Philo Pratt

“ Immediate emancipation places the slaves under the control as well as protection of the laws of the State against idleness, vagrancy, theft, murder, and all other aggressions on the rights of men.
We are told that the Slaves are not fit to be free; and therefore our scheme of immediate emancipation, if adopted, would prove a curse to them and the country. Nothing is more false. The Slaves are men; and therefore they are more fit for freedom than for slavery; more fit to be treated as persons than as things; to be governed by appeals to the reason and conscience than by brute force. ”

“ We say only, that Slavery is wrong, and ought forthwith to be abandoned. The South will adopt and prosecute her own plan. When her Legislatures abolish Slavery, they can, if they will, provide for widows and children, who are left destitute by that act. If they will not do it, we will raise contributions for their relief; for we deem the claims of charity, nearly as imperative as the claims of justice. But we can never sanction the principle of Slavery, by saying, that slave-holders have a right to compensation for restoring to the slaves their stolen rights. ”

“ Many northern men have been bought by southern patronage to do wrong; is it not equally possible to buy the south with northern patronage to do right; Human nature is every where the same. We should indeed regret to have Slavery abandoned from an exclusive regard to self-interest. We would rather it should be destroyed by the spirit of repentance; for then the emancipated slave would still be treated with justice and humanity. ”

“ These facts, these admissions, and the very nature of man, convince us that we have many allies at the South. The violence of the friends of Slavery, has forced them to a temporary silence; but no doubt many of them long to unburden their hearts, and are only waiting to be sustained by a healthy public sentiment among us.—Were we all Abolitionists, it would be less odious and less hazardous to avow our sentiments at the South; and she would find a body of Abolitionists on her own soil, too respectable to be despised—too strong to be resisted. ”

“ The Union is a curse instead of a blessing, if we must surrender for it, freedom of speech and personal protection in any part of the country. And if Slavery continues to be protected by public sentiment, and by popular violence, how long could the Union last, even were all the abolitionists this day laid in their graves? ”

“ It is good for nothing. Immediate emancipation would indeed deliver the slave and his family at once from the hands of an irresponsible master, and empower him to go where he pleases and do what he pleases, so long as he breaks none of the laws which restrain other men. And why not? He could not otherwise rejoin his wife and children, whom the slave trade has torn from him, nor secure fair wages, nor be safe from oppression. ”

“ We also hold it to be self-evident, that all men are born free and equal, and entitled to certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Slave owns himself by grant of his Creator. Slavery is, therefore, an invasion of his rights of property. It is the slave-master who makes an aggression on the property of others, not we, who exhort him to relinquish that property. ”

“ Were we all Abolitionists, we should be defended. The national government would protect us. The constitution guarantees the rights of a citizen in all the states to the citizens of each state; and had the North been thoroughly abolitionized, she would have demanded and obtained redress for the blood of her innocent citizens, who have been hung without color of law, by southern ruffians. Be assured when we all become Abolitionists, an end will be put to the reign of terror in every part of the country. ”

“ Slavery is a concern of ours for it involves our personal interests. It throws back upon us a moral pestilence; it scatters the seeds of intemperance, licentiousness, and infidelity; it popularizes gambling, Sabbath breaking, profaneness and lawless violence; it casts an undeserved stigma on manual labor, it encourages idleness and prodigality. It disgraces us in the eyes of the whole world; it impairs our national strength; it encroaches on the spirit of liberty; it is constantly [22] undermining our free institutions. The northern states have no greater enemy. ”

“ The South has long had her eye on that fine and extensive country, intending to get it by purchase or stratagem, for the purpose of opening a market for her redundant slave population, and of securing the balance of power in the general government to the slave-holding interest. Every enemy of Slavery and friend of free labor, ought to oppose this design. We apprehend that if the annexation of Texas to our country should not involve us in war with Mexico and Great Britain, it would either lead to a dissolution of the union, or indefinitely prolong the existence of Slavery. ”

“ We could convert the South to the practical adoption of our sentiments by enlightening her conscience. This is the principal ground of our confidence. If Slavery is sinful, we can prove it to be such; and this proof, made plain to the understanding of the South, cannot fail to awaken her conscience. Such is human nature. Some would have us think that none but christians have consciences, and therefore the first step to be taken for the removal of Slavery is to send missionaries to convert the masters to christianity, thus laying a foundation for successful appeals to the conscience. ”

