Abel C. Thomas

“ Forbids you to teach a poor Negro to read?
Whether the African race, now in bondage in the South, be or be not in a better condition than their kindred in Africa, need not here be discussed. Morality and religion inquire, simply, whether Southern laws encourage an advancement? Do they not rather hinder, by severe penalties, any efforts to educate the slave population? Public Schools are the pride and glory of the North: What is the boast and shame of the South? ”

“ Setting aside all controversy as to the meaning or efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ, it is clear that he died for all, tasted death for every man, gave himself a ransom for all, without distinction of color, character, station or creed. Whatever allowance the Lord may make for sins of ignorance, can the great God look with complacency on any people who by Slavery count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and do despite unto the spirit of grace?—Hebrews x. ”

“ That reaches the question of Master and Slave.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all me are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among there are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."—Decl. of Ind. It is nothing to affirm that the Negro, or Indian, or Arab, is not equal to the white man—namely, in talent and the like. No two white men are equal in all respects—but if you deny an equality of rights, specify the grounds of such denial. ”

“ The world moves, slowly it may be, but surely. Russia abolished Serfdom by an imperial decree, and our Republic is cutting a tangled knot by the edge of the sword. The loathing with which the Slave Trader has long been regarded, even in the South, was the index-finger of the hand of God. ”

“ The creed should be better than the man; but what if the man be better than the creed? Business relations with the South, or friends residing there, or political clanship, may so blind men to the hideous conjunction of the Gospel and Southern Slavery, that they may profess to believe in both; but religionists grieve the Holy Spirit and chiefly make Infidels, by fastening any inhuman institution or abominable theory on the Word of God. ”

“ He cannot be branded with a hot iron. If he absconds, he cannot be hunted with dogs, nor advertised for, dead or alive. He cannot be sold. At twenty-one he is a freeman. Are these the marks of the condition of a Slave?
N Stands for Negro. To be all he can,
Without doing wrong, is the birth-right of man,
And noblest humanity evermore lies
In prompting and helping the lowly to rise.
Are Slaves dull and ignorant? Multitudes are:
Shall therefore the Master improvement debar?
Yet if to instruct them you open your mouth,
Beware of the penalty, down in the South! ”

“ A man born and reared in barbarism is with difficulty brought into the proprieties and amenities of civilization: alas! how easy a thing it is for a man born and reared in the midst of civilization to glide into the depths of barbarism! It is said that the meanest men, and hottest secessionists, and hardest slave-drivers in the South, are of Yankee origin! ”

“ The evils of Slavery to the white race, in a material sense, are clearly shown by statistics; but no one can reckon the low estate of education, religion, and morals, especially in the country-districts of the South. The larger the plantations are, the wider is the space between the white families; and an increase of the number of slaves, is no increase of exalting social intercourse. The mansion cannot escape the malaria of the hovels, nor can any one escape the just judgment of the Almighty. ”

“ Certain Southern ladies claimed, not long since, that they care as tenderly for slave mothers as Northern ladies care for poor white mothers. "Possibly that is true," was the reply, "but Northern ladies do not afterwards sell the baby!"—Besides this, it is the money-interest of Southerners to look well to the increase of their property, whereas a true humanity, as a principle, underlies and quickens the charitable attention of Northern ladies, above referred to. ”

“ That perfects in meanness the sin and the shame!
What odds to the buyer whether the chattel has been kidnapped or bought by the Trader? In one sense, there is something manly (because risk of life is incurred) in taking prisoners in war and making slaves of them; but kidnapping is unmitigated villainy. How then can we sufficiently express abhorrence of the men who make a business of breeding slaves for the market? Doubtless, they are all, all honorable men, and, worthily accounted the chivalry of the land! ”

“ The foundations of our new government are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man.... This, our new government, is the first in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth.... ”

“ They might sell books, shoes, horses, by public outcry, and feel no shame of sin. If the Gospel endorses colored people as property, why should the clergy scruple to be Slave-Auctioneers? Bishop Hopkins, of Vermont, might do a thriving business in that line, down South. ”