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 VIEWS or SLAVERY, 
 
 1IN tTS EFFECTS (|.\ Till" 
 
 WEALTH, POPULATION, AND CHARACTER 
 
 ©if sr A^ncDssrSo 
 
 BY WILLIAM JACKSON, 
 
 Of Chester Co., Pennsylvania. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PUBLISHED BY THE JUNIOR ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETV. 
 
 MERKIHEW AND GUNN, PRINTERS, 
 
 No. 7 Carter's Alley. 
 1838. 
 

 V S -Y z 
 
 
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 - 
 
 VIEWS Or 8LATERY, iV < . 
 
 The influence of slavery on the human 
 character, is manifestly unfavorable to ha- 
 bits of industry and the acquisition of skill. 
 The slave, devoid of the stimulus to ex- 
 ertion arising from the hope of reward, 
 will naturally be disposed to indulge his 
 love of ease. When compelled to labor, 
 he will move reluctantly, and with less 
 vigor and energy than he who is in- 
 spired by a consciousness of freedom, 
 and the expectation of reward. Hence 
 an enervating lethargy is spread over all 
 his movements, and his habitual exer- 
 tions are much less effective than those 
 of the free laborer. He also works with 
 less skill ; for having but little induce- 
 ment to increase the produce of his la- 
 bor, he does not strive equally to im- 
 prove himseif, and become dexterous in 
 the performance of manual operations. 
 The masters, too, being generally unac- 
 customed to labor, and educated without 
 that intimate acquaintance with the ma- 
 nual operations of business, which is ne- 
 cessary to qualify them for planning and 
 directing such operations to the best ad- 
 vantage, are unable to supply the de- 
 fects of their operatives, and consequent- 
 ly the labor of the slaves is not only less 
 in effective power than that of freemen, 
 but it is also directed with less skill. The 
 system of slavery is also admirably adapt- 
 ed to foster in the breast of the master, 
 and others who aspire to an equality 
 with him, a feeling of contempt for, and 
 aversion to, labor, as well as to encou- 
 rage careless waste and extravagance 
 in the families of the masters. They 
 live as it were from hand to mouth ; 
 plentifully, while fertile land is abundant 
 in proportion to their numbers ; but as 
 this becomes exhausted in its fertility, or 
 occupied by increasing multitudes, they 
 
 are necessitated in some measure to fore- 
 go their accustomed enjoyments, 
 
 From the foregoing circumstances, il 
 
 necessarily follows that the accumula- 
 tion of capital goes on slowly m a slave 
 
 district. There is both an inability and 
 an indisposition to vest much stock in 
 facilitating future productions. Hut little 
 is laid out in improvements upon the 
 land, or in providing tools ami machinery 
 to increase the productive power of h 
 bor. Hence, in process of time, their re- 
 sources are gradually, but certainly dried 
 up; the land becomes poor, theirdwellin^s 
 go to decay, and the whole country exhi- 
 bits the aspect of approaching desolation. 
 In consequence of the want of energy 
 and skill in the laborers, of business 
 habits and operative knowledge in the 
 masters, and of the advantages which 
 the judicious application of capital gives 
 to production, the annual produce of the 
 land and labor of a slaveholding district, 
 is vastly less in quantity than what is 
 common in others possessing equal ad- 
 vantages by nature, where free labor is 
 employed. If to this we add the loss of 
 labor which the nation suffers from the 
 disgrace which is attached to the pursuits 
 of industry, we may have an idea of 
 the immense inferiority of a slavehold- 
 ing district in the command which the 
 people collectively possess over the neces- 
 saries and comforts of life. And although 
 the allowance of the slaves may be reduced 
 even lower than is consistent with com- 
 mon humanity, it is highly probable that, 
 in general, they consume a greater propor- 
 tion of the produce of their labor than 
 usually falls to the lot of the hired labor- 
 er; and it is certain that the utmost that 
 can be wrung from them, is, in general, 
 less than the profits that are derived from 
 
VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 
 
 the employment of hired laborers, where 
 the natural advantages are equally great, 
 and workmen not peculiarly scarce. — 
 This is particularly the case in manufac- 
 tures, where skill and assiduity are ne- 
 cessary to success ; for in them, generally, 
 mere annual power is of comparatively 
 little avail, when contrasted with dex- 
 terity, skill, and the judicious application 
 of capital. Hence it is, that manufac- 
 tures never have, nor never can prosper 
 in a slave district. The few rude articles 
 thai are made by the hands of slaves, 
 cannot stand a competition in the market 
 with those manufactured beyond the in- 
 fluence of slavery, unless they possess 
 some very great advantages in situation 
 or otherwise. Consequently, if a slave 
 district was destitute of commercial in- 
 tercourse with others of a different cha- 
 racter, the people must be poorly accom- 
 modated with the necessaries and com- 
 forts of life. A large proportion of the 
 laborers must be employed in preparing 
 the few rude articles of manufacture that 
 they would be able to procure, and the 
 cultivators of the soil would have to give 
 a large portion of the rude produce of 
 the land for the very imperfect accom- 
 modations which the low state of the 
 arts could furnish. A body of thriving 
 artizans, manufacturers, and merchants, 
 sufficient to form a profitable market for 
 the agriculturists, could not be raised 
 up. The whole value of the annual 
 produce would be comparatively small ; 
 and of course, when the profits of the 
 different kinds of business were equal- 
 ized, they would all be very scanty, and 
 poverty would be the common lot of the 
 inhabitants, with few exceptions. 
 
