Chief Justice Roger B. Taney on the Declaration of Independ

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney on the Declaration of
Independence
President Andrew Jackson appointed in 1836 Roger B. Taney to
fill the seat left vacant by the
death of Chief Justice John Marshall. Taney earned his
appointment by being a loyal “Jackson
man” and by his willingness, as acting Secretary of the
Treasury, to remove the federal deposits
from the Bank of the United States (effectively putting it out of
business). Critics of the
appointment predicted that the Supreme Court under Taney
would destroy the legacy of the
Marshall Court and ultimately undermine the Republic. That
turned out to be an exaggeration.
Taney Court rulings promoted the economic development of the
U.S., although the Court
tended to favor state power more than its predecessor had. By
the 1850s, the Court had
developed a good reputation within the American political class.
As it did so, however, the Taney Court also developed a
decidedly proslavery jurisprudence. Its
efforts culminated in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), a decision
almost universally considered to
be one of the worst, perhaps the worst, Supreme Court decision
in American history. Taney’s
opinion wrecked the Court’s reputation and allowed Republican
critics make a plausible case
that the Court had been captured by a proslavery conspiracy. In

the passage here, Taney
recounted the history of African Americans, noting that in the
colonial period blacks “had no
rights that white men were bound to respect.” As you read this
passage, ask yourself whether
Taney believed anything had changed with the Declaration of
Independence? How did the
Declaration and the Constitution impact the status of African
Americans? Finally, think about
which of the other documents you have read support or
contradict Taney’s arguments.
by Khushbu Desai
The purpose, design, approach to rag attention on gender
structure theory that has a velocity of status characteristics of
different gender advantages and disadvantages. I have observed
over the years that the male peer rate is much higher than
female managers where female associate/manager do not
disfavor between genders in their performance evaluations.
Also, I have worked under both male and female supervisors
and leadership. I found my female manager very friendly,
compassionate, efficient communicator, and better in
negotiation with effective planner skills. I strongly agree that
they build very effective and strong relationships with everyone
including colleagues, coordinators, team, stakeholders, business
owners. I believe they are good listeners throughout the
negotiation process from initiating it to end it with a good note.
They have the skills to resolve the opposite party’s concern

with empathy. They consider all possible ways to find a mutual
way for better perceptions only with calm and intelligence
efficiency (Jerdee, 1973).
Male leaders are very quick and believed in reaching the points
with lesser scenario assumptions . They tend to get straight on
the point with a lesser amount of analysis of the execution
process. They have better neutral connectivity with lesser
hypothetically frontal and back areas or the consequences. In
negotiation, males are found with independent transactions with
less amount of involvement of his team or sub coordinates
either rewarded or disinclined. It is associated with clarity of
the planned tasks with a very secure and solid hierarchical
structure. My male manager had the belief in a very strong
effective delegation of responsibilities and tasks. Also, if the
negotiation does not work out according to his plans, they may
blame others for not working out correctly. Male negotiators
counter such tactics with very fast returns frequently, they are
very strict with their certain responsive behaviors (RILEY &
FRANCIS, 2010).
References:
Rosen, B., & Jerdee, T. H. (1973). The influence of sex-role
stereotypes on evaluations of male and female supervisory
behavior.
BOWLES HANNAH RILEY, & FLYNN FRANCIS. (2010).
Gender and Persistence in Negotiation: A Dyadic
Perspective. The Academy of Management Journal, 53(4), 769–
787.
Alexander Stephens on the Confederacy’s Corner-Stone
Alexander Stephens began his political career in the 1840s as a
Georgia Whig in the House of
Representatives before the Civil War. When the South seceded

in 1860-1861, Stephens had
become prominent enough to serve as Vice-President of the
Confederacy. After the war, he
would again serve in the House of Representatives as well as
governor of Georgia. Stephens
also spent the post-war years developing an interpretation of the
coming of the Civil War as a
conflict over states’-rights rather than slavery.
That effort stood in stark contrast with what he argued on the
eve of the war. The selection
here comes from what historians call Stephens’s “Corner-Stone”
speech. His speech provided a
description of the constitution for the newly created
Confederate States of America, but our
interest rests in what he believed to be the foundation (or
“corner-stone”) of the new
government. As you read this selection, keep the following
questions in mind. What did
Stephens claim to be the corner-stone of the Confederacy? What
was the truth (so-called) that
the Confederate Constitution acknowledge that the framers of
the original constitution had
missed? Finally ask yourself, does Stephens’s description of the
original constitution square
with depictions made by other documents you have read (or
with the textbook for that
matter)?
Extracts from Alexander Stephens, “Corner Stone” Speech.
Savanah, GA March 21, 1861

EXTRACTED FROM
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/cornerston
e-speech/
This new constitution [for the Confederate States of America]
or form of government, constitutes
the subject to which your attention will be partly invited. In
reference to it, I make this first
general remark: it amply secures all our ancient rights,
franchises, and liberties. All the great
principles of Magna Charta are retained in it. No citizen is
deprived of life, liberty, or property,
but by the judgment of his peers under the laws of the land. The
great principle of religious
liberty, which was the honor and pride of the old constitution, is
still maintained and secured. All
the essentials of the old constitution, which have endeared it to
the hearts of the American
people, have been preserved and perpetuated. Some changes
have been made. Some of these I
should have preferred not to have seen made; but other
important changes do meet my cordial
approbation. They form great improvements upon the old
constitution. So, taking the whole new
constitution, I have no hesitancy in giving it as my judgment

that it is decidedly better than the
old.
….Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this [Slavery], as
the “rock upon which the old Union
would split.” He was right. What was conjecture with him, is
now a realized fact. But whether he
fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood
and stands, may be doubted. The
prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading
statesmen at the time of the
formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of
the African was in violation of the
laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally,
and politically. It was an evil
they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of
the men of that day was that,
somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution
would be evanescent and pass away.
This idea, though not incorporated in the constitution, was the
prevailing idea at that time. The
constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the
institution while it should last, and
hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional
guarantees thus secured,

because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas,
however, were fundamentally wrong.
They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This
was an error. It was a sandy
foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the
“storm came and the wind blew.”
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea;
its foundations are laid, its
corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not
equal to the white man; that slavery
subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal
condition. This, our new government,
is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great
physical, philosophical, and moral
truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its
development, like all other truths in the
various departments of science. It has been so even amongst us.
Many who hear me, perhaps, can
recollect well, that this truth was not generally admitted, even
within their day. The errors of the
past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago.
Those at the North, who still cling
to these errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly
denominate fanatics. All fanaticism

springs from an aberration of the mind from a defect in
reasoning. It is a species of insanity. One
of the most striking characteristics of insanity, in many
instances, is forming correct conclusions
from fancied or erroneous premises; so with the anti-slavery
fanatics. Their conclusions are right
if their premises were. They assume that the negro is equal, and
hence conclude that he is
entitled to equal privileges and rights with the white man. If
their premises were correct, their
conclusions would be logical and just but their premise being
wrong, their whole argument fails.
I recollect once of having heard a gentleman from one of the
northern States, of great power and
ability, announce in the House of Representatives, with
imposing effect, that we of the South
would be compelled, ultimately, to yield upon this subject of
slavery, that it was as impossible to
war successfully against a principle in politics, as it was in
physics or mechanics. That the
principle would ultimately prevail. That we, in maintaining
slavery as it exists with us, were

warring against a principle, a principle founded in nature, the
principle of the equality of men.
The reply I made to him was, that upon his own grounds, we
should, ultimately, succeed, and
that he and his associates, in this crusade against our
institutions, would ultimately fail. The truth
announced, that it was as impossible to war successfully against
a principle in politics as it was
in physics and mechanics, I admitted; but told him that it was
he, and those acting with him, who
were warring against a principle. They were attempting to make
things equal which the Creator
had made unequal.
James Henry Hammond on the “Mudsill Theory”
In the mid-nineteenth century, southern ideologues developed
sophisticated defenses of
slavery that purported to justify the institution on economic,
social, religious, scientific, and
political grounds. James Henry Hammond, an influential (if
sometimes scandal-plagued) South
Carolina politician, articulated part of the political defense.
Over the course of his career, which
included serving as South Carolina’s governor and senator, he
debated abolitionists and sought
to prove that slavery offered a superior social system for the

