active 1787-1834 Jesse Torrey

“ By wisdom, I mean that kind of sagacity which influences us to regulate our passions and conduct, in conformity to the precepts of knowledge, reason and religion. Until an approach towards such a state of things is effected, the names of liberty and security on this earth, will differ but little from a will with a wisp, either to monarchs or their vassals. At present, violence bears universal and imperial sway;—and ignorance is the magic spell which sustains its sceptre. ”

“ I trust that our government will not tax the blood and bones of Englishmen for any such purpose, while Negroes, free as well as enslaved, can be killed with impunity in the United States, and while a trade in the bodies of slaves actually forms a part of the internal commerce of that Country, the magazines of which commerce are in the very spot where the Congress holds its sittings. ”

“ From the best information that I have had opportunities to collect, in travelling by various routes through the states of Delaware and Maryland, and from statements of an ingenuous trader exclusively, (as I believe,) in lawful slaves, I am fully convinced that there are, at this time, within the jurisdiction of the United States, several thousands of legally free people of colour, toiling under the yoke of involuntary servitude, and transmitting the same fate to their posterity! ”

“ Thomas Jefferson, in his inaugural speech, says, "If man is not fit to govern himself, how can it be expected that he should be fit to be entrusted with the government of others? Can we expect to find angels in the form of kings?" Whether it be safe to risk the untutored slave with his liberty or not, his situation must be inconceivably horrible, under the cruel lash and uncontrolled power of a master, who is destitute of education or virtue ”

“ He said that "as a nation, we cannot rid ourselves entirely from the disgrace attending the iniquitous slave traffic formerly pursued by this country, until we, as a nation, have made every reparation in our power." ”

“ You give them a higher relish for those privileges which they can never attain, and turn what we intend for a blessing into a curse. No, if they must remain in their present situation, keep them in the lowest state of degradation and ignorance. The nearer you bring them to the condition of brutes, the better chance do you give them of possessing their apathy. Surely, Americans ought to be the last people on earth, to advocate such slavish doctrines, to cry peace and contentment to those who are deprived of the privileges of [Pg 103] civil liberty. ”

“ Philosophy cries, "Brethren, be just—be beneficent, and you will prosper.—Eternal slavery must be an eternal source of crimes;—divest it at least of the epithet eternal, for an [Pg 35] guish that knows no bounds can only produce despair." "With a pure heart, one is never unhappy." Let the possessor of slaves consult the oracles of his own conscience—the spontaneous counsels of his own heart, and the sublime parable of the beneficent founder of the Christian religion, and act accordingly. ”

“ But, while I have always heard them lamenting the existence of Slavery in their Country, I cannot be so unjust, I cannot act so unnatural a part, as to conclude that our own West India Planters must be cruel and brutal; seeing that Slavery exists to so great an extent in America, notwithstanding the very prevalent and strong disposition to do it away. ”

“ Nothing would have a stronger tendency to effect the contemplated relief of the free people of colour, than some efficient laws to secure the restoration of those not entitled to liberty, to their masters, whose rights ought to be protected by law, and who, without such law, would be certainly sacrificed by the transportation of the free blacks with whom they would most certainly mix for that purpose. ”

“ Does any high-minded christian nation chain her prisoners of war, and subject them and their posterity to perpetual ignorance, and the oppressive toil of involuntary servitude without reward? In thy late contest with a powerful sister state, many of her political slaves, who sought the lives of thy sons, and the conflagration of their dwellings, fell into thy custody by the chances of war—I have seen fourteen hundred of these at a single depôt—Fourteen hundred large loaves of good bread, and fourteen hundred pounds of excellent beef, were daily spread before them. ”

“ Out of such materials, to rear the glorious edifices of well ordered and polished society, upon the deep and sure foundations of equal laws and diffusive education, would give a sufficient title to be enrolled among the illustrious benefactors of mankind; whilst it afforded a precious and consolatory evidence of the all-prevailing power of liberty, enlightened by knowledge and corrected by religion. If the experiment, in its remote consequences, should ultimately tend to the diffusion of similar blessings through those vast regions and unnumbered tribes yet obscured in primeval darkness ”

“ I must affirm, that in my humble view there is both a moral and political propriety in prohibiting by energetic laws, the sexual commerce between the descendants of Europe and Africa, either by marriage, slavery, or otherwise. The extinction of slavery would promote this purpose far more than its toleration. Uncontrolled slavery, as facts have manifested, in the United States as well as the West Indies, facilitates and protects licentiousness, and a species of [Pg 94] brutal debauchery, the consequences of which are deplorable and afflicting beyond description. ”

“ But let not the fell stigma be attached entirely to the present retainers of the slaves. Every citizen of the republic, entitled to the right of suffrage, is responsible for his proportionable quota of the miseries inflicted on the defenceless Africans, in our privileged country. Human nature is such, that a large proportion of men, will improve every means within their reach, for advancing their fortunes, indulged by political laws. In this country the laws emanate primitively from the people. The outrage upon the rights of our present slave population originated in Africa. ”

“ We neglect this valuable lesson of Solon, and also a political maxim of his, which ought to form the corner-stone of every republic. Being asked what kind of government is best, he answered, "that in which an injury to the meanest member of the community is esteemed an aggression upon the whole." Our laws for the protection of the rights and liberty of free yellow and black people, must be exceedingly defective, or there could not at this moment be thousands of them illegally held in slavery. ”