 Almost the only business that is found 
 to afford a profit when carried on by the 
 slaves, is agriculture ; and even this can- 
 not succeed on an extensive field, except 
 it is favored by nature, either by unusual 
 fertility of soil, or by tl*' nature of its 
 productions. But agriculture cannot be 
 profitable 4 unless there is a good market 
 for its produce ; and such a market can- 
 not originate in a slave district. It is 
 upon the capital, skill, and enterprise of 
 Other countries, that the slaveholder must 
 mainly rely for a market to absorb his 
 surplus produce, and to furnish him with 
 the various manufactured articles he re- 
 
 quires. Upon them, therefore, depends, 
 in a great measure, the ability to obtain 
 the conveniences and comforts of life ; 
 and it is to them that the slaveholder is 
 indebted for the greater part of the value 
 that is attached to his land. Low as the 
 land is rated in the slave states, in pro- 
 portion to its capability of producing, it 
 would certainly be much lower if all 
 commercial intercouse with more wealthy 
 countries was interdicted. 
 
 But the slaveholding agriculturist can- 
 not obtain a foreign market for his pro- 
 duce, unless he can raise such articles as 
 are in extensive demand, and which will 
 at the same time bear the expense of 
 transportation. These properties he- 
 long only, in a very limited degree, to the 
 common articles of food that are pro- 
 duced in temperate climates. These, 
 from their weight and other circum- 
 stances, can never become the staples of 
 a very extensive foreign trade. The 
 quantity of them that can be exported 
 or received by any country of large ex- 
 tent, will always bear a very small pro- 
 portion to that which must be consumed 
 or produced at home; and therefore, they 
 can never regularly supply the export- 
 ing agriculturist with the various things 
 he must necessarily purchase, in order 
 to conform to our ideas of comfortable 
 living. It is for this reason that the 
 raising of these articles can never be 
 sufficiently profitable to encourage and 
 enable the farmers to procure slaves for 
 cultivating the soil, unless it is in limited 
 districts, peculiarly favored by natural 
 fertility. Hence it was that the system 
 of slavery could not take deep root in 
 those parts of our country whose soil 
 and climate were not adapted to the pro- 
 duction of other articles than provisions. 
 The raising of these can never be profit- 
 able on a large space, until an advan- 
 tageous home market is created, for the 
 greater part of the surplus produce of 
 the cultivators ; and this, as we have 
 seen, can never be furnished by the slave 
 system. It was this circumstance, more 
 than anything else, which saved the mid- 
 dle and northern states of this confedera- 
 cy from being deeply infected with the 
 curse of slavery. Though so well 
 adapted to the increase of wealth and pop- 
 ulation, that they have exhibited a pro- 
 
BY WILLIAM JACKSON, 
 
 gress probably unparalleled in the annals 
 of the human race; they could furnish 
 no rude produce for a foreign market 
 that would pay the expense of slave 
 cultivation on a large scale, and thus, 
 fortunately for the present and future 
 generations, the early settlers could not 
 afford to buy slaves in sufficient numbers 
 to make that system a prevailing feature 
 in the constitution of the body politic. 
 It was otherwise in portions of the South- 
 ern States, and in the West Indies. The 
 staple productions of those countries 
 were such as could not be advantageous- 
 ly produced in Europe, and for which 
 there was a great and growing demand. 
 Their cultivation was profitable, and ad- 
 mitted of extension, so as to constitute 
 a greater part of the surplus produce of 
 the planters : and hence the quantity ex- 
 ported was sufficient to purchase most 
 of the manufactured articles they required. 
 This created a great demand for slaves, 
 and at the same time furnished the means 
 of purchasing them ; and as hired labor- 
 ers were scarce, the slave system prevail- 
 ed, and gave a tone to the state of socie- 
 ty peculiarly calculated to discourage the 
 migration of free laborers to those coun- 
 tries, so that the character of the people 
 and the destinies of a large portion of the 
 continent has been moulded in an unfor- 
 tunate manner by these circumstances. 
 
 If the foregoing reasoning is correct, 
 it is evident that the main support and 
 nourishment of the slave system has been 
 an extensive and profitable distant mar- 
 ket for the sugar, cotton, tobacco, &c. 
 of the South. And that if all commer- 
 cial intercourse was suspended, so that 
 the slaveholders had not the opportunity 
 of profiting by the superior industry, 
 skill, and capital of countries less fa- 
 vored by nature than their own, they 
 would soon find the profits of their bu- 
 siness nearly annihilated, and the value 
 of their land depreciated to a mere tri- 
 fle. General poverty would induce or 
 compel them to part with their slaves, 
 and at the same time prepare them for 
 associating with the descendants of Afri- 
 ca on terms approaching to equality. — 
 Thus slavery would probably disappear 
 in a few generations, in spite of the ut- 
 most efforts of its friends to support it, 
 and a general amalgamation of the two 
 
 races would put an end to the prevailing 
 prejudice againsi color. This am 
 malum is a necessary r< suit of the con- 
 tinuance of the Blave -\ item, until il ii 
 removed by the operation of the La* - of 
 nature. Nothing, n is In lieved, can ar- 
 rest its progress but an extermination of 
 one ol the races, or an abandonmi al <>i 
 the system of iniquity. 
 