modern world.
In the passage here, Hammond argued that slavery offered a
foundation of social stability that
the North lacked. (Historians refer to his argument as the
“mudsill theory,” which highlighted
the different material conditions and political rights possessed
by the lower classes in the North
and South.) Readers of this passage should keep the following
questions in mind: What did
Hammond mean by a mudsill class and who belonged to it, in
the South and the North? Why
did Hammond say the North had abolished slavery in name but
not in fact? What danger did
Hammond see in the mudsill’s class ability to vote? And finally,
what role did race play in
Hammond’s analysis?
318
ever enjoyed upon the face of the earth. Society
precedes government ; creates it, and ought to control
it ; but as far as we can look back in historic times
we find the case different; for government is no sooner
created than it becomes too strong for society, and
shapes and moulds, as well as controls it. In later

centuries the progress of civilization and of intelli
gence has made the divergence so great as to produce
civil wars and revolutions ; and it is nothing now but
the want of harmony between governments and soci
eties which occasions all the uneasiness and trouble
and terror that we see abroad. It was this that
brought on the American Revolution. We threw off
a Government not adapted to our social system, and
made one for ourselves. The question is, how far have
we succeeded ? The South, so far as that is concerned,
is satisfied, harmonious, and prosperous, but demands
to be let alone.
In all social systems there must be a class to do
the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life.
That is, a class requiring but a low order of intellect
and but little skill. Its requisites are vigor, docility,
fidelity. Such a class you must have, or you would
not have that other class which leads progress, civiliza

tion, and refinement. It constitutes the very mud-sill
of society and of political government; and you might
as well attempt to build a house in the air, as to build
either the one or the other, except on this mud-sill.
Fortunately for the South, she found a race adapted
to that purpose to her hand. A race inferior to her
own, but eminently qualified in temper, in vigor, in
docility, in capacity to stand the climate, to answer all
her purposes. We use them for our purpose, and call
319
them slaves. We found them slaves by the common
" consent of mankind," which, according to Cicero, " lex
naturae est? The highest proof of what is Nature's
law. We are old-fashioned at the South yet ; slave is
a word discarded now by " ears polite ; " I will not
characterize that class at the North by that term ; but
you have it ; it is there ; it is everywhere ; it is eternal.

The Senator from New York said yesterday that
the whole world had abolished slavery. Aye, the
name, but not the thing ; all the powers of the earth
cannot abolish that. God only can do it when he
repeals the Jlat, "the poor ye always have with you ;"
for the man who lives by daily labor, and scarcely
lives at that, and who has to put out his labor in the
market, and take the best he can get for it ; in short,
your whole hireling class of manual laborers and " ope
ratives," as you call them, are essentially slaves. The
difference between us is, that our slaves are hired for
life and well compensated ; there is no starvation, no
begging, no want of employment among our people,
and not too much employment either. Yours are hired
by the day, not cared for, and scantily compensated,
which may be proved in the most painful manner, at
any hour in any street in any of your large towns.
Why, you meet more beggars in one day, in any

single street of the city of New York, than you would
meet in a lifetime in the whole South. We do not
' aink that whites should be slaves either by law or
necessity. Our slaves are black, of another and in
ferior race. The status in which we have placed them
is an elevation. They are elevated from the condition
in which God first created them, by being made our
slaves. None of that race on the whole face of the
320
globe can be compared with the slaves of the South.
They are happy, content, unaspiring, and utterly in
capable, from intellectual weakness, ever to give us
any trouble by their aspirations. Yours are white, of
your own race ; you are brothers of one blood. They
are your equals in natural endowment of intellect,
and they feel galled by their degradation. Our slaves
do not vote. We give them no political power.

Yours do vote, and, being the majority, they are the
depositaries of all your political power. If they knew
the tremendous secret, that the ballot-box is stronger
than " an army with banners," and could combine,
where would you be ? Your society would be recon
structed, your government overthrown, your property
divided, not as they have mistakenly attempted to
initiate such proceedings by meeting in parks, with
arms in their hands, but by the quiet process of the
ballot-box. ' You have been making war upon us to
our very hearthstones. How would you like for us to
send lecturers and agitators North, to teach these
people this, to aid in combining, and to lead them ?
Mr. Wilson and others. Send them along.
Mr. Hammond. You say send them along. There
is no need of that. Your people are awaking. They
are coming here. They are thundering at our doors*
for homesteads, one hundred and sixty acres of land

for nothing, and Southern Senators are supporting
them. Nay, they are assembling, as I have said, with
arms in their hands, and demanding work at $1,000
a year for six hours a day. Have you heard that the
ghosts of Mendoza and Torquemada are stalking in
the streets of your great cities ? That the inquisition
is at hand ? There is afloat a fearful rumor that there
George Fitzhugh on the Declaration of Independence
Among proslavery theorists, none was more extreme that
George Fitzhugh of Virginia. Other
major proslavery advocates generally worked as politicians or
college professors, but Fitzhugh
made a living through writing, and he attracted an audience by
taking extreme positions. Only
Fitzhugh made the case that slavery was such a good social
system that all poor people
(whether black or white) should be enslaved. He either
understood the logical implications of
the proslavery argument when taken to its full implications, or
he was a grandstanding crank.
Either way, he did tend to clearly explain the issues at stake in
the debate over slavery.
In the passage here, Fitzhugh takes on the Declaration of
Independence. Why did he think the

idea of all men being equal was wrong? What were some of the
other issues he had with the
Declaration of Indpendence?
Fitzhugh, George. Sociology for the South: or, The Failure of
Free Society. UNC Electronic Edition: 1998
[1854]. Web. <
http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/fitzhughsoc/fitzhugh.html>.
CHAPTER XIX.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND VIRGINIA BILL
OF RIGHTS.
An essay on the subject of slavery would be very imperfect, if it
passed over without noticing these
instruments. The abstract principles which they enunciate, we
candidly admit, are wholly at war with
slavery; we shall attempt to show that they are equally at war
with all government, all subordination, all
order. Men's minds were heated and blinded when they were
written, as well by patriotic zeal, as by a
false philosophy, which, beginning with Locke, in a refined
materialism, had ripened on the Continent
into open infidelity. In England, the doctrine of prescriptive

government, the divine right of kings, had
met with signal overthrow, and in France there was faith in
nothing, speculation about everything. The
human mind became extremely presumptuous, and undertook to
form governments on exact
philosophical principles, just as men make clocks, watches or
mills. They confounded the moral with the
physical world, and this was not strange, because they had
begun to doubt whether there was any other
than a physical world. Society seemed to
Page 176
them a thing whose movement and action could be controlled
with as much certainty as the motion of a
spinning wheel, provided it was organized on proper principles.
It would have been less presumptuous
in them to have attempted to have made a tree, for a tree is not
half so complex as a society of human
beings, each of whom is fearfully and wonderfully compounded
of soul and body, and whose aggregate,
society, is still more complex and difficult of comprehension
than its individual members. Trees grow
and man may lop, trim, train and cultivate them, and thus hasten
their growth, and improve their size,