“ That is to say, Slaves and the children of Slaves were as much a white man's property as horses and the young ones of horses. In Maryland (we are now going towards the North) there is now a mitigation of some sort; also in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and the New England, States. I do not know whether an absolute abolition has taken place in any State; though I believe it has. In the State of New York the law made all free that were born after a certain period; and after another certain period, those born slaves were to become free. ”

“ If a state, containing soil sufficient to subsist only 1,000,000 of slaves, besides the free population, provides no outlet, for the excess of that number, by permitting their emancipation or otherwise, starvation must be the consequence! ”

“ However, I feel no hesitation in saying, I should be happy to see some plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, that would prepare the rising generation for that state, and remunerate the master out of the funds of the nation, amply abundant for that purpose, without being felt by the people of America. ”

“ One evening while writing notes concerning the occurrence just mentioned, a lad, sitting in the same room with me, was studying his lessons in Goldsmith's Abridgment of Geography; in which I noticed he read these words:—"The United States are celebrated for the excellence of their constitution, which provides for political liberty and individual security. The inhabitants are justly famed for their ardent love of freedom." ”

“ Right education and knowledge should teach the legitimate slave fortitude, and the advantages of submission, duty, and fidelity; and should elevate the free man, of whatever colour, above the unhallowed crime of despising himself for its having been ordained this or that tint, or for its being obnoxious to those who have been created with a different colour, or with none at all. ”

“ Yet is it a fact, that slaves are employed in rebuilding this sanctuary of liberty.
[14] It is a notorious and afflicting truth, that in the United States, the head of a poor black man has been cut off with impunity, by a white man (or master;) that black men have been wantonly shot by white men; and that a free black man (whom I have seen myself) was hoppled, and being unsuccessfully offered for sale as a slave, was bound to a post in the winter, and left without food until his feet were frozen, where he would probably have perished, had he not extricated himself by his own struggles. ”

“ In this civil war, in which the white planters were arrayed against the laws of the national assembly, and the planters of colour in defence of them, it is not surprising that the slaves should take sides with their nearest relations. ”

“ The excellence of the great fundamental precept of christianity, 'Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them,' is acknowledged and admired, it is believed, by every member of the human family, of whatever name or nation, that makes any pretension to religion or moral rectitude. ”

“ It may be resolved for our government (the first to denounce an inhuman and abominable traffic, in the guilt and disgrace of which most of the civilized nations of the world were partakers) to become the honourable instrument, under Divine Providence, of conferring a still higher blessing upon the large and interesting portion of mankind, benefited by that deed of justice; by demonstrating that a race of men, composing numerous tribes, spread over a continent of vast and unexplored extent, fertility and riches ”

“ Let the magnificent work of progressive and ultimate emancipation, concomitant with mental improvement, be kept steadily in view;—but let not the total depopulation of an immense tract of valuable improved country, be held forth as essential to its accomplishment. ”

“ The evil has become so apparent, and the necessity for a remedy so palpable, that some of the most considerable of the slave-holding states have been induced to impose restraints upon the practice of emancipation, by annexing conditions, which have the effect to transfer the evil from one state to another ”

“ The inevitable poverty and physical debility, thus entailed upon the inheritors of slaves, are not half so much to be deplored, as the habits of indolence, dissipation and vice, which, if not the uniform fruits of slavery, are much promoted and encouraged by it. ”

“ Whereas a Society has been formed at the seat of Government, for the purpose of "colonizing (with their own consent) the Free People of Colour of the United States;" Therefore, we the Free People of Colour of the city of Richmond, have thought it adviseable to assemble together, under the sanction of authority, for the purpose of making a public expression of our sentiments on a question in which we are so deeply interested. ”

“ Having sketched an outline of some of the evils, which the present state of slavery necessarily produces to the possessors of slaves, we will next examine its effects upon the slaves themselves, and endeavour to prove that the pecuniary as well as the moral interests and rights of both parties, enjoin the expediency of adopting a different system of management. ”

“ Industry, duly rewarded, and accompanied by temperance and economy, is, with but casual [Pg 31] exceptions, to every individual blessed with health, an infallible source of competence and wealth. As our all-wise Creator has fitted our organization, individually, to the acquirement of the means of subsistence, without depending on the labour and generosity of each other, there can be no doubt but he designed that each should retain and enjoy the products of his own hands, without molestation. ”

“ To those who may object to the propriety of exposing to public view such deeds as are likely to shock the feelings and sympathy of the friends of humanity, I reply, that the object is not to excite popular execration against their authors, but commiseration towards the sufferers, and to discourage the repetition of cruelty. ”

“ And with respect to the red arm of vengeance, exposed and bare, it must often menace those neighbourhoods, whence the citizens frequently write to their friends in the north, that, "it is high time to leave a country where one cannot go to bed in the evening, without the apprehension of being massacred before morning!" I have been assured by citizens having personal knowledge of the fact, that the rage of the slaves is such, in some districts, and especially near Savannah, that their masters and overseers are obliged to retreat to some secure place during the night, or employ armed sentinels. ”