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 083 . 
 
 PRESBYTERIANS OF KENTUCKY, 
 
 PROPOSING A PLAN 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 INSTRUCTION AND EMANCIPATION 
 
 THEIR SLAVES. 
 
 BY A COMMITTEE OF THE SYNOD OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 I 
 
 NEWBURYPORT: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CHARLES WHIPPLE. 
 
 1836 . 
 
For tlie purpose of promoting harmony and concert of action on 
 this important subject, the Synod do 
 
 Resolve, That a committee of ten be appointed to consist of an 
 ^ual number of ministers and elders, whose business it shall be to 
 ingest and prepare a plan for the moral and religious instruction of 
 our'slaves, and for their future emancipation, and to report such plan 
 
 to the several presb}itenes within 
 and approval. 
 
 John Brown, Esq. 
 
 Thomas P. Smith, Esq. 
 Charles Cunningham, Esq. 
 James K. Burch, 
 
 Nathan J. Hall, 
 
 our bounds, for their consideration 
 
 John Green, Esq. 
 
 J. R. Alexander, Esq. 
 
 Rev. Wm. L. Breckenridce, 
 Robert Stewart, 
 
 John C. Young, 
 
 Committee. 
 
 The committee would respectfully request every preacher to read 
 this address to his congregation on some Sabbath. The object of 
 the Synod in appointing a committee to prepare a plan, is stated to be 
 to “ promote harmony and concert of action on this important sub- 
 ject;” and this can only be effected by presenting the plan with the 
 reasons urging its adoption, before every member of our Church. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Dear Brethren : — 
 
 The will of Synod has made it our duty to lay before 
 you “ a plan for the moral and religious instruction, as 
 well as for the future emancipation, of the slaves” under 
 your care. We feel the responsibility and difTiculty of the 
 duty to which the church has called us, yet the character 
 of those whom we address strongly encourages us to hope 
 that labor will not be in vain. You profess to bo governed 
 by the principles and precepts of a lioly religion ; you re- 
 cognise the fact that you have yourselves “been made 
 free” by the blood of the Son of God ; and you believe 
 that you have been imbued with a portion of the same 
 spirit whicli was in “ Him who, though he was rich, yet 
 for our sakcs became poor.” When we point out to such 
 persons their duty, and call upon them to fulfil it, our ap- 
 peal cannot be altogether fruitless. But we have a still 
 stronger ground of our encouragement, in our firm con- 
 viction that the cause which we advocate is the cause 
 of God, and that his assistance will make it finally prevail. 
 May He “ who hears tlie cry of the poor and needy,” and 
 who has commanded to let the “ oppre.ssed go free,” give 
 to each one of us wisdom to know our duty, and strength 
 to fulfil it. 
 
 VV'^e earnestly entreat you, brethren, to receive our com- 
 munication in the same spirit of kindness in which it is 
 made; and permit neither prejudice nor interest to close 
 your minds against the reception of truth, or steel your 
 hearts against the convictions of conscience. Very soon 
 it will be a matter of no moment whether we have had 
 large or small possessions on the earth ; but it will be ®f 
 infinite importance whether or not we have conscientiously 
 sought out the will of God and done it. 
 
 We all admit that the system of slavery, which exists 
 among us, is not right. Why, then, do we assist in perpe- 
 
4 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 tuating it ? Why do we make no serious efforts to termi- 
 nate it ? Is it not because our perception of its sinfulness 
 is very feeble and indistinct, while our perception of the 
 difficulties of instructing and emancipating our slaves is 
 strong and clear? As long as we believe that slavery, as 
 it exists among us, is a light evil in the sight of God, so 
 long will we feel inclined to pronounce every plan that 
 can be devised for its termination, inexpedient or im- 
 practicable. Before, then, we unfold our plan, we wish 
 to examine the system, and try it by the principles which 
 religion teaches. If it shall not be thus proved to be 
 an abomination in the sight of a just and holy God, we 
 shall not solicit your concurrence in any plan for its abo- 
 lition. But if, when fairly examined, it shall be seen to 
 be a thing which God abhors, we may surely expect that 
 no trifling amount of trouble or loss will deter you from 
 lending your eflbrts to its extermination. 
 