beauty and fruitfulness. Laws, institutions, societies, and
governments grow, and men may aid their
growth, improve their strength and beauty, and lop off their
deformities and excrescences, by punishing
crime and rewarding virtue. When society has worked long
enough, under the hand of God and nature,
man observing its operations, may discover its laws and
constitution. The common law of England and
the constitution of England, were discoveries of this kind.
Fortunately for us, we adopted, with little
change, that common law and that constitution. Our institutions
and our ancestry were English. Those
institutions were the growth and accretions of many ages, not
the work of legislating philosophers.
Page 177
The abstractions contained in the various instruments on
which we professed, but professed falsely,
to found our governments, did no harm, because, until abolition
arose, they remained a dead letter.
Now, and not till now, these abstractions have become matters
of serious practical importance, and we
propose to give some of them a candid, but fearless
examination. We find these words in the preamble

and Declaration of Independence,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among them,
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of
government becomes destructive of these
ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to
institute a new government, laying its
foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in
such form, as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their safety and happiness."
It is, we believe, conceded on all hands, that men are not
born physically, morally or intellectually
equal, - some are males, some females, some from birth, large,
strong and healthy, others weak, small
and sickly - some are naturally amiable,
Page 178

others prone to all kinds of wickednesses - some brave, others
timid. Their natural inequalities beget
inequalities of rights. The weak in mind or body require
guidance, support and protection; they must
obey and work for those who protect and guide them - they have
a natural right to guardians,
committees, teachers or masters. Nature has made them slaves;
all that law and government can do, is
to regulate, modify and mitigate their slavery. In the absence of
legally instituted slavery, their condition
would be worse under that natural slavery of the weak to the
strong, the foolish to the wise and
cunning. The wise and virtuous, the brave, the strong in mind
and body, are by nature born to command
and protect, and law but follows nature in making them rulers,
legislators, judges, captains, husbands,
guardians, committees and masters. The naturally depraved
class, those born prone to crime, are our
brethren too; they are entitled to education, to religious
instruction, to all the means and appliances
proper to correct their evil propensities, and all their failings;
they have a right to be sent to the
penitentiary, - for there, if they do not reform, they cannot at
least disturb society. Our feelings, and our

consciences teach us, that nothing but necessity can justify
taking human life.
We are but stringing together truisms, which every body
knows as well as ourselves, and yet
Page 179
if men are created unequal in all these respects; what truth or
what meaning is there in the passage
under consideration? Men are not created or born equal, and
circumstances, and education, and
association, tend to increase and aggravate inequalities among
them, from generation to generation.
Generally, the rich associate and intermarry with each other, the
poor do the same; the ignorant rarely
associate with or intermarry with the learned, and all society
shuns contact with the criminal, even to
the third and fourth generations.
Men are not "born entitled to equal rights!" It would be far
nearer the truth to say, "that some were
born with saddles on their backs, and others booted and spurred
to ride them," - and the riding does

them good. They need the reins, the bit and the spur. No two
men by nature are exactly equal or exactly
alike. No institutions can prevent the few from acquiring rule
and ascendency over the many. Liberty
and free competition invite and encourage the attempt of the
strong to master the weak; and insure
their success.
"Life and liberty" are not "inalienable;" they have been
sold in all countries, and in all ages, and
must be sold so long as human nature lasts. It is an inexpedient
and unwise, and often unmerciful
restraint, on a man's liberty of action, to
Page 180
deny him the right to sell himself when starving, and again to
buy himself when fortune smiles. Most
countries of antiquity, and some, like China at the present day,
allowed such sale and purchase. The
great object of government is to restrict, control and punish man
"in the pursuit of happiness." All
crimes are committed in its pursuit. Under the free or
competitive system, most men's happiness

consists in destroying the happiness of other people. This, then,
is no inalienable right.
The author of the Declaration may have, and probably did
mean, that all men were created with an
equal title to property. Carry out such a doctrine, and it would
subvert every government on earth.
In practice, in all ages, and in all countries, men had sold
their liberty either for short periods, for
life, or hereditarily; that is, both their own liberty and that of
their children after them. The laws of all
countries have, in various forms and degrees, in all times
recognized and regulated this right to alien or
sell liberty. The soldiers and sailors of the revolution had
aliened both liberty and life, the wives in all
America had aliened their liberty, so had the apprentices and
wards at the very moment this verbose,
newborn, false and unmeaning preamble was written.
David Christy on “King Cotton”

Relative to the other authors selected for the signature
assignment, David Christy is an obscure
figure. Christy worked as a journalist in Cincinnati, Ohio, and
he had a strong interest in political
economy. His only claim to fame was that he wrote Cotton Is
King; Or, the Culture of Cotton,
and Its Relation to Agriculture, Manufacture, and Commerce;
and also to the Free People of
Colored People of the United States, and to Those Who Hold
that Slavery in Itself Is Sinful (2d
ed.; 1856). Christy argued that efforts to end slavery had
failed—and would fail in the future—
because cotton production had become embedded in the national
and world economy.
Southern cotton fed the factories of European and the American
North, and enslaved labor
planted and picked that cotton. Produce from the Northwestern
United States provided food
for the South’s enslaved labor force, and money from southern
planters enabled western
farmers to earn a living. Emancipation, Christy argued, would
destroy the entire system. Any
attempt to do so was pointless. “There was a time when
American slave labor sustained no
such relations to the manufactures and commerce of the world
… when … emancipation …
might have been effected. But that period has passed forever
away … at present, the institution
of slavery is … too massive for human power and wisdom to
overthrow” (74-75).
Although Christy, a non-slaveholder living in a free state,
claimed he made no defense of the
institution, proslavery advocates embraced his work and cited
Cotton Is King as the economic
justification of slavery. In the passage here, Christy describes

the scale of the world cotton
market and the place of slavery in it. Why did Christy believe
this situation was beneficial to
everyone involved?
ECONOMICAL RELATIONS OF SLAVERY. 55
CHAPTER V.
THE RELATIONS OF AMERICAN SLAVERY TO THE
INDUSTRIAL INTER
ESTS OF OUR COUNTRY; TO THE DEMANDS OF
COMMERCE; AND TO THE
PRESENT POLITICAL CRISIS.
Present condition of Slavery—Not an isolated system—-Its
relations to other in
dustrial interests-—To manufactures, commerce, trade, human
comfort—ItI
benevolent aspect—The reverse picture—Immense value of
tropical posses
sions to Great Britain——England’s attempted monopoly of
Manufactures-—
Her dependence on American Planters—-Cotton Planters
attempt to mo

nopolize Cotton markets—Fu.9ion of these parties—Free Trade
essential to
their success-—Influence on agriculture, mechanics—Exports of
Cotton, To
bacco, etc.—Inc1-eased production of Provisions-—Their
extent—New markets
needed.
Tun institution of slavery, at this moment, gives indications of
a vitality that was never anticipated by its friends or foes. Its
enemies oflzen supposed it about ready to expire, from the
wounds
they had inflicted, when in truth it had taken two steps in ad
vance, while they had taken twice the number in an opposite
direction. In each successive conflict, its assailants have been
weakened, while its dominion has been extended.
This has arisen from causes too generally overlooked. Slavery
___7
is not an isolated system, but is so mingledrwith the business of
mofld§'fh'sTit?'wa1'1ves'Tacilitiesfii‘roin the most innocent
transac
Vdmapital and labor, in Europe and America, are largely
employed in the manufactureof: cotton. These goods, to a great

extent, may be seen fi-eighting every vessel, from Christian
nations,
that traverses the seas of the globe, and filling the warehouses
and shelves of the merchants over two-thirds of the world. _By
_
the industry, skill, and enterprise employed in the manufacture
5?"
cotton, mankind_:_!-_1'_e__‘t)<_att__e_>;1"_g1'o_tVI’1ed;
their comfort better promoted ;
gelfeai-§l‘i’r1d11_s‘l§'fly more highly stimulated; commerce
more widely
extended; and civilization more rapidly advanced than in any
preceding age. -'
To the superficial observer, all the agencies, based upon the
sale
and manufacture of cotton, seem to be legitimately engagedwin
promoting human happiness; and he, doubtless, T5e1's‘i‘f1'§é'
invok
re,
/

