholly suppress his gigantic power — in vain slavery with her sable mantle attempts to shroud his luminous mind — it breaks through the darkest shades — its noble energies rise beneath the ponderous mass, scan the power of numbers, grasp the circumference of the earth, and stretch a line to the stars. Such an instance of remarkable genius among the Africans, shows that the organization of their mental powers is equal to that of the rest of mankind. And how can it be otherwise, seeing all mankind originally sprang from one common parent, and consequently possess precisely the same nature ?

III. In connexion with the bias of mind which may arise against the Africans in consequence of their color and degradation, I wish to mention another which is

LETTER I.

more powerful in its nature, and more injurious in its effects ; it is that which arises from love of gain, and has a most blinding influence upon the mind — with thousands it is heavier than sand, while the strongest arguments are lighter than feathers. The love of gain is the polluted fountain whence issue all the dreadful evils that pervade our world — it gives energy to the tyrant's sword, it drenches the earth with blood, and binds whole nations in chains — from it every argument is drawn in favor of cruel injustice, it is the nauseous source of every hateful crime. The love of gain first introduced slavery into the world, and has been its constant support in every age. It was the love of gain that first enslaved the African race, and it now invents every possible argument against their emancipation. This is equally manifested in the social circle, and on the legislative floor — individuals and states will argue in favor of slavery in proportion as they view their interest at stake. And no doubt they often argue according to what they suppose to be right; though naturally honest as other men, they are pressed to the side of injustice by the weight of interest. And thus we often see the love of gain weighing down the finest feelings of the soul, blunting the most acute powers of perception, crushing the strongest faculty of judgment, breaking the most powerful ties of humanity, falling upon the unhappy African, and binding him in chains of perpetual bondage ! When once it takes full possession of the heart, the strongest faculties yield to its influence — it triumphs alike over the polished statesman, the courageous general, the accomplished gentleman, and the humble peasant — Its principle power lies in concealment ; it operates under a thousand

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different masks : unperceived, it obtrudes itself upon every order, it pervades the bar, finds its way to the hearts of judge and jury, it even enters the sanctuary and climbs the altar. The best of men are liable to yield too far to the love of gain, especially when large sacrifices must attend a right decision. And you, my dear brother, have considerable at stake ; you must wade through much loss, if you would come to a right conclusion, and obey the imperious voice of justice — But remember, that loss will be temporal, and from it may spring eternal gain. Therefore it is better to lose for the sake of doing justice, than to gain by oppression. Hence I intreat you let temporal interest have no influence upon your mind, divest yourself of every prejudice, throw open all the faculties of the soul for a fair and full investigation of the subject under consideration, and let an ardent desire to know the very truth be the governing principle, and you shall not wander long in the maze of error, nor stray far from the path of truth. Give me, I pray you, a candid eaE while I plead with you for a poor, dejected, and despised people, who dare not plead for themselves, and for whom, alas ! too few will either lift the tongue or move a pen. Let not their color, their degradation, nor the predominating principle of self-interest bias your mind against them. Let their miseries excite your pity, and incline you to justice.

In my next I will endeavor to prove from the nature of the Africans that they were not created for slavery.

vottr Brother.

LETTER II. Loving Brother

I hope, by this time, your mind is divested of every prejudice against the Africans, and that you have opened a candid ear to their plea for liberty. Inspired by this hope I now proceed, according to promise made in my last, to prove from the nature of the Africans, that they were not created for slavery.

The Creator is infinitely wise, and consequently must have created every being in his universe for occupying some particular station in the scale of created existence — To suppose him to create without design, is to suppose him unwise. Again, if he has created every being to occupy a particular station in the scale of existence, he must have adapted the nature of every being to the station for which it was intended. To create for a particular purpose, and not adapt the thing created to that purpose, would argue the- greatest want of wisdom. Henee we conclude that if the creator formed the Africans for slavery, he has. suited their nature to the design of their creation, and that they are incapacitated for freedom. This would be according to the whole analogy of creation, in which every creature has a nature suited to the station for which it was intended. But we find that the Africans are rational creatures, are of the human species, possess all the original properties of human nature, and consequently are capacitated for freedom ; and such capacity shows the design of their creation. It is most absurd to imagine that beings created with capacity for liberty were designed for bondage.

LETTERS ON SLAVERY.