 INFLUENCE o; BLAVER1 n\ POPULATION. 
 
 The aggregate annual produce of the 
 land and labor of a slave district, is much 
 
 less than is common in others of equal 
 extent and natural advantages, where 
 slavery does not exist; and the system 
 naturally produces a kind of management 
 
 characterized by careless tvastd and ex- 
 travagance. Consequently, such a district 
 will never support as great a population 
 as will naturally grow up under the 
 genial smile of freedom; for the number 
 of people in any given space cannot be 
 permanently greater than what the annual 
 produce will support in the mode required 
 by their existing habits. The increase of 
 capital is also much less rapid in such a 
 district, than in one where freedom pre- 
 vails, (other things being equal;) and con- 
 sequently, the additional numbers that 
 can be supported each year will be less ; 
 so that a slaveholding district will not in- 
 crease in population as rapidly as others, 
 nor can it ever arrive at the same degree 
 of wealth and power that is attainable by 
 those that are so fortunate as to be clear 
 of this withering curse. A strong check 
 to the natural power of increase must, 
 therefore, commence operation at an early 
 period. While fertile land is abundant 
 in proportion to the population, and a 
 profitable market can be found for its 
 staple productions, it is possible that even 
 the wasteful extravagance and want of 
 skill so manifest in the economy of the 
 slave system, may provide for increasing 
 numbers, so as to allow of a rapid increase 
 of population ; and, perhaps, under very 
 favorable circumstances, the whole pow< r 
 of natural increase may be put forth. Hul 
 this state of things cannot be of long du- 
 ration, as the good land will soon become 
 occupied, and its fertility begin to decline. 
 The power of production must, therefore, 
 increase less rapidly, and ere long come to 
 a stand, or commence a retrograde course. 
 
VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 
 
 But the tendency of the people to 
 increase still continues, so that greater 
 numbers will be brought into being than 
 can be supported with the habits that were 
 formed in more plentiful limes. Hence, 
 the rising generation will find insuperable 
 difficulties in the way of obtaining settle- 
 ments at an e:ir!y age,, that will enable 
 them to live comfortably, according to 
 the ideas with which they have been 
 educated. The masters are, therefore, 
 operated upon by powerful motives to 
 avoid the incumbrance of a family: 
 particularly, as pride, prejudice, and cus- 
 tom will not allow them to resort to 
 manual labor of any kind for a support. 
 Many, therefore, will remain unmarried 
 to a late period in life, and some alto- 
 gether ; while others, more enterprising, 
 will emigrate in search of more favorable 
 situations, or to avoid the humiliation of 
 exhibiting their declining fortunes to their 
 old associates. Thus the increase of the 
 masters will be opposed by a constant 
 and powerful check, which will keep the 
 numbers of the race down to that which 
 can be supported in ease, if not in afflu- 
 ence, bv the pittance that can be wrung 
 from the labor of the slaves ; operating 
 under all the disadvantages incident to 
 the declining state of affairs. The num- 
 ber of those who live upon the labor of 
 slaves must, therefore, soon come to a 
 stand, or begin to decrease, after all the 
 land applicable to the purpose is taken 
 into tillage. 
 
 As regards the slaves, they are not in 
 a situation to be affected by that check 
 to population, arising from the apprehen- 
 sion of not hem- able to support a family. 
 It is the master's business to provide for 
 the future; and the slaves literally take 
 no thought for the morrow, in relation to 
 the important concern of continuing their 
 race. They, therefore, increase and 
 multiply without restraint; and so long 
 as a market exists lor them as slaves, so 
 that the masters can dispose of their su- 
 pernumerary ones, they will be encour- 
 aged to do so ; and thus an old settled 
 slave district will annually send forth its 
 droves of human cattle, to gratify the 
 avarice of the white man in more favored 
 regions, and to the disgrace of the Chris- 
 tian name. This drain for the supernu- 
 merary slaves, or some other that will 
 
 answer the same purpose, seems the 
 only circumstance that can give perpetui- 
 ty to the system of slavery. The ten- 
 dency which slaves generally possess to 
 increase beyond the means of the masters 
 to find support or profitable employment, 
 will soon involve the latter in inextrica- 
 ble difficulties, unless some means are 
 devised to counteract it. Among these 
 means there is none so likely to be re- 
 sorted to, or so effectual as the sale and 
 transportation of the superfluous num- 
 bers, so long as a market is open for 
 them. The present state of things in the 
 older slave States might possibly continue 
 for centuries, if an opening could be 
 found for the sale of the transported 
 slaves ; so that, while the number of the 
 masters would remain nearly stationary, or 
 probably declining, the slaves would put 
 forth nearly their full power of increase. 
 Thus the droves and cargoes that might 
 be sent away from our Southern States 
 in the course of a few centuries would be 
 sufficient to blacken half the globe, and 
 leave about as many there at the end of 
 the time as would be existing if none 
 had been removed, provided the masters 
 were able to devise and introduce some 
 other mode of keeping down their num- 
 bers, so as to maintain their authority. 
 It is true the hardships and privations 
 that the slaves would naturally have to 
 endure, in consequence of the failure of 
 their masters' resources, would tend in a 
 considerable degree to keep down their 
 numbers : but experience proves that the* 
 suffering from mere want must be very 
 great indeed, where prudential considera- 
 tions do not operate, before it will prevent 
 children from being raised sufficient to 
 occasion a considerable accession of po- 
 pulation. And it is not likely that if no 
 other check than this is adopted, the 
 masters can long maintain their authority. 
 It appears, therefore, that the system 
 of slavery has a tendency to prevent the 
 increase of the masters in a greater de- 
 gree than that of the slaves ; and that as 
 regards our own country, it is calculated 
 to give the black race a great and un- 
 natural preponderance at a future time in 
 many of the finest portions of the Union. 
 This is an important consideration for a 
 statesman who looks to the future well- 
 being of our country, and shows that it is a 
 