66 COTTON IS KING; OR,
ing Heaven’s choicest blessings upon them. When he sees the
stockholders in the cotton corporations receiving their
dividends,
the operatives their wages, the merchants their profits, and civil
ized people everywhere clothed comfortabl y in cottons, he can
not
refrain from exclaiming: The lines have fallen unto them in
pleasant places; yea, they have a goodlylieritagel
But turn a moment to the source whence the raw cotton, the
basis of these operations, is obtained, and observe the aspect of
things in that direction. When the statistics on the subject are
examined, it appears that nine-tenths of the cotton consumed in
the Christian world is the product of the slave labor of the
United
States.‘ It is this monopoly that has given to slavery its commer
cial value; and, while this monopoly is retained, the institution
will continue to extend itself wherever it can find room to
spread.
He who looks for any other result, ‘.must expect that nations,

which, for centuries, have waged war to extend their commerce,
will now abandon that means of aggrandizcment, and bankrupt
themselves to force the abolition of American slavery!
This is not all. The economical value of slavery, as an agency
for supplying the means of extending manufactures and com
merce, has long been understood by statesmensf The discovery
* See Appendix, Table I.
f It may be well here to illustrate this point, by an extract from
McQueen, of
England, in 1844, when this highly intelligent gentleman was
urgng upon his
government the great necessity which existed for securing to
itself, as speedily
as possible, the control of the labor and the products of tropical
Africa. In ref
erence to the benefits which had been‘ derived from her West
India colonies,
before the suppression of the slave trade and the emancipation
of the slaves
had rendered them comparatively unproductive, he said : “
During the fearful
struggle of a quarter of a century, for her existence as a nation,

against the
power and resources of Europe, directed by the most intelligent
but remorselcss
military ambit-ion against her, the command of the productions
of the torrid zone,
and the advantageous commerce which that afforded, gave to
Great Britain the
power and the resources which enabled her to meet, to combat,
and to over
come, her numerous and reckless enemies in every battle-field,
whether by sea
or land, throughout the world. In her the world saw realized the
fabled giant
of antiquity. With her hundred hands she grasped her foes in
every region
under heaven, and crushed them with resistless energy."
In further presenting the considerations which he considered
necessary to 80
cure the adoption of the policy he was urging, Mr. McQueen
referred to the
difiiculties which were then surrounding Great Britain, and the
extent to which
rival nations had surpassed her in tropical cultivation. He
continued : “ The

O
David Walker on the Declaration of Independence
David Walker, a free African American and antislavery activist
based in Boston, Massachusetts,
wrote a pamphlet that pushed the antislavery movement toward
demanding an immediate end
to slavery. Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the
World argued that the brutality of
American slavery made it one of the worst examples of human
bondage in the history of the
world. And he predicted that the institution would most likely
come to an end through an
armed revolt. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was so
troubled by this argument that he
advocated a pacifist vision of immediate abolition that he hoped
would forestall that outcome.
Walker died under mysterious circumstances shortly after
copies of his Appeal appeared in the
South. The selection here comes from Walker’s Appeal. What
does he say about the
Declaration of Independence and slavery’s relationship to it?
David Walker, Extract from his Appeal, in Four Articles;
Together with a Preamble, to the
Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, … to Those
of the United States of America
(Boston: 1829) Electronic Edition

http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/walker/walker.html
If any are anxious to ascertain who I am, know the world, that I
am one of the oppressed,
degraded and wretched sons of Africa, rendered so by the
avaricious and unmerciful, among the
whites.--If any wish to plunge me into the wretched incapacity
of a slave, or murder me for the
truth, know ye, that I am in the hand of God, and at your
disposal. I count my life not dear unto
me, but I am ready to be offered at any moment. For what is the
use of living, when in fact I am
dead. But remember, Americans, that as miserable, wretched,
degraded and abject as you have
made us in preceding, and in this generation, to support you and
your families, that some of you,
(whites) on the continent of America, will yet curse the day that
you ever were born. You want
slaves, and want us for your slaves!!! My colour will yet, root
some of you out of the very face
of the earth!!!!!! You may doubt it if you please. I know that
thousands will doubt--they think
they have us so well secured in wretchedness, to them and their
children, that it is impossible for
such things to occur.
Why do the Slave-holders or Tyrants of America and their
advocates fight so hard to keep my
brethren from receiving and reading my Book of Appeal to
them?--Is it because they treat us so
well?--Is it because we are satisfied to rest in Slavery to them
and their children?--Is is because
they are treating us like men, by compensating us all over this
free country!! for our labours?--

But why are the Americans so very fearfully terrified respecting
my [antislavery] Book?--Why
do they search vessels, &c. when entering the harbours of
tyrannical States, to see if any of my
Books can be found, for fear that my brethren [fellow Afri can
Americans] will get them to read.
Why, I thought the Americans proclaimed to the world that they
are a happy, enlightened,
humane and Christian people, all the inhabitants of the country
enjoy equal Rights!! America is
the Asylum [place of protection] for the oppressed of all
nations!!!
Now I ask the Americans to see the fearful terror they labor
under for fear that my brethren will
get my Book and read it--and tell me if their declaration is true-
-viz, if the United States of
America is a Republican Government?--Is this not the most
tyrannical, unmerciful, and cruel
government under Heaven[?]….-But perhaps the Americans do
their very best to keep my
Brethren [fellow African Americans] from receiving and
reading my "Appeal" [name of his
book] for fear they will find in it an extract which I made from
their Declaration of
Independence, which says, "we hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created
equal," &c. &c. &c.--….
[Allen extracts the following from the Declaration of
Independence]
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the Powers of the

earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature
and of nature's God entitle them.
A decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires, that they
should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.--We hold these truths to be self
evident--that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights: that among these,
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that, to secure
these rights, governments are
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed; that when
ever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the right of the people to
alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government laying
its foundation on such principles,
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their safety
and happiness…." ….See your Declaration Americans!!! Do you
understand your own
language? Hear your language, proclaimed to the world, July
4th, 1776--"We hold these truths to
be self evident--that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL!! that
they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness!!" Compare your own language above, extracted from
your Declaration of
Independence, with your cruelties and murders inflicted by your
cruel and unmerciful fathers and
yourselves on our fathers and on us--men who have never given
your fathers or you the least
provocation!!!!!!

INCIDENTS
IN THE
LIFE OF A SLAVE
GIRL.
Written by Herself.
By Linda Brent
"Northerners know nothing at all about Slavery. They think it is
perpetual bondage only. They
have no conception of the depth of degradation involved in that
word, SLAVERY; if they had,
they would never cease their efforts until so horrible a system
was overthrown."
A Woman Of North Carolina.
"Rise up, ye women that are at ease! Hear my voice, ye careless
daughters! Give ear unto my
speech."
Isaiah xxxii. 9.
Edited By L. Maria Child.
Boston: Published For The Author.
1861.