“ So are a majority of the freemen of the world; nor is it to be expected that slave-holders will teach their slaves to read and write, until they repent of Slavery itself. The vices of the Slaves are inseparable from their condition. If they are not now fit for freedom, Slavery, which unfitted them, will perpetuate their unfitness. Nor is their degradation of mind and morals a disqualification for freedom. You may find its counterpart in the characters of a large class of citizens in every country. ”

“ Have not our citizens, from time immemorial and without restriction, exercised this right? Does not the Constitution, instead of guaranteeing Slavery against this moral influence, guarantee to us the right of employing it, by forbidding Congress to pass any law abridging the freedom of speech and of the press?
We are told our measures are an invasion of the rights of property. This objection assumes, what nature denies, that man may be rightfully held as property. Blackstone maintains in his Commentaries, that man cannot be reduced by any just process to a state of absolute Slavery ”

“ It will be impossible for our countrymen, to close their eyes against the light, which the working of the British abolition act, will constantly throw on the duty and safety of immediate emancipation.
We are nevertheless told, with surprising assurance, by men great and small, that we have postponed the abolition of Slavery, at least half a century; that our ultra doctrines and violent measures have so incensed the South, that she has settled down in the inflexible determination to keep her slaves. Is this human nature? ”

“ The free people of color would rapidly improve in their moral and physical condition. A load of prejudice now crushes them in the dust. They cannot rise because they are deprived of the motives and facilities for self-improvement. They are a proscribed people. It is a calamity in this Christian country to be born with a colored skin. It shuts out human beings from schools and colleges, from the mechanical arts, from the house of God, from a share in the government of the nation, from social intercourse with their fellow-creatures, from the best incitements to virtue and enterprise. ”

“ We must always consider it a greater hardship to be unjustly held as a slave, than to be made poor by freeing such slave. It is a sad blunder in morals, that this man may make that man, perhaps fifty other men, poor for life, lest he himself should be a pauper; that this man may make that man poor by dishonesty, lest he himself should become poor by being honest. ”

“ The holders of slaves would not encourage the free by giving them labor; who would, therefore, be more apt to be idle and vicious; while their release would excite uneasiness in the minds of the unemancipated. The objection is also equally strong against prospective emancipation, according to which the slaves would all be set free at once; but not until some time after the passage of the act. Experience and human nature both teach us, that slaves under such circumstances are more apt to be overworked, than to be better prepared for the enjoyment of freedom. ”

“ The existence and rapidly increasing number of our societies precludes the possibility of such misrepresentations and mistakes. As soon as our plan is completed, in the formation of a flourishing society in each village of the free states, embodying a majority of the people, the South will know what our public sentiment is. It will be concentrated upon her. She will feel it. We learn from intelligent sources, that the general opinion at the South now is, that all the citizens of the North who are not Abolitionists, sympathize with the slave-holders. It is natural they should think so. ”

“ The faithful reproof of sin always irritates the sinner, and his irritation continues until he either repents or forgets the admonition. Had our efforts produced no such sensation among slave-holders, we should be far more ready to despair. She believes unless this discussion is stopped, Slavery must cease, or else she will be disgraced in the eyes of the world, and exceedingly embarrassed and trammeled in the possession of her slaves. We do not, however, attribute all the wrath of the South against us, to awakened conscience, and the anticipation of our success. ”

“ Such is the state of things at the South. Slavery not only creates a distaste for true religion, but withdraws from its support the laboring class, which in every free country, embodies a great proportion of the most devoted and liberal christians. There is also much in the habits which Slavery fosters, to indispose pious youth to enter the ministry and to disqualify them for its laborious duties; while many who enter upon the work, abandon it for secular pursuits, or remove to the free states, where they can preach the whole gospel with more security and success. ”

“ With this view of our sentiments, of their practical value, and of the propriety and wisdom of our measures, we leave you to judge whether abolitionists deserve to be out-lawed in their own country; to be loaded with abuse and contumely; to be denied a right, conceded to all other decent men, of advocating their cause in our public halls and churches; and to be left, unprotected, to the violence of ill-minded men? We beg you also to consider, how terrific would be the prospects of our country, were we in obedience to popular clamor, to disband our societies, and retire from the field. ”