 Slavery is not the same all the world over ; and to as- 
 certain its character in any particular state or country, 
 we must examine the constituents and effects of the kind 
 of slavery tehicJi there exists. The system as it exists 
 among us, and is constituted by our laws, consists of three 
 distinct parts — a deprivation of the right of j^roperty, a 
 deprivation of personal liberty, and a deprivation of jjerson- 
 al security. In all its parts it is, manifestly, a violation of 
 the laws of God, as revealed by the light of nature, as well 
 as the light of revelation. 
 
 1st. A part of our system of slavery consists in depriving 
 human beings of the right to acquire and hold property. 
 Does it need any proof to show that God has given to all 
 human beings a right to the proceeds of their own labor? 
 The heathen acknowledge it — every man feels it. The 
 Bible is full of denunciations against those who withhold 
 from others the fruits of their exertions. “ Wo unto him 
 that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his cham- 
 bers by wrong ; that useth his neighbor’s service without 
 wages, and giveth him not for his work.”* Does an act 
 which is wrong, when done once and toward one individ- 
 ual, become right because it is practised daily and hourly, 
 and towards thousands ? Does the just and holy One frown 
 
 * Jeremiah, xxii, 13. See also James, v, 4 ; Lev. xix, 13 ; Deut. xxiv, 14, 15 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 5 
 
 the less upon injustice, because it is systematically prac- 
 tisecl, and is sanctioned by the laws of the land ? If the 
 chicanery of law should enable us to escape the payment 
 of our debts, or if a human legislature should discharge 
 us from our obligations to our creditors, could we, without 
 deep guilt, withhold from our neighbors that which is their 
 due ? No : we all recognise the principle, that the laws 
 of the God of nature can never be replaced by any legis- 
 lature under heaven. These laws will endure, when the 
 statutes of earth shall have crumbled with the parchments 
 on which they are enrolled — and by these laws we know 
 that we must be judged, in the day in which the destinies 
 of our souls shall be determined. 
 
 2d. The deprivation of personal liberty forms another 
 part of our system of slavery. Not only has the slave no 
 right to his wife and children, he has no right even to 
 himself. His very body, his muscles, his bones, his flesh, 
 are all the property of another. The movements of his 
 limbs are regulated by the will of a master. He may be 
 sold, like a beast of the field — ho may be transported, in 
 chains, like a felon. Was the blood of our Revolution 
 shod to establish a false principle, when it was poured out 
 in defence of the assertion, that “ all men are created 
 equal that “ they are endowed by their Creator with 
 certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, lib- 
 erty, and the pursuit of happiness?” If it be a violation 
 of tlie rights of nature to deprive men of their political 
 freedom, the injustice is surely much more flagrant when 
 we rob them of personal liberty. The condition of a sub- 
 ject is enviable compared with the condition of a slave. 
 We are shocked at the despotism e.xercised over the Poles. 
 But theirs is a political yoke, and is light compared with 
 the heavy pci-sonal yoke that bows down the two millions 
 of our colored countrymen. Does European injustice 
 lose its foul character, when practised with aggravations 
 in America ? 
 
 Still further, the deprivation of personal liberty is so 
 complete that it destroys the rights of conscience. Our 
 system, as established by law, arms the master with power 
 to prevent his slave from worshipping God according to 
 the dictates of his own conscience. The owner of human 
 
 1 * 
 
6 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 beings among us may legally restrain them from assem- 
 bling to hear the instructions of divine truth, or even from 
 ever uniting their hearts and voices in social prayer and 
 praise to Him who created them. God alone is Lord 
 over the conscience. Yet our system, defrauding alike 
 our Creator and our slaves, confers upon men this pre- 
 rogative of Deity. Argument is unnecessary, to show 
 the guilt and madness of such a system. And do we not 
 participate in its criminality, if we uphold it? 
 
 3d. The deprivation of personal security is the renuiin- 
 ing constituent of our system of slavery. The time was, 
 in our own as well as in other countries, when even the 
 life of the slave was absolutely in the hands of the master. 
 It is not so now among us. The life of a bondman can- 
 not be taken with impunity. But the law extends its pro- 
 tection no further. Cruelty may be carried to any extent, 
 provided life be spared. Mangling, imprisonment, starva- 
 tion, every species of torture, may be inflicted upon him, 
 and he has no redress. But, not content with thus laying 
 the body of the slave defenceless at the foot of the mas- 
 ter, our system proceeds still further, and strips him in a 
 great measure of all protection against the inhumanity of 
 any other white man who may choose to maltreat him. 
 The laws prohibit the evidence of a slave against a white 
 man from being received in a court of justice. So that 
 wantonness and cruelty may be exercised by any man 
 with impunity, upon these unfortunate people, provided 
 none witness it but those of their own color. In describ- 
 ing such a condition, we may well adopt the language of 
 sacred writ: “Judgment is turned away backward, and 
 justice standetli afar ofl'; for truth is fallen in the street, 
 and equity cannot enter. .\nd the Lord saw it, and it 
 displeased him that there was no judgment.” 
 