V. The Trials Of
Girlhood.
During the first years of my service in Dr. Flint's family, I was
accustomed to share some
indulgences with the children of my mistress. Though this
seemed to me no more than right, I was
grateful for it, and tried to merit the kindness by the faithful
discharge of my duties. But I now
entered on my fifteenth year—a sad epoch in the life of a slave
girl. My master began to whisper
foul words in my ear. Young as I was, I could not remain
ignorant of their import. I tried to treat
them with indifference or contempt. The master's age, my
extreme youth, and the fear that his
conduct would be reported to my grandmother, made him bear
this treatment for many months.
He was a crafty man, and resorted to many means to accomplish
his purposes. Sometimes he had
stormy, terrific ways, that made his victims tremble; sometimes
he assumed a gentleness that he
thought must surely subdue. Of the two, I preferred his stormy
moods, although they left me
trembling. He tried his utmost to corrupt the pure principles my
grandmother had instilled. He
peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a
vile monster could think of. I turned
from him with disgust and hatred. But he was my master. I was
compelled to live under the same
roof with him—where I saw a man forty years my senior daily
violating the most sacred

commandments of nature. He told me I was his property; that I
must be subject to his will in all
things. My soul revolted against the mean tyranny. But where
could I turn for protection? No
matter whether the slave girl be as black as ebony or as fair as
her mistress. In either case, there is
no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from violence, or
even from death; all these are
inflicted by fiends who bear the shape of men. The mistress,
who ought to protect the helpless
victim, has no other feelings towards her but those of jealousy
and rage. The degradation, the
wrongs, the vices, that grow out of slavery, are more than I can
describe. They are greater than you
would willingly believe. Surely, if you credited one half the
truths that are told you concerning the
helpless millions suffering in this cruel bondage, you at the
north would not help to tighten the
yoke. You surely would refuse to do for the master, on your
own soil, the mean and cruel work
which trained bloodhounds and the lowest class of whites do for
him at the south.
Every where the years bring to all enough of sin and sorrow; but
in slavery the very dawn of life
is darkened by these shadows. Even the little child, who is
accustomed to wait on her mistress and
her children, will learn, before she is twelve years old, why it is
that her mistress hates such and
such a one among the slaves. Perhaps the child's own mother is
among those hated ones. She listens
to violent outbreaks of jealous passion, and cannot help
understanding what is the cause. She will
become prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will learn
to tremble when she hears her
master's footfall. She will be compelled to realize that she is no

longer a child. If God has bestowed
beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse. That which
commands admiration in the white
woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave. I know
that some are too much brutalized
by slavery to feel the humiliation of their position; but many
slaves feel it most acutely, and shrink
from the memory of it. I cannot tell how much I suffered in the
presence of these wrongs, nor how
I am still pained by the retrospect. My master met me at every
turn, reminding me that I belonged
to him, and swearing by heaven and earth that he would compel
me to submit to him. If I went out
for a breath of fresh air, after a day of unwearied toil, his
footsteps dogged me. If I knelt by my
mother's grave, his dark shadow fell on me even there. The light
heart which nature had given me
became heavy with sad forebodings. The other slaves in my
master's house noticed the change.
Many of them pitied me; but none dared to ask the cause. They
had no need to inquire. They knew
too well the guilty practices under that roof; and they were
aware that to speak of them was an
offence that never went unpunished.
I longed for some one to confide in. I would have given the
world to have laid my head on my
grandmother's faithful bosom, and told her all my troubles. But
Dr. Flint swore he would kill me,
if I was not as silent as the grave. Then, although my
grandmother was all in all to me, I feared her
as well as loved her. I had been accustomed to look up to her
with a respect bordering upon awe.
I was very young, and felt shamefaced about telling her such
impure things, especially as I knew
her to be very strict on such subjects. Moreover, she was a

woman of a high spirit. She was usually
very quiet in her demeanor; but if her indignation was once
roused, it was not very easily quelled.
I had been told that she once chased a white gentleman with a
loaded pistol, because he insulted
one of her daughters. I dreaded the consequences of a violent
outbreak; and both pride and fear
kept me silent. But though I did not confide in my grandmother,
and even evaded her vigilant
watchfulness and inquiry, her presence in the neighborhood was
some protection to me. Though
she had been a slave, Dr. Flint was afraid of her. He dreaded her
scorching rebukes. Moreover, she
was known and patronized by many people; and he did not wish
to have his villany made public.
It was lucky for me that I did not live on a distant plantation,
but in a town not so large that the
inhabitants were ignorant of each other's affairs. Bad as are the
laws and customs in a slaveholding
community, the doctor, as a professional man, deemed it
prudent to keep up some outward show
of decency.
O, what days and nights of fear and sorrow that man caused me!
Reader, it is not to awaken
sympathy for myself that I am telling you truthfully what I
suffered in slavery. I do it to kindle a
flame of compassion in your hearts for my sisters who are still
in bondage, suffering as I once
suffered.
I once saw two beautiful children playing together. One was a
fair white child; the other was

her slave, and also her sister. When I saw them embracing each
other, and heard their joyous
laughter, I turned sadly away from the lovely sight. I foresaw
the inevitable blight that would fall
on the little slave's heart. I knew how soon her laughter would
be changed to sighs. The fair child
grew up to be a still fairer woman. From childhood to
womanhood her pathway was blooming
with flowers, and overarched by a sunny sky. Scarcely one day
of her life had been clouded when
the sun rose on her happy bridal morning.
How had those years dealt with her slave sister, the little
playmate of her childhood? She, also,
was very beautiful; but the flowers and sunshine of love were
not for her. She drank the cup of sin,
and shame, and misery, whereof her persecuted race are
compelled to drink.
In view of these things, why are ye silent, ye free men and
women of the north? Why do your
tongues falter in maintenance of the right? Would that I had
more ability! But my heart is so full,
and my pen is so weak! There are noble men and women who
plead for us, striving to help those
who cannot help themselves. God bless them! God give them
strength and courage to go on! God
bless those, every where, who are laboring to advance the cause
of humanity!
INCIDENTS 0BINCIDENTS1BIN THE2BLIFE OF A SLAVE
GIRL.3BWritten by Herself.4BBy Linda Brent11B1861.12BV.
The Trials Of Girlhood.IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL.
Written by Herself. By Linda Brent "Northerners know nothing
at all about Slavery. They think it is perpetual bondage only.

They have no conception of the depth of degradation involved
in that word, SLAVERY; if they had, they would never cease
their efforts until so horrible a system was overthrown." A
Woman Of North Carolina. "Rise up, ye women that are at ease!
Hear my voice, ye careless daughters! Give ear unto my
speech." Isaiah xxxii. 9. Edited By L. Maria Child. Boston:
Published For The Author. 1861. V. The Trials Of Girlhood.
During the first years of my service in Dr. Flint's family, I was
accustomed to share some indulgences with the children of my
mistress. Though this seemed to me no more than right, I was
grateful for it, and tried to merit the kindness by the faithful
discharge of my duties. But I now entered on my fifteenth
year—a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl. My master began to
whisper foul words in my ear. Young as I was, I could not
remain ignorant of their import. I tried to treat them with
indifference or contempt. The master's age, my extreme youth,
and the fear that his conduct would be reported to my
grandmother, made him bear this treatment for many months.
He was a crafty man, and resorted to many means to accomplish
his purposes. Sometimes he had stormy, terrific ways, that made
his victims tremble; sometimes he assumed a gentleness that he
thought must surely subdue. Of the two, I preferred his stormy
moods, although they left me trembling. He tried his utmost to
corrupt the pure principles my grandmother had instilled. He
peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a
vile monster could think of. I turned from him with disgust and
hatred. But he was my master. I was compelled to live under the
same roof with him—where I saw a man forty years my senior
daily violating the most sacred commandments of nature. He
told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in
all things. My soul revolted against the mean tyranny. But
where could I turn for protection? No matter whether the slave
girl be as black as ebony or as fair as her mistress. In either
case, there is no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from
violence, or even from death; all these are inflicted by fiends
who bear the shape of men. The mistress, who ought to protect

the helpless victim, has no other feelings towards her but those
of jealousy and rage. The degradation, the wrongs, the vices,
that grow out of slavery, are more than I can describe. They are
greater than you would willingly believe. Surely, if you credited
one half the truths that are told you concerning the helpless
millions suffering in this cruel bondage, you at the north would
not help to tighten the yoke. You surely would refuse to do for
the master, on your own soil, the mean and cruel work which
trained bloodhounds and the lowest class of whites do for him at
the south. Every where the years bring to all enough of sin and
sorrow; but in slavery the very dawn of life is darkened by these
shadows. Even the little child, who is accustomed to wait on her
mistress and her children, will learn, before she is twelve years
old, why it is that her mistress hates such and such a one among
the slaves. Perhaps the child's own mother is among those hated
ones. She listens to violent outbreaks of jealous passion, and
cannot help understanding what is the cause. She will become
prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will learn to
tremble when she hears her master's footfall. She will be
compelled to realize that she is no longer a child. If God has
bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse. That
which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens
the degradation of the female slave. I know that some are too
much brutalized by slavery to feel the humiliation of their
position; but many slaves feel it most acutely, and shrink from
the memory of it. I cannot tell how much I suffered in the
presence of these wrongs, nor how I am still pained by the
retrospect. My master met me at every turn, reminding me that I
belonged to him, and swearing by heaven and earth that he
would compel me to submit to him. If I went out for a breath of
fresh air, after a day of unwearied toil, his footsteps dogged me.
If I knelt by my mother's grave, his dark shadow fell on me
even there. The light heart which nature had given me became
heavy with sad forebodings. The other slaves in my master's
house noticed the change. Many of them pitied me; but none
dared to ask the cause. They had no need to inquire. They knew