BY WILLI \ M .1 LCKSON. 
 
 subject which interests the North as well i 
 as the South. The principle here laid down 
 has been corroborated by facts, but the 
 lights which history furnishes on the 
 subject are so faint that it is not exhibited 
 as clearly as it no doubt would be, if we 
 were intimately acquainted wi*h the cir- 
 cumstances, in each case. The Israelites 
 in Egypt must have multiplied much 
 faster than their oppressors, or the facts 
 related of them could not have taken 
 place. And the Turks who have in a 
 considerable degree endeavored to live 
 by the gain of oppression have dwindled 
 away and become impotent as a nation, 
 heiiur evidently, if the reports of travel- 
 lers are to be believed, less numerous 
 now than when their crescent glared 
 from the walls of Belgrade, and threaten- 
 ed all Europe with subjugation. 
 
 But we need not dwell upon the evi- 
 dence furnished by other times and other 
 countries; as our own times and native 
 country will afford strong confirmation 
 of the position here stated. It may be 
 observed, however, that the migratory 
 habits of our people, and the extensive 
 trade carried on in slaves between the 
 old and the new states, makes it impos- 
 sible to ascertain the true rate of natural 
 increase in any particular district. Be- 
 sides so much of our country is yet new 
 that the preventive check to population 
 does not yet act upon all, or even nearly 
 all the masters with its full force. For 
 these reasons we ought not to expect 
 that any uniform result would be exhi- 
 bited; and yet by a careful comparison of 
 the different enumerations that have been 
 made of the people, it will clearly appear, 
 that the position here taken is true in re- 
 lation to the white and colored races in 
 our own country. In Maryland, where 
 from the vicinity to the free States and 
 the unprofitableness of slave labor, a 
 number have been manumitted, some 
 have absconded, and many have been sent 
 to the South, the whites have increased 
 faster than the slaves. For the first 
 period between 1790 and 1800 at the 
 rate of one and eight-tenths per cent, in 
 the ten years. In the second period or 
 next ten years, their increase was two 
 and three-tenths per cent, more than the 
 slaves. The third period from 1810 to 
 1820 we find an excess of fourteen and 
 
 one-tenth per cent.; and the fourth l 
 gives an excess of fifteen and two-tentha 
 
 per cent. From this we see that the re- 
 lative number of slaves has dimi:, 
 
 considerably in thai Si tte. 
 
 Virginia is somewhat similarly situated; 
 and accordingly) we find thai the whites 
 are' now gaining upon the slaves. In the 
 first period, the excess o{ the slaves in- 
 crease was but one and two-tenths p,- r 
 rent.; and in the second, aii and eight- 
 tenths per cent. In the third period, the 
 whites have an excess of eight-tenths of 
 
 one per cent., and in the fourth, lour and 
 seven-tenths per cent. 
 
 In North Carolina the whites hive 
 uniformly been behind the slaves in their 
 rate of increase. In the 'first period, fif- 
 teen and two-tenths per cent. Second 
 do., fifteen and nine-tenths per cent. 
 Third do., ten and one-tenth per cent 
 Fourth do., seven per cent. 
 
 In South Carolina the whites appear 
 to have had an excess in the first period 
 of thirteen and two-tenths per cent.; but 
 in the second, the slaves are in excess 
 twenty-five and two-tenths per cent, in 
 their rates of increase. In the third, their 
 excess was twenty per cent., and in the 
 fourth their increase was fourteen per 
 cent, more than the whites. 
 
 In Georgia, the excess of the slaves in- 
 crease in the first period was thirteen and 
 three-tenths per cent. — second do. thirty- 
 two and four-tenths per cent. — third do. 
 eleven and nine-tenths per cent. — in the 
 fourth period, the whites appear to have 
 increased eleven per cent, more than the 
 slaves. 
 
 In Kentucky, during the first period, 
 the slaves increased thirty and three- 
 tenths per cent, more than the whites — in 
 the second, nineteen and four-tenths per 
 cent. — third do., twenty-two and seven- 
 tenths per cent. — fourth do., eleven and 
 eight-tenths per cent. 
 
 In Tennessee, the excess of slaves in 
 their increase was, in the first period, 
 one hundred and ten and two-tenths per 
 cent. — second do., ninety-two and live- 
 tenths per cent. — third do. twenty-two 
 and five-tenths per cent. — fourth do., 
 nineteen and one-tenth per cent. 
 