 Such is the essential character of our slavery. With- 
 out any crime on the part of its unfortunate subjects, they 
 are deprived for life, and their posterity after them, of the 
 right to property, of the right to liberty, and of the right 
 to personal security. These odious features are not the 
 excrescences upon the system — they are the system itself 
 — they are its essential constituent parts. And can any 
 man believe that such a thing as this is not sinful — that it 
 
ADDRESS. 7 
 
 is not hated by God — and ought not to be abhorred and 
 abolished by man ? 
 
 But there are certain effects, springing naturally and 
 necessarily out of such a system, which must also be con- 
 sidered in forming a proper estimate of its character. 
 
 1. Its most striking effect is, to deprave and degrade its 
 subjects by removing from them the strongest natural checks 
 to human corruption. As there are certain laws impressed 
 upon the elements, by which God works to preserve the 
 beauty and order of the material creation ; so there are 
 certain principles of human nature, by which he works to 
 save the moral world from ruin. These principles ope- 
 rate on every man in his natural condition of freedom — 
 restraining his vicious propensities, and regulating his de- 
 portment. The fires of innate depravity, which, if per- 
 mitted to bur.st forth, would destroy the individual and 
 desolate society, are thus, measurably, repressed ; and 
 the decencies and enjoyments of life are preserved. The 
 wisdom and goodness of God are thus seen in implanting 
 in man a sense of character, a desire for property, a love 
 for distinction, a thirst for power, and a zeal for family 
 advancement. All these feelings, working in the mind of 
 individuals, (though not unmi.xed with evil,) combine to 
 promote their own happiness, and the welfare of commu- 
 nities ; and they are inferior in the good which they pro- 
 duce, only to those high religious principles which consti- 
 tute the image of God in the soul of man. nie presence 
 of the.se principles only can compensate for their absence. 
 Whenever, then, these natural feelings are crushed or 
 eradicated in any human being, he is stripped of the 
 nobler attributes of humanity, and is degraded into a 
 creature of mere appetite and passion. His sensuality is 
 the only cord by which you can draw him. Ilis hopes 
 and fears all concentrate upon the objects of his appetites. 
 He sinks far down toward a level with the beast of the 
 field, and can be moved to action only by such appeals as 
 influence the lunatic and the brute. This is the condition 
 to which slavery reduces the great mass of those who 
 wear its brutalizing yoke. Its effects upon their souls are 
 far worse than its effects upon their bodies. Character, 
 property, destination, power, and family respectability. 
 
8 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 are all withdrawn from the reach of the slave. No object 
 is presented to excite and cultivate those higher feelings, 
 whose exercise would repress his passions and regulate 
 his appetites. Thus slavery deranges and ruins the moral 
 machinery of man — it cuts the sinews of tlie soul — it 
 extracts from human natui-e the salt that purifies and 
 preserves it, and leaves it a corrupting mass of appetite 
 and passion. 
 
 2. It dooms thousands of human beings to hopeless igno~ 
 ranee. The acquisition of knowledge requires exertion ; 
 and the man who is to continue through life in bondage, 
 has no strong motive of interest to induce such exertion ; 
 for knowledge is not valuable to him, as to one who eats 
 the fruits of his own labors. The acquisition of knowl- 
 edge requires also facilities of books, teachers, and time, 
 which can be only adequately furnislied by masters ; and 
 those wlio desire to perpetuate slavery will never furnish 
 these facilities. If slaves are educated, it must involve 
 some outlay on the part of the master. And what 
 reliance for such a sacrifice can be placed on the gene- 
 rosity and virtue of one, who looks on them as his pro- 
 perty, and who has been trained to consider every dollar 
 expended on them as lost, unless it contributes to increase 
 their capacity for yielding him valuable service ? He 
 will have them taught to work, and will ordinarily feed 
 and clothe them so as to enable them to perform their 
 work to advantage. But more than this, it is inconsistent 
 with our knowledge of human nature to expect that he 
 will do for them. The present state of instruction among 
 this race^answers exactly to what we might thus naturally 
 anticipate*. Throughout our whole land, so far as we can 
 learn, there is but one school in which, during the week, 
 slaves can be taught. The light of three or four Sabbath 
 schools is seen, glimmering through the darkness that 
 covers the black population of a whole state. Here and 
 there a family is found, where humanity and religion 
 impel the master, mistress, or children, to the laborious 
 task of private instruction. Great honor is due to those 
 engaged in this philanthropic and sell-denying course ; 
 and their reward shall be received in the day when even 
 a cup of cold water, given from Christian motives, shall 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 9 
 