too well the guilty practices under that roof; and they were
aware that to speak of them was an offence that never went
unpunished. I longed for some one to confide in. I would have
given the world to have laid my head on my grandmother's
faithful bosom, and told her all my troubles. But Dr. Flint swore
he would kill me, if I was not as silent as the grave. Then,
although my grandmother was all in all to me, I feared her as
well as loved her. I had been accustomed to look up to her with
a respect bordering upon awe. I was very young, and felt
shamefaced about telling her such impure things, especially as I
knew her to be very strict on such subjects. Moreover, she was a
woman of a high spirit. She was usually very quiet in her
demeanor; but if her indignation was once roused, it was not
very easily quelled. I had been told that she once chased a white
gentleman with a loaded pistol, because he insulted one of her
daughters. I dreaded the consequences of a violent outbreak;
and both pride and fear kept me silent. But though I did not
confide in my grandmother, and even evaded her vigilant
watchfulness and inquiry, her presence in the neighborhood was
some protection to me. Though she had been a slave, Dr. Flint
was afraid of her. He dreaded her scorching rebukes. Moreover,
she was known and patronized by many people; and he did not
wish to have his villany made public. It was lucky for me that I
did not live on a distant plantation, but in a town not so large
that the inhabitants were ignorant of each other's affairs. Bad as
are the laws and customs in a slaveholding community, the
doctor, as a professional man, deemed it prudent to keep up
some outward show of decency. O, what days and nights of fear
and sorrow that man caused me! Reader, it is not to awaken
sympathy for myself that I am telling you truthfully what I
suffered in slavery. I do it to kindle a flame of compassion in
your hearts for my sisters who are still in bondage, suffering as
I once suffered. I once saw two beautiful children playing
together. One was a fair white child; the other was her slave,
and also her sister. When I saw them embracing each other, and
heard their joyous laughter, I turned sadly away from the lovely

sight. I foresaw the inevitable blight that would fall on the little
slave's heart. I knew how soon her laughter would be changed to
sighs. The fair child grew up to be a still fairer woman. From
childhood to womanhood her pathway was blooming with
flowers, and overarched by a sunny sky. Scarcely one day of her
life had been clouded when the sun rose on her happy bridal
morning. How had those years dealt with her slave sister, the
little playmate of her childhood? She, also, was very beautiful;
but the flowers and sunshine of love were not for her. She drank
the cup of sin, and shame, and misery, whereof her persecuted
race are compelled to drink. In view of these things, why are ye
silent, ye free men and women of the north? Why do your
tongues falter in maintenance of the right? Would that I had
more ability! But my heart is so full, and my pen is so weak!
There are noble men and women who plead for us, striving to
help those who cannot help themselves. God bless them! God
give them strength and courage to go on! God bless those, every
where, who are laboring to advance the cause of humani ty!
Lincoln on Free Labor and the Mud-Sill Thesis
Abraham Lincoln emerged in the 1850s as a leading Republican
critic of the slaveholding South
and the political power its representatives had achieved on the
national level. Like other
Republicans, Lincoln emphasized the superiority of free labor—
meaning that workers were not
bound to an employer and were free negotiate wages, go on
strike, or just quit—over enslaved
labor. In the passage here, Lincoln took on the “mud-sill”
theory advocated by people like
James Henry Hammond (see the Proslavery Documents). Why
does he reject the “mud-sill”

argument? What problem does he see in the theory’s division of
society into masters and
servants (whether slave or free)? What does the theory leave
out, according to Lincoln? Keep in
mind two other questions as you read: What was the relationship
between wage labor and
social mobility and what was the significance of education for
Lincoln?
Excerpt of Lincoln's Speech on Free Labor vs. Slave
Labor
From: Lincoln, Abraham. "Annual Address Before the
Wisconsin State Agricultural
Society, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1859." The
Complete Works of
Abraham Lincoln, vol. 5. Eds. John G. Nicolay and John Hay.
New York: Francis D.
Tandy Company, 1894.
The world is agreed that labor is the source from which human
wants are mainly supplied.
There is no dispute upon this point. From this point, however,
men immediately diverge.
Much disputation is maintained as to the best way of applying
and controlling the labor
element. By some it is assumed that labor is available only in

connection with capital –
that nobody labors, unless somebody else owning capital,
somehow, by the use of it,
induces him to do it. Having assumed this, they proceed to
consider whether it is best that
capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by
their
[p. 248]
own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it, without their
consent. Having proceeded
so far, they naturally conclude that all laborers are naturally
either hired laborers or slaves.
They further assume that whoever is once a hired laborer, is
fatally fixed in that condition
for life; and thence again, that his condition is as bad as, or
worse than, that of a slave.
This is the "mud-sill" theory. But another class of reasoners
hold the opinion that there is
no such relation between capital and labor as assumed; that
there is no such thing as a free
man being fatally fixed for life in the condition of a hired
laborer; that both these
assumptions are false, and all inferences from them groundless.
They hold that labor is

prior to, and independent of, capital; that, in fact, capital is the
fruit of labor, and could
never have existed if labor had not first existed; that labor can
exist without capital, but
that capital could never have existed without labor. Hence they
hold that labor is the
superior – greatly the superior – of capital. They do not deny
that there is, and probably
always will be, a relation between labor and capital. The error,
as they hold, is in assuming
that the whole labor of the world exists within that relation. A
few men own capital; and
that few avoid labor themselves, and with
[p. 249]
their capital hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large
majority belong to neither
class – neither work for others, nor have others working for
them. Even in all our slave
States except South Carolina, a majority of the whole people of
all colors are neither slaves
nor masters. In these free States, a large majority are neither
hirers nor hired. Men, with
their families – wives, sons and daughters – work for

themselves, on their farms, in their
houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to
themselves, and asking no favors of
capital on the one hand, nor of hirelings or slaves on the other.
It is not forgotten that a
considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with
capital – that is, labor with
their own hands and also buy slaves or hire free men to labor
for them; but this is only a
mixed, and not a distinct, class. No principle stated is disturbed
by the existence of this
mixed class. Again, as has already been said, the opponents of
the "mud-sill" theory insist
that there is not, of necessity, any such thing as the free hired
laborer being fixed to that
condition for life. There is demonstration for saying this. Many
independent men in this
assembly doubtless a few years ago were hired laborers. And
their case is almost, if not
quite, the general rule. The prudent, penniless beginner in the
world
[p. 250]

labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools
or land for himself, then
labors on his own account another while, and at length hires
another new beginner to help
him. This, say its advocates, is free labor – the just, and
generous, and prosperous system,
which opens the way for all, gives hope to all, and energy, and
progress, and improvement
of condition to all. If any continue through life in the condition
of the hired laborer, it is
not the fault of the system, but because of either a dependent
nature which prefers it, or
improvidence, folly, or singular misfortune. I have said this
much about the elements of
labor generally, as introductory to the consideration of a new
phase which that element is
in process of assuming. The old general rule was that educated
people did not perform
manual labor. They managed to eat their bread, leaving the toil
of producing it to the
uneducated. This was not an insupportable evil to the working
bees, so long as the class of
drones remained very small. But now, especially in these free
States, nearly all are

educated – quite too nearly all to leave the labor of the
uneducated in any wise adequate to
the support of the whole. It follows from this that henceforth
educated people must labor.
© 2014 Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University.
All rights reserved. Web Site Privacy Policy.
DeKalb, Illinois 60115 | Regional Sites | Contact Us
Emergency Information | Employment
http://www.niu.edu/index.shtml
http://www.its.niu.edu/its/Policies/privacy_policy.shtml
http://niu.edu/regional/index.shtml
http://niu.edu/contactinfo.shtml
http://niu.edu/emergencyinfo/index.shtml
http://niu.edu/employment/index.shtml
Frederick Douglass on the Fourth of July
Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery and became one of the
most prominent abolitionist in
the United States. Before he fled Maryland, Douglass taught
himself to read and write, and
ultimately became a masterful writer. He published his own
paper, The North Star, as well as
autobiographical slavery narratives like The Narrative of
Frederick Douglass and My Bondage,