 It will seen by examining the forego- 
 ing statements, that the irregularities in 
 the rate of increase is very great, not 
 
8 
 
 VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 
 
 only in different states, but in the same 
 ones at different times, owing principal- 
 ly to the varying currents of emigration, 
 
 so that general inferences drawn from 
 them alone would he liable to considera- 
 ble uncertainly. It appears, that the 
 aoirrciraie increase of the slaves in the 
 foregoing 1 states since 1790, has been in 
 a greater ratio than that of the white 
 population, without making any allow- 
 ance for the diminution of their numbers 
 by emancipation, which appears to have 
 been considerable. 
 
 The same general result is aimed at 
 by comparing the increase of the whiles 
 and slaves during the last period in the 
 whole of the southern states. In the 
 states of Maryland, Virginia, N. Caroli- 
 na, S. Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, 
 Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ala- 
 bama, and Missouri, the aggregate in- 
 crease of white population from 1820 to 
 1830, was at the rate of twenty-nine per 
 cent. That of the slaves in the same 
 states and for the same period, was thir- 
 ty-one and seven-tenths per cent., show- 
 ing an excess in the aggregate rate of in- 
 crease of two and seven-tenths per cent. 
 
 The period here included was one of 
 unparalleled prosperity in most of the 
 southern states, owing principally to the 
 great profits arising from the cultivation 
 of cotton ; and consequently the plant- 
 ers would meet with less difficulty than 
 usual in providing establishments suffi- 
 cient to encourage the formation of ma- 
 trimonial connections. And the great 
 and tempting opportunities of making 
 fortunes, which were presented by the 
 high price of cotton, and the consequent 
 increase of its production, and the various 
 branches of business growing out of it, 
 induced many of our citizens from the 
 Northern and Eastern States to migrate 
 to the South ; while the inducements to 
 leave those regions and settle in the free 
 states was less than may reasonably be 
 looked for hereafter. The same cir- 
 cumstances would naturally give rise to 
 greater hardships amongst the slaves, and 
 to greater activity in that trade, which, 
 by tearing them from the scenes of their 
 youth, and violently breaking up the ten- 
 derest and mpst endearing ties of our na- 
 ture, would cause many a wo-worn crea- 
 ture to descend into a premature grave. 
 
 The opening of new lands is also unfa- 
 vorable to the health of the laborers, and 
 consequently to their power of increase ; 
 and considerable diminution has been 
 made to their numbers by emancipation 
 in some of the states, particularly in 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, where the in- 
 crease of the free blacks has been much 
 greater than what has arisen from pro- 
 creation only, being upwards of seventy 
 per cent. 
 
 If under all these circumstances, favor- 
 ing the increase of the whites, and de- 
 pressing that of the slaves, the latter 
 could multiply two and seven-tenths in 
 every hundred more than the whites, 
 what may we not expect under a state of 
 things which is rapidly approaching, 
 when those peculiar encouragements to 
 the increase of the whites shall be done 
 away. 
 
 OF THE EFFECTS OF SLAVERY ON NATION- 
 AL CHARACTER AND THE STATE OF SO- 
 CIETY. 
 
 The system of slavery in the early 
 stages of its progress, furnishes the mas- 
 ters generally with a plentiful supply of 
 the necessaries and conveniences of 
 life. While fertile land is waiting for 
 the hand of man to call forth its treasures, 
 the labour of the slaves can be so direct- 
 ed as to yield a large return of rude or 
 unmanufactured produce. Thus favor- 
 ed by nature, they feel not the toil and 
 hardship of cultivating the soil, and 
 seem to place a low estimate on the 
 common necessaries of life. Hence ex- 
 cessive parsimony is not a sin that 
 easily besets them. They are hospita- 
 ble and generous, scornful of the petty 
 artifices to which the needy sharper is ■ 
 prone to resort, and possessed of a high, 
 chivalrous sense of honor, which gives 
 brilliancy to their character. Feeling 
 that it does not belong to them to labor 
 for a living, and having the means at 
 their command, the more favored among 
 them cultivate their intellectual powers, 
 to gratify their love of distinction, or as 
 a source of refined pleasure. Hence 
 many of them become well informed 
 men, powerful orators, able statesmen, 
 or formidable commanders. They are 
 not, however, likely to cultivate those 
 arts and sciences which give man a com- 
 mand over the powers of nature, with as 
 
BY WILLIAM JACKSON. 
 
 much assiduity as those which will 
 enable them to exercise influence over 
 their fellow men, or excite the wonder 
 and admiration of their cotemporaries. 
 Conceiving themselves bom to com- 
 mand, they cultivate those arts that will 
 increase their power; and feeling con- 
 scious of their own importance, they as- 
 sume a lolty bearing in their social inter- 
 course. 
 
 Accustomed to the exercise of al- 
 most absolute power, they cannot brook 
 any kind of authority over themselves ; 
 so that, they naturally acquire high and 
 chivalrous notions of political liberty. 
 So far, indeed, do they carry this feeling, 
 that they esteem the privilege of making 
 slaves of others as among their dearest 
 and most invaluable rights. Nor can 
 they brook on the part of others even 
 discussion respecting the propriety of 
 their conduct in relation to slavery. 
 