 secure a recompense. But, after all, what is the utmost 
 amount of instruction given to slaves ? Those who enjoy 
 the most of it, are fed with but the crumbs of knowledge 
 which fall from their master’s table — they are clothed 
 v/ith the mere shreds and tatters of learning. 
 
 Nor is it to be expected that this state of things will 
 become better, unless it is determined that slavery shall 
 cease. The impression is almost universal, that intel- 
 lectual elevation unfits men for servitude, and renders it 
 impossible to retain them in this condition. This impres- 
 sion is unquestionably correct. The weakness and igno- 
 rance of their victims is the only safe foundation on which 
 injustice and oppression can rest. And the effort to keep 
 in bondage men to whom knowledge has imparted power, 
 would be like the insane attempt of the Persian tyrant, to 
 chain the waves of the sea, and whip its boisterous waters 
 into submission. We may as soon expect to fetter the 
 winds, seal up the clouds, or extinguish the fires of the 
 volcano, as to prevent enlightened minds from recovering 
 their natural condition of freedom. Hence, in some of 
 our states, laws have been enacted, prohibiting, under 
 severe penalties, the instruction of the blacks ; and even 
 where such laws do not exist, there are formidable num- 
 bers who oppose, with deep hostility, every effort to 
 enlighten the mind of the negro. These men arc deter- 
 mined that slavery shall be perpetuated ; and they know 
 that their universal education must be followed by their 
 universal emancipation. They are then acting wisely, 
 according to the wisdom of this world, when they deny 
 education to slaves — they arc adopting a measure ne- 
 cessary to secure their determined purpose. It is, how- 
 ever, policy akin to that which once induced the ruffian 
 violators of female chastity to cut out the tongue, and 
 cut off the hands of their victim, to disable her from 
 uttering or writing their names. She had to be maimed, 
 or they would be brought to justice. It is such policy as 
 the robber exhibits, who silences in death the voices that 
 might accuse him, and buries in the grave the witnesses 
 of his crimes. He is determined to pursue his occupation, 
 and his safety in it requires that he should not indulge in 
 the weakness of keeping a conscience. How horrible 
 
10 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 must be that system, whicli, in the opinion of even its 
 strongest advocates, demands as the necessary condition 
 of its existence, that knowledge sliould be shut out from 
 the minds of those who live under it — that they should be 
 reduced as nearly as possible to the level of brutes or 
 living machines — that the powers of their souls should be 
 crushed ! Let each one of us ask, can such a system be 
 aided or even tolerated without deep criminality 1 
 
 3. It deprives its subjects, in a great measure, of the 
 privileges of the gospel. You may be startled at this 
 statement, and feel disposed to exclaim, “our slaves are 
 always permitted and even encouraged to attend upon the 
 ordinances of worship.” But a candid and close exami- 
 nation will show the correctness of our charge. The 
 privileges of the gospel, as enjoyed by the white popula- 
 tion in this land, consist in free access to the scriptures, a 
 regular gospel ministry, and domestic means of grace. 
 Neither of these is, to any extent worth naming, enjoyed 
 by slaves, as a moment’s consideration will satisfactorily 
 show. The law, as it is here, does not prevent free ac- 
 cess to the scriptures — but ignorance, the natural result 
 of their condition, does. The Bible is before them, but 
 it is to them a sealed book. “ The light shineth in the 
 darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not.” Like 
 the paralytic, who lay for years by the pool of Bethesda, 
 tlie waters of healing are near them, but no kind hand 
 enables them to try their efficacy. Very few enjoy the 
 advantages of a regular gospel ministry. They are, it is 
 true, permitted generally, and often encouraged, to attend 
 upon the ministrations specially designed for their masters. 
 But the instructions communicated on such occasions- are 
 above the level of their capacities. They listen as to 
 prophesyings in an unknown tongue. The preachers of 
 their own color are still farther from ministering to their 
 spiritual wants — as these impart to them, not of their 
 knowledge, but their ignorance : they heat their animal 
 feelings, but do not kindle the flame of intelligent devo- 
 tion. It has been proposed by some zealous and devoted 
 friends of the colored I'ace, to supply the deficiency of 
 gospel ministrations among them, by the employment of 
 suitable missionaries, who may labor exclusively among 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 11 
 