My Freedom. He also was a popular speaker on the antislavery
circuit.
The selection here comes from a Fourth of July Speech
Douglass delivered in 1852, a
particularly bleak time for the antislavery movement because it
appeared to be making little
headway. As you read, pay attention to the following things.
Note how Douglass uses pronouns.
Why did he make a point to discuss your Revolution (instead of
our Revolution)? What
emotions did the Revolution evoke in Douglass? Finally, what
significance did Douglass place on
the relatively young age of the Republic? Why point that out?
Extracts from Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave Is the
Fourth of July?” Speech made at Rochester’s
Corinthian Hall (July 5, 1852)
Full text
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-
the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/
The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this
platform and the slave plantation, from which
I escaped, is considerable — and the difficulties to be overcome
in getting from the latter to the former,
are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter

of astonishment as well as of gratitude.
You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say I
evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace
my speech with any high sounding exordium. With little
experience and with less learning, I have been
able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and
trusting to your patient and generous
indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you.
…This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It
is the birthday of your National
Independence, and of your political freedom... This celebration
also marks the beginning of another year
of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of
America is now 76 years old. I am glad,
fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six years,
though a good old age for a man, is but a
mere speck in the life of a nation…. Were the nation older, the
patriot’s heart might be sadder, and the
reformer’s brow heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom,
and the hope of its prophets go out in
sorrow. There is consolation in the thought that America is
young. Great streams are not easily turned
from channels, worn deep in the course of ages.

…Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the
associations that cluster about this day.
The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this
country were British subjects. The style and
title of your “sovereign people” (in which you now glory) was
not then born. You were under the British
Crown. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the
home government; and England as the
fatherland. This home government, you know, although a
considerable distance from your home, did, in
the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its
colonial children, such restraints, burdens and
limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right
and proper.
…To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is
exceedingly easy. Everybody can say it; the
dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on
the tyranny of England towards the
American Colonies. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a
time when to pronounce against England,
and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried men’s souls….
[but now] The cause of liberty [in the form
of slavery] may be stabbed by the men [Americans who tolerate
slavery while they] … glory in the deeds

of your fathers [the patriots]. But, to proceed.
…Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home
government, your fathers, like men of
honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. They
petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a
decorous, respectful, and loyal manner. Their conduct was
wholly unexceptionable. This, however, did
not answer the purpose. They saw themselves treated with
sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. Yet
they persevered. They were not the men to look back.
…They [the founding fathers and patriots of ‘76] loved their
country better than their own private
interests [that is, they showed ‘republican virtue] ; and, though
this is not the highest form of human
excellence, all will concede that it is a rare [republican] virtue,
and that when it is exhibited, it ought to
command respect. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life
for his country, is a man whom it is not in
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-
the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/
human nature to despise. Your fathers staked their lives, their
fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the
cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they lost

sight of all other interests.
…Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called
upon to speak here to-day? What have I,
or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are
the great principles of political freedom
and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of
Independence, extended to us [African
Americans]? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our
humble offering to the national altar, and to
confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the
blessings resulting from your independence to
us?
…But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense
of the disparity between us. I [as an
African American and former slave] am not included within the
pale of this glorious anniversary! Your
high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance
between us. The blessings in which you, this
day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. — The rich
inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and
independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not
by me. The sunlight that brought life and
healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth
[of] July is yours, not mine. You may

rejoice, I must mourn….
….Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear
the mournful wail of millions! whose
chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered
more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that
reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those
bleeding children of sorrow this day, “may
my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to
the roof of my mouth!” To forget them,
to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the
popular theme, would be treason most
scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before
God and the world. My subject, then
fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. I shall see, this day,
and its popular characteristics, from the
slave’s point of view. Standing, there, identified with the
American bondman [slave], making his wrongs
mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the
character and conduct of this nation never
looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn
to the declarations of the past, or to the
professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems
equally hideous and revolting. America is false

to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be
false to the future. Standing with God
and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in
the name of humanity which is outraged, in
the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the
constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded
and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce,
with all the emphasis I can command,
everything that serves to perpetuate slavery — the great sin and
shame of America! “I will not
equivocate; I will not excuse;” I will use the severest language I
can command; and yet not one word shall
escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by
prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder,
shall not confess to be right and just.
The American Anti-Slavery Society’s “Declaration of
Sentiments”
Founded by William Lloyd Garrison, among others, the
American Anti-Slavery Society (AAS)
arose as one of the major voices of the abolition movement in
the 1830s. The AAS called for

immediate, uncompensated emancipation, racial equality, and
separation of the Free States
from the slave states. It was a radical organization that help
develop the moral critique of
slavery and slaveholders. The selection here lays all that out
quite well.
As you read, keep the following questions in mind: How did the
authors of the Declaration of
Sentiments view the abolition movement’s relationship to the
American Revolution? Why did
they argue emancipation should not involve compensation?
What power did they believe the
federal government had over slavery? And how did the AAS
propose to proceed against
slavery?
AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 17
Again, I feel very reluctant to claim to be an Abolitionist,
because
I think it to be a very high pretension for a man to make. I am
perfectly willing to bear the obloquy of the name ; but it looks
like
pride, and may imply a want of self-knowledge, for a man to
claim
with confidence that he is a genuine, thorough-going
Garrisonian

Abolitionist. Under these circumstances, I esteem myself
honored,
inasmuch as I have been invited to read to you the " Declaration
of
Sentiments" upon which this Society was founded; a
Declaration
made in this city thirty years ago, and second only in time to the
Declaration of 1776.
DECLARATION OP SENTIMENTS.
The Convention assembled in the city of Philadelphia, to
organize
a National Anti-Slavery Society, promptly seize the opportunity
to
promulgate the following DECLARATION OP SENTIMENTS,
as cherished by them in relation to the enslavement of one sixth
portion of the American people.
More than fifty-seven years have elapsed since a band of
patriots
convened in this place, to devise measures for the deliverance
of this
country from a foreign yoke. The corner-stone upon which they
founded the TEMPLE OF FREEDOM was broadly this—"that

all men
are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with
cer
tain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, LIBERTY,
and
the pursuit of happiness." At the sound of their trumpet-call,
three
millions of people rose up as from the sleep of death, and
rushed to the
strife of blood ; deeming it more glorious to die instantly as free
men, than desirable to live one hour as slaves. They were few in
number—poor in resources; but the honest conviction that
THDTH,
JUSTICE and RIGHT were on their side made them invincible.
We have met together for the achievement of an enterprise, with
out which that of our fathers is incomplete ; and which, for its
mag
nitude, solemnity, and probable results upon the destiny of the
world,
as far transcends theirs as moral truth does physical force.
In purity of motive, in earnestness of zeal, in decision of
purpose,