 These shining qualities, however, 
 (though generally more brilliant than 
 useful) form the fairest side of their cha- 
 racter. Noxious and noisome weeds 
 spring up amongst them, and give the 
 impress of odious peculiarities. Fa- 
 miliar with injustice and oppression 
 from their infancy, they learn to disre- 
 gard the rights of others. Educated in 
 the midst of scenes at variance with 
 their natural sense of justice, they are 
 tempted habitually to disregard the mo- 
 nitions of conscience; and impatient of 
 control, they are disposed to disregard 
 the restraints of law and order. With 
 these peculiarities, and the host of vices 
 that spring out of them, a large propor- 
 tion of slave-holders are deeply affected ; 
 and consequently they are but poorly 
 qualified to be members of a prosperous 
 and happy community. 
 
 But this prosperous state of things 
 cannot long continue. The resources 
 of the slaveholders will be gradually 
 dried up. They will become more and 
 more limited in the command of the 
 necessaries and comforts of life, and 
 consequently more and more unable 
 to give their children a liberal education. 
 The general standard of literary attain- j 
 ment will be gradually lowered ; till the 
 taste for such pursuits will be in great 
 measure banished from the common 
 walks of life, and general and gross ig- 
 
 norance will overspread th< land. Bol 
 the vices of the slave system will con- 
 tinue, and lie aggravated !>\ the growing 
 ignorance of the people ; BO ili.n in pro- 
 cess of tunc the masters will he di 
 down from that proud eminence OJ in- 
 tellectual superiority in which they have 
 
 fancied themselves securely seated. 
 
 They will become poor, ignorant, and 
 degraded, ami thus prepared to associate 
 with their slaves upon terms of equality. 
 
 As for the slaves it Beems to b< i 
 on all hands thai their situation I v 
 them in a peculiar manner to degrad l- 
 tion. The remark of Homer, that 
 "Jove Gxed it certain, that whatever (Jay 
 Makes man ;i slave, takes half his worth away," 
 
 is confirmed by the experience of all 
 and nations. In addition to the causes of de- 
 gradation necessarily connected with their 
 situation, they are subject to the direct ef- 
 forts of their masters to shut out from their 
 benighted intellect every ray of know- 
 ledge that is calculated to increase their 
 power. They are treated as brute beasts, 
 and every effort is made to cause them to 
 assimilate in character to the tribes of in- 
 ferior animals, as far as it is possible to 
 do it by human means. Thus ignorant 
 and degraded, they are destined to form 
 the larger part of the community ; for 
 their greater rate of increase must some 
 time or other place them in the majority. 
 They wax stronger and stronger, while 
 their masters are continually growing 
 weaker and weaker ; and they must ulti- 
 mately impress upon the community to 
 which they belong, the prominent fea- 
 tures of their character. 
 
 In the progress of events, too, it is im- 
 possible to prevent occasional insurrec- 
 tions of the slaves ; many of which will 
 be put down by force, and marked, as such 
 things usually are, by scenes of barbarous 
 and ferocious cruelty, at which humanity 
 shudders. These contests will naturally 
 become more frequent as the power of 
 the slaves increase ; and they will na- 
 turally be more strongly marked with 
 barbarity as the power of the parties 
 approach to equality, and their fears 
 and hopes are strengthened by circum- 
 stances ; so that all portions of the com- 
 munity will acquire a savage ferocity 
 of character. The accommodations and 
 accomplishments of civilized life will 
 
10 
 
 VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 
 
 disappear; scenes of lawless violence will 
 be frequent, and render life and property 
 insecure; a night of barbarism and dark- 
 ness will overspread the laud, and slavery 
 will probably disappear in the general 
 wreck of civilization and refinement. 
 
 Such is the natural couise of events to 
 which slavery gives rise. In civilized 
 society, it is a disease in the body politic. 
 A state of barbarism is its congenial soil, 
 and to that state it will tend to reduce 
 everv people who adopt it as a control- 
 ling feature in the constitution of the 
 body politic. Among a barbarous people 
 it is comparatively harmless, unless it is 
 supported by a trade in slaves, as it can 
 neither be of great extent or of long con- 
 tinuance, without such assistance. 
 
 Thus was the power of the Roman 
 empire undermined. In the days of its 
 glorv, it was rich in brilliant characters. 
 In literature and science it was great, and 
 shone with superior lustre. In arts and 
 in arms it was almost without a rival ; 
 and the period of its grandeur still stands 
 conspicuous for the great and splendid 
 achievements of intellectual power which 
 it exhibited. The foundation of its great- 
 ness was deeply laid in the industry, in- 
 telligence, and valor of its citizens ; but 
 in an evil hour they appropriated the 
 wealth and power which they thus ac- 
 quired, to the purposes of oppression. 
 They procured slaves, and undertook to 
 live on the produce of their labour. The 
 system was extended with the increase 
 of means, till it pervaded the whole so- 
 cial system ; and in the time of Augus- 
 tus, it is estimated that one-half of the 
 inhabitants of the empire were slaves. 
 For a while, a brilliant galaxy of intel- 
 lects maintained the glory of the Roman 
 name; but the lustre with which it shone 
 gradually faded away. The arts and 
 sciences were neglected ; poverty and 
 ignorance increased ; the resources of 
 the people became more and more limit- 
 ed, and the power and glory of the em- 
 pire departed. The Roman name ceased 
 to inspire terror among the rude and 
 hardy barbarians of the north ; and they 
 issued forth in swarms to prostrate the 
 tottering remains of that mighty power 
 which had so long kept them in awe. 
 Amid the confusion of this period, (of 
 which the servile insurrections were a 
 
 fruitful source,) the small glimmerings of 
 literature and science which still dicker- 
 ed in the neighborhood of the capitol, 
 were extinguished ; and a long and dreary 
 night of barbarism and darkness over- 
 spread the civilized world. At length, 
 after the lapse of a thousand years, the 
 human mind began slowly to emerge 
 from the deep gloom with which it had 
 been so long enveloped ; and the monu- 
 ments of ancient learning were dragged 
 forth from the heaps of rubbish, where 
 they had long lain neglected, once more 
 to astonish, delight, and instruct mankind. 
 Egypt, too, the cradle of science, and 
 the avenue through which the light of 
 civilization first shone upon Europe, has 
 long since fallen from its great estate. 
 The splendid ruins that yet survive, and 
 seem to bid defiance to the corroding 
 tooth of time, attest a highly cultivated 
 state of the arts. Individual wealth must 
 be accumulated to a great extent, and 
 general intelligence prevail for a long 
 period among a considerable class of 
 men, before such works as yet exhibit 
 their remains could possibly be executed. 
 Opulence, extensively diffused, must for 
 a long time have been requiring and en- 
 couraging artizans of many descriptions 
 to minister to the love of convenience 
 and elegance which wealth naturally in- 
 spires, befoie a body of workmen could 
 be trained, capable of performing such 
 master-pieces of workmanship as appear 
 to have been executed in that country in 
 very ancient times. The conclusion is, 
 therefore, irresistible, that some, at least, 
 of the African nations were in a highly 
 cultivated state, long before science and 
 civilization shed a ray of light upon the 
 land of our forefathers. Whether the in- 
 habitants of those countries were at that 
 time of the black or negro race, is a pro- 
 blem which it is difficult to solve satis- 
 factorily; but there are strong reasons for 
 supposing that at least some of them 
 were ; and that the time was, when the 
 white race were ignorant savages, and 
 the black a polished and intelligent peo- 
 ple. Be this as it may, it is established 
 by the testimony of history, that this peo- 
 ple were extensive holders of slaves, and 
 that Egypt was the great slave market 
 for the marauding hordes that then occu- 
 pied part of the eastern shore of the Me- 
 
diterranean sea. This is strikingly sup- 
 ported and exemplified by the story of 
 Joseph, who was sold by his brethren 
 to the traders on their way to that 
 market. 
 
 From these and similar facts that have 
 been handed down to us, it is reasonable 
 to infer that the slave system grew with 
 the increasing wealth of the people, and 
 formed a controlling feature in their so- 
 cial organization. As a natural conse- 
 quence, the facts that have taken place 
 would follow. The people became 
 generally poor ; the light of science was 
 nearly extinguished ; and the arts that 
 embellish the path of life, and furnish a 
 large part of the comforts and conve- 
 niences of civilization, were lost to them 
 perhaps for ever. 
 
 The arts, the sciences, and the spirit 
 ot civilization, were transplanted into 
 other climes; and the wealth and power 
 which these conferred, raised up other 
 nations in succession. These in turn 
 extended the system of slavery with their 
 increase of wealth; and the consequence 
 was they shone for a brief space with 
 resplendent lustre, and then faded awav 
 into a state of semi-barbarism and igno- 
 rance. Africa became the great store- 
 house for furnishing such countries with 
 slaves The bones and sinews of her 
 sons became the leading staples of her 
 commerce and has so continued to this 
 day. And to this circumstance we may 
 rationally attribute the impenetrable 
 gloom that hangs over that benighted 
 continent: a gloom which cannot be 
 dissipated till the accursed traffic shall 
 be proscribed by the more civilized 
 world. 
 
 Such are the natural effects of slavery; 
 such the direction it tends to give to the 
 current of successive events, in every 
 age ail d in every clime ; and we need 
 not flatter ourselves that we as a people 
 can escape the common lot of human 
 nature. It l8 true, there are many coun- 
 teracting circumstances connected with 
 our condition, that will materially modi- 
 fy the general result, and prevent that 
 
 entire loss of the blessings of civilization 
 which some other countries have exhi- 
 bited. But it is not the less true, that 
 slavery tends to produce poverty/igno- 
 rance, and barbarism; and'that the more 
 
 BY WILLIAM JACKSON. 
 
 11 
 
 extensive it is in its operation, and the 
 longer it » persevered in, the more folly 
 will those effects be developed. Y 
 
 ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE mSTRICT 
 
 OF C0LUMI1IA. 
 