 them. We need not here speculate on the probable re- 
 sults of such a scheme if carried into effect, in a com- 
 munity where there is no intention to emancipate ; for 
 before there is found among us benevolence enough to 
 adopt and execute it, on a scale large enough to effect 
 any highly valuable purpose, the community will be 
 already ripe for measures of emancipation. Such a spirit 
 of kindness towards this unfortunate race as this scheme 
 presupposes, can never co-exist with a determination to 
 keep them in hopeless bondage. Further, there are no 
 houses of worship exclusively devoted to the colored 
 population. The galleries of our own churches, which 
 are set apart to their use, would not hold the tenth part 
 of their numbers — and even these few .seats are, in gene- 
 ral, thinly occupied. So that, as a body, it is evident that 
 our slaves do not enjoy the ])ublic ordinances of religion. 
 Domestic means of grace are still more rare among them. 
 Here and there a family is found, whose servants are 
 taught to bow with their masters around the fireside altar. 
 But their peculiarly adverse circumstances, combined with 
 the natural alienation of their hearts from God, render 
 abortive the slight efforts of most masters to induce their 
 attendance on the domestic services of religion. And if 
 we visit the cottages of those slaves who live apart from 
 their masters, where do we find them reading their Bibles 
 and kneeling together before a throne of mercy ? Family 
 ordinances of religion are almost unknown among the 
 blacks. We do not wish to exaggerate the description of 
 this deplorable religious condition of our colored population. 
 We know tliat instances of true piety are frequently found 
 among them ; but these instances we all know to be 
 awfully disproportionate to their numbers, and to the 
 extent of those means of grace which exist around them. 
 When the missionaries of the cross enter a heathen land, 
 their hope of fully christianizing it rests upon the fact 
 that they can array and bring to bear upon the minds of 
 these children of ignorance and sin, all those varied means 
 which God has appointed for the reformation of man. 
 But while the system of slavery continues among us, 
 these means can never be efficiently and fully employed 
 for the conversion of the degraded sons of Africa. Yet 
 
12 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 “God hath made them of one blood” with ourselves; 
 hath provided for them the same redemption ; hath in his 
 providence cast souls upon our care; and hath clearly 
 intimated to us the doom of him, who “ seeth his brother 
 have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from 
 him.” If by our example, our silence, or our sloth, we 
 perpetuate a system which paralyzes our hands when we 
 attempt to convey to them the bread of life, cind which 
 inevitably consigns the great mass of them to unending 
 perdition, can we be guiltless in the sight of Him who 
 hath made us stewards of his grace ? 
 
 4. Th/s system licenses and produces great cruelty. 
 The law places the whip in the hands of the m^lster, and 
 its use, provided he avoid destroying life, is limited only 
 by his own pleasure. Considering the absolute power 
 with which our people are armed, it must be acknowledged 
 that the treatment of their dependants is, in general, sin- 
 gularly humane. Many circumstances operate here to 
 mitigate the rigors of perpetual servitude ; and it is pro- 
 bably the fact, that no body of slaves have been ever 
 better fed, better clothed, and less abused, than the slaves 
 of Kentucky. Still they have no security .or their com- 
 fort but the humanity and generosity of men, wlio have 
 been trained to regard them not as brethren, but as mere 
 property. Humanity and generosity are, at best, poor 
 guarantees for the protection of those who cannot assert 
 their rights, and over whom law throws no protection. 
 Our own condition we would feel to be wretched indeed, 
 if no law secured us from the insults and maltreatment 
 even oj^our equals. But superiority naturally begets con- 
 tempt ; and contempt generates maltreatment, for check- 
 ing which we can rely not on virtue, but only on law. 
 There are, in our land, hundreds of thousands clothed 
 with arbitrary powers over those, whom they are educated 
 to regard as their property, as the instruments of their 
 will, as creatures beneath their sympathy, devoid of all 
 the feelings which dignify humanity, and but one remove 
 above cattle. Is it not certain that many of these hun. 
 dreds of thousands will inflict outrages on their despised 
 dependants? There are now, in our whole land, two 
 millions of human beings, exposed, defenceless, to every