in intrepidity of action, in steadfastness of faith, in sincerity of
spirit,
we would not be inferior to them.
Their principles led them to wage war against their oppressors,
and to spill human blood like water in order to be free. Ours
forbid
the doing of evil that good may come, and lead us to reject, and
to
entreat the oppressed to reject, the use of all carnal weapons for
de
liverance from bondage ; relying solely upon those which are
spirit
ual, and mighty through God to the pulling down of
strongholds.
Their measures were physical resistance — the marshalling in
arms — the hostile array— the mortal encounter. Ours shall be
such only as the opposition of moral purity to moral
corruption—
3
18 THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
the destruction of error by tho potency of truth — the overthrow

of
prejudice by the power of love—and the abolition of Slavery by
the
spirit of repentance.
Their grievances, great as they were, were trifling in
comparison
with the wrongs and sufferings of those for whom we plead. Our
fathers were never slaves—never bought and sold like cattle—
never
shut out from the light of knowledge and religion—never
subjected
to the lash of brutal taskmasters. •
But those for whose emancipation we are striving—constituting,
at the present time, at least one sixth part of our countrymen—
are
recognized by the law, and treated by their fellow-beings, as
market
able commodities, as goods and chattels, as brute beasts; are
plun
dered daily of the fruits of their toil without redress ; really
enjoy
no constitutional nor legal protection from licentious and
murderous

outrages upon their persons ; are ruthlessly torn asunder—the
tender
babe from the arms of its frantic mother—the heart-broken wife
from
her weeping husband—at the caprice or pleasure of
irresponsible
tyrants. For the crime of having a dark complexion, they suffer
the
pangs of hunger, the infliction of stripes, and the ignominy of
brutal
servitude. They are kept in heathenish darkness by laws
expressly
enacted to make their instruction a criminal offence.
These are the prominent circumstances in the condition of more
than two millions of our people, the proof of which may be
found
in thousands of indisputable facts, and in the laws of the
slavehold-
ing States.
Hence we maintain—that in view of the civil and religious privi
leges of this nation, the guilt of its oppression is unequalled by
any

other on the face of the earth ; and, therefore,
That it is bound to repent instantly, to undo the heavy burden,
to
break every yoke, and to let the oppressed go free.
We further maintain—that no man has a right to enslave or im-
brute his brother—to hold or acknowledge him, for one moment,
as
a piece of merchandize—to keep back his hire by fraud—or to
bru
talize his mind by denying him the means of intellectual, social
and
moral improvement.
The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. To invade it is to usurp
the prerogative of Jehovah. Every man has a right to his own
body—to the products of his own labor—to the protection of
law—
and to the common advantages of society. It is piracy to buy or
steal a native African, and subject him to servitude. Surely the
sin
is as great to enslave an AMERICAN as an AFRICAN.
Therefore we believe and affirm—That there is no difference, in

principle, between the African slave trade and American
Slavery :
That every American citizen, who retains a human being in
invol
untary bondage as his property, is, according to Scripture, (Ex.
21 :
16,) a MAN-STEALER !
That the slaves ought instantly to be set free, and brought under
the protection of the law :
AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 19
That if they had lived from the time of Pharaoh down to the
present period, and had been entailed through successive
generations,
their right to be free could never have been alienated, but their
claims would have constantly risen in solemnity : =
That all those laws which are now in force, admitting the right
of I
Slavery, are therefore, before God, utterly null and void ; being
an }
audacious usurpation of the Divine prerogative, a daring
infringement

on the i^w jj' nature, a base overthrow of the very foundations
of ir >
the socjal^aispact, a complete extinction of all the relations,
endear- *•*> /-
ments, and obligations of mankind, and a presumptuous
transgression
of all the holy commandments—and that, therefore, they ought
in
stantly to be abrogated.
We further believe and affirm—that all persons of color who
possess the qualifications which are demanded of others, ought
to be
admitted forthwith to the enjoyment of the same privileges, and
the
exercise of the same prerogatives, as others ; and that the paths
of
preferment, of wealth, and of intelligence, should be opened as
widely to them as to persons of a white complexion.
We maintain that no compensation should be given to the
planters
emancipating their slaves ;
Because it would be a surrender of the great fundamental princi

ple, that man cannot hold property in man ;
Because SLAVERY is A CRIME, AND THEREFORE is NOT
AN ARTICLE
TO BE SOLD;
Because the holders of slaves are not the just proprietors of
what
they claim ; freeing the slaves is not depriving them of
property, but
restoring it to its rightful owners ; it is not wronging the master,
but
righting the slave—restoring him to himself;
Because immediate and general emancipation would only
destroy
nominal, not real property ; it would not amputate a limb, or
break
a bone of the slaves, but, by infusing motives into their breasts,
would
make them doubly valuable to the masters as free laborers ; and
Because, if compensation is to be given at all, it should be
given
to the outraged and guiltless slaves, and not to those who have
plun

dered and abused them.
We regard as delusive, cruel and dangerous, any scheme of expa
triation which pretends to aid, either directly or indirectly, in
the
emancipation of the slaves, or to be a substitute for the
immediate
and total abolition of Slavery.
We fully and unanimously recognize the sovereignty of each
State
to legislate exclusively on the subject of the Slavery which is
tole- j
rated within its limits ; we concede that Congress, under the
pzesent ""i
natiojial_ compact, has no right to interfere with any of the
Slave
States, in relation to this momentous subject :
But we maintain that Congress has a right, and is solemnly
bound,
to suppress the domestic slave trade between the several States,
and
to abolish Slavery in those portions of our territory which the
Con
stitution has placed under its exclusive jurisdiction. ^

20 THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
We also maintain that there are, at the present time, the highest
obligations resting upon the people of the Free States to remove
Slavery by moral and political action, as prescribed in the
Constitu
tion of the United States. They are now living under a pledge of
their tremendous physical force to fasten the galling fetters of
tyranny upon the limbs of millions in the Southern States; they
are
liable to be called at any moment to suppress a general
insurrection
of the slaves ; they authorize the slave-owner to vote on three
fifths
of his slaves as property, and thus enable him to perpetuate his
op
pression ; they support a standing army at the South for its
protec
tion ; and they seize the slave who has escaped into their
territories,
and send him back to be tortured by an enraged master or a
brutal

driver. This relation to Slavery is criminal, and full of danger :
IT
MUST BE BROKEN UP.
These are our views and principles—these our designs and meas
ures. With entire confidence in the overruling justice of God,
we
plant ourselves upon the Declaration of Independence and the
truths of divine revelation as upon the Everlasting Hock.
We shall organize Anti-Slavery Societies, if possible, in every
city, town and village in our land.
We shall send forth agents to lift up the voice of remonstrance,
of
warning, of entreaty and rebuke.
We shall circulate, unsparingly and extensively, Anti-Slavery
tracts and periodicals.
We shall enlist the pulpit and the press in the cause of the suffer
ing and the dumb.
We shall aim at a purification of the churches from all participa
tion in the guilt of Slavery.

We shall encourage the labor of freemen rather than that of
slaves, by giving a preference to their productions : and
We shall spare no exertions nor means to bring the whole nation
to speedy repentance.
Our trust for victory is solely in God. We may be personally
defeated, but our principles never. TRUTH, JUSTICE,
REASON, HU
MANITY, must and will gloriously triumph. Already a host is
coming
up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, and the prospect
before us is full of encouragement.
Submitting this DECLARATION to the candid examination of
the people of this country, and of the friends of Liberty
throughout
the world, we hereby affix our signatures to it ; pledging
ourselves
that, under the guidance and by the help of Almighty God, we
will
do all that in us lies, consistently with this Declaration of our
prin
ciples, to overthrow the most execrable system of Slavery that
has

ever been witnessed upon earth—to deliver our land from its
dead
liest curse— to wipe out the foulest stain which rests upon our
national escutcheon—and to secure to the colored population of
the
United States all the rights and privileges which belong to them
as
men and as Americans—come what may