 As the right of Congress to abolish 
 slavery in the District of Columbia has 
 been called in question, it may be allow- 
 able to devote a brief space to its exami- 
 nation, notwithstanding the difficulty of 
 conceiving how an intelligent person can 
 entertain any doubts on the subject. By 
 a right, we understand a just and compe- 
 tent authority to exercise discretionary 
 power in the regulating, controlling, or 
 directing of something. The rights of 
 individuals have reference to those things 
 which are rightly and properly placed 
 under their control, and the rights of go- 
 vernment have the same relation to the 
 things which properly come under its 
 direction. It is right and proper in the 
 nature of things, that individuals as such 
 should each have a certain sphere of dis- 
 cretion in which their will is law, and in 
 which it is their just privilege, as well as 
 duty, to act as they may think right and 
 proper, without being subject to human 
 control, further than to keep them within 
 their proper limits, and prevent them 
 from encroaching upon the sphere which 
 properly belongs to others. So with go- 
 vernment; in whatever hands it may be 
 placed, it has a certain sphere of discre- 
 tion properly belonging to it, which 
 it cannot transcend without injustice. 
 Hence the rights of government, as well 
 as of individuals, are not arbitrary and 
 variable. They are fixed in the nature 
 of things, and defined by the Creator in 
 the laws which are impressed upon the 
 workmanship of his hand. They are as 
 immutable as the principles of right and 
 wrong on which they rest. 
 
 The powers of government are natu- 
 rally inherent in the majority of the peo- 
 ple, and in this country that majority 
 have delegated their authority to certain 
 sets of officers appointed for the exercise 
 thereof, among whom it is distributed as 
 defined in the constitutions of the gene- 
 ral and state governments, taken connect- 
 edly. Hence those constitutions are the 
 legal and proper evidence of the distribu- 
 tion of power, and of the rights belonging 
 to each department of the government • 
 
12 
 
 VIEWS OF SLAVERY, 
 
 but it must be borne in mind that they are 
 but the acts of the majority, and they can 
 confer no rights which did not originally 
 belong to that majority. 
 
 Having thus defined the nature of 
 rights in general, we will proceed to the 
 particular case before us. The District 
 of Columbia has no local legislature, and 
 hence it is manifest that if the abolition 
 of slavery is a matter which government 
 may rightfully do in any case, it is a 
 subject embraced in the sphere of discre- 
 tion which it may rightfully and justly 
 exercise, and therefore the right to do it 
 must rest with either the general or state 
 governments. The latter is not pretend- 
 ed. No one contends that an act of the 
 legislature of Maryland, abolishing slave- 
 ry, (if such should be passed,) would ex- 
 tend in its operation over any part of the 
 District. No such reservation of power 
 was made at the cession of the territory, 
 nor does such a supposition receive any 
 countenance from the terms of the federal 
 constitution. Those, therefore, who deny 
 to Congress the power in question, must 
 hold that it does not belong to govern- 
 ment in any shape. That it is a matter 
 with which government has no rightful 
 authority to interfere, and that the privi- 
 lege of holding slaves is one of the ina- 
 lienable rights of individuals, a necessary 
 appendage to constitute a freeman. As a 
 consequence of this doctrine, they must 
 also hold that government has no right to 
 enquire into the title by which slaves are 
 held; for, say they, it cannot interfere 
 with the subject without encroaching 
 upon the rights of individuals; and if it 
 has a just authority to settle the princi- 
 ples upon which property in slaves shall 
 rest — if it may define the circumstances 
 necessary to constitute a good title, and 
 extend its protecting arm to all who are 
 not embraced under those circumstances 
 — if these are matters within its rightful 
 sphere of discretion, it certainly has the 
 right to abolish slavery, for it may make 
 those circumstances such that no indivi- 
 dual will be embraced under them. 
 
 If government may extend its arm for 
 the protection of the man of thirty years 
 of age, who may be seized by ruthless 
 violence, and compelled by the terror of 
 
 the lash to labor without recompence, for 
 the benefit of another to whom he owes 
 no obligation, it may do the same to those 
 of any other age, and say that the infant 
 should not be seized in the same way 
 and held as the property of another. If 
 it may say that a white man or red man 
 shall not be held as a slave, may it not 
 extend the same protection to those of 
 any other color. If it may rightfully 
 say that the violent seizing of a man, and 
 compelling him by the fear of corporal 
 punishment to labor for another, does 
 not of itself confer a title to his bones 
 and sinews, it certainly has the same 
 right to say that the additional circum- 
 stance of the original wrong doer sell- 
 ing his victim to another, shall not con- 
 fer a better title, and that the condition 
 of slavery shall not be extended to the 
 children of such unfortunate objects of 
 oppression. If it may go thus far and 
 say, that the seizing of a man in Penn- 
 sylvania, New York, Great Britain, or 
 France shall not give a good and suffi- 
 cient title to the original seizor, or to 
 any person who may purchase of him, 
 may it not extend the same principle 
 to China, Japan, Turkey, or Africa. 
 In short, if it be admitted, that it is a 
 matter proper for government to deter- 
 mine who may be held as slaves — that 
 it has a discretionary power in this re- 
 spect, it is impossible to avoid the con- 
 clusion that the whole subject is within 
 its proper sphere of discretion. The 
 doctrine which is now contended for 
 by the South amounts, therefore, sub- 
 stantially to this — that government has 
 no just and proper authority to protect 
 any one in their personal liberty, and 
 that as regards it, might constitutes right. 
 A conclusion so monstrous and palpa- 
 bly absurd cannot surely be held as a 
 truth by any one, but it is a legitimate 
 inference from the doctrine that Con- 
 gress have no power to abolish slavery 
 in the District of Columbia. It is clear, 
 then, thai Congress does possess the power 
 in question, unless it can be shown that 
 some other legislative body possesses the 
 right to perform this act of justice, and 
 this, as above remarked, has not yet been 
 pretended. 
 
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