Did the capacity for freedom stand alone, it might itself be considered an argument sufficient to establish our point ; but it stands not alone ; it combines with it all the original properties of human nature— with it all these unite as so many heralds, sent by the Almighty to declare that man never was formed for involuntary slavery. Every man, who possesses all the original properties of humanity, desires to obtain knowledge, wealth, reputation, liberty, and a vast variety of other objects which are necessary to complete his happiness. Now who does not see how inconsistent slavery is with the acquirement and enjoyment of all these objects of desire, and how directly it is opposed to the happiness of man ? It obstructs the natural channels in which all his passions were designed to flow, contracts the whole sphere of mental operation, and offers violence to the strongest propensities of his nature. Does he desire to enter the delightful paths of science, and store his mind with such knowledge as is calculated to expand the noble powers of the soul, and raise man to the dignified station for which he was designed ? This is forbidden, an indignant master frowns upon hirri; and drives him back into the shades of ignorance and hopeless toil. Does he wish to acquire such property as may be necessary to render him comfortable in his passage through life? Even this is denied him, he is doomed to labor all his days in heaping up treasure for another ; and to death, fraught with terrors as it is, he must look for deliverance, and to the gloomy grave he must go as his only asylum from his sufferings and toils. Does he incline to move in the honorable and useful spheres of civil society ? It is considered a crime for him to aspire above the rank of the grovel-

LETTER II.

ling beast : he must content himself with being bought, and sold, and driven in chains from State to State, as a capricious avarice may dictate. Does he desire to enter the conjugal state, and partake of hymenial enjoyment ? The pleasure of any unfeeling master may forbid the object of his choice, and cause him to languish beneath the ravages of disappointed affection. Or is he a tender hearted husband ? He must see the object of his warmest affection bleeding beneath the torturing lash — her cries and her tears penetrate the inmost recesses of his heart, and seem ready to burst the tender fibres that twine around the seat of life ; floods of tenderness roll from his eyes, but his sympathies connot stay the cruel hand of the vengeful tyrant, nor heal the wounds inflicted by his malice. He dare not even attempt to console her grief by the language of tenderness, nor to wipe away her tears with the soft hand of compassion. I cannot conceive how flesh and blood can bear so much ! You, brother, once sustained the relation of husband, and doubtless possessed all the tenderness of that endearing relation, and though the object of your warmest embraces now lies cold and silent in the grave, yet her very dust is dear to you, and her memory awakes the liveliest emotions in your heart ; and how dreadful was the hour of final separation, when cruel death closed her youthful eyes that beamed upon you with such innocence and love as banished the sorrows and cares of life ! And how cruel was that shroud which enclosed from your sight the beauteous form that so often enraptured your heart !

Tell me, dear brother, how could you have endured to see her tender frame bleed beneath the lacerating whip? Could you have witnessed her innocent tears and cries, without being overwhelmed with the mingled floods of compassion, resentment and grief? Little less near to you is the dear little daughter, and only child whom you cherish with almost unequealled tenderness! How could you bear to see her tender skin cruelly torn by the torturing lash of a wicked master, whose heart by cruel indulgence has become totally estranged from the feelings of compassion ? Would not such a scene shock the whole current of your nature, and turn all the streams of tenderness into the channel of direful revenge, which even the fear of a most terrible death could scarcely restrain ? Slavery is often clothed with such scenes of cruelty and blood, and often sports with every thing that is dear to man ! — it breaks the most tender relations of life. Tell me not that the Africans are destitute of the fine feelings of tenderness towards their wives and children, which are manifested by the rest of mankind. The flood of grief that rolls over the sable and wo- worn cheek, when a wife or a child is snatched from the embraces of the fond husband or parent, speaks the passions of the soul in a language too strong to be resisted by any thing less than implacable prejudice ! Slavery interferes with all the social and relative duties, and what is still a more serious evil, it interferes with the divine prerogative over man, and robs the Almighty of the service which is due to him from the creatures of his power.

Finally, every man desires to be free, and this desire the Creator himself has implanted in the bosoms of all our race, and is certainly a conclusive proof that all were designed for freedom ; else man was created for disappointment and misery. All the feelings of humanity are strongly opposed to being enslaved, and

LETTER II.

nothing but the strong arm of power can make man submit to the yoke of bondage. What, my brother, would be more distressing to you, than to have the yoke of slavery put upon your neck and that of your little daughter, that you might, with her, wear out your life in laboring for the wealth and ease of one who perhaps would not regard a single tender feeling of your nature ? And though you think your slaves are in very comfortable circumstances, and I have no doubt but you treat them as kindly as is compatible with their present station, yet were you and your little daughter in the very same circumstances in which they are now placed, I think I would cheerfully part with all I possess to purchase your freedom, if nothing less would procure it ; and if I should not, I apprehend you would think me an ungenerous and cruel brother. How then can you withhold from others what is so dear to yourself? The Africans possess all the original properties of humanity, and were, as we have fairly proven from their nature, created for freedom, and therefore to enslave them is both unjust and cruel.