“ If so let me tell our friends of the South who differ from us, that the war which the Abolitionists wage against us is of a very different character and far more effective—it is waged not against our lives, but our character.” Had he said our reputations and consciences, he would have told the truth. We do intend to make Slavery disgraceful. Sin ought to be esteemed a reproach to any people. Were all northern men of our way of thinking, this sin would be as infamous as any other kind of fraud and villainy. The world is now pointing the finger of scorn at slave-holding America. ”

“ By their own showing, Slavery cannot endure the light of free inquiry. If northern abettors of Slavery were not convinced, that the discussion will inevitably abolitionize the mass of the people, they would rely on argument rather than on lawless violence. Our progress too, has already been astonishing. In the course of three years nearly a thousand Anti-Slavery Societies have been organized; many enemies have become friends, and many opposers, the able advocates of our cause. ”

“ They consider stealing from their masters to be only making reprisals for the robbery of their just wages; while many of them are strongly tempted to steal by the desire of more or better food. Are they liars? They will continue such, while they are slaves. They will pretend sickness, to avoid labor; they will say they do not wish to be free, lest their masters should sell them into distant banishment; they will lie to conceal the unavoidable delinquences, for which slaves are daily upbraided and beaten. Are they idle? As slaves they have no hope of reward to stimulate their exertions. ”

“ The south cannot supply her free population with instruction. Even with the aid of the north, she is very destitute of the means of religion. Nor would she be willing to adopt a general system of education for the improvement of the Slaves. Instead of giving her money to fit them for freedom, she would hunt from society any persons, who should seriously propose the measure. They know little of the spirit of Slavery, who imagine, that the south was disposed to prepare her Slaves for freedom, until the abolitionists roused her to resistance. ”

“ Wesley says: “You, [the slave-holder,] first acted the villain in making them slaves, whether you stole them or bought them.” “This equally concerns all slave-holders, of whatever rank and degree: seeing men-buyers are exactly on a level with men-stealers.” The younger President Edwards says: “To hold a man in a state of Slavery is to be every day guilty of robbing him of his liberty, or of man-stealing.” Grotius says: “Those are men-stealers, who abduct, keep, sell or buy slaves or freemen. To steal a man is the highest kind of theft.” ”

“ They who think so, seem to imagine that the work of reform must be carried on solely [15] by coaxing and flattering the sinner: that a declaration of his guilt and of his duty, sufficiently plain and unequivocal to excite his displeasure, is the last way to bring him to repentance. We think otherwise. We take the anger of the South as a precious omen of success. The hit bird flutters. She shows herself conscious of the truth of our charges. Accuse a consistent temperance man of drunkenness, he will smile in your face; accuse the drunkard himself and he will be ready to fight you. ”

“ We believe Slavery is an infraction of these rights, a violation of the principles of christianity, and under all circumstances sinful.
We believe that Slavery is a great national evil, political as well as moral, opposed to the genius of a republican government, highly dangerous to the peace and permanency of the Union, and if persisted in, destined to bring upon us the severest judgments of Heaven. ”

“ We freely confess, that the Abolitionists, if a majority, would correct all these evils, and cause men in this so called christian and democratic country, to be treated, according to the bible without distinction of color.
We should do much to vindicate the honor and truth of christianity. Slavery is the strongest hold of infidelity at the South, and a strong hold at the North. It is so because, while natural religion declares Slavery to be sinful, the ministers and professors of christianity practice it, and defend their conduct from the bible. ”

“ It is said, if our measures should be successful, the slaves would resort to the North, and coming up upon our farms, and into our shops, like the frogs of Egypt, reduce the wages of our laborers. No apprehension is more groundless. The free colored people of the South are quite numerous, and very much oppressed; yet few of them leave that part of the country; though the whites would be very glad to have them do so, because they render the slaves uneasy, and come into competition with slave labor. ”

“ The interests of a large class at the South must predispose them to favor our enterprise. Probably not more than half of the whites are directly interested in the continuance of Slavery. Many hire Slaves, who could on equally eligible terms, and with more peace of conscience, hire them as free laborers, were they emancipated. Some own land without slaves; and it is admitted, that immediately on the abolition of Slavery, the soil would rise in value, and continue to appreciate with the general improvement of the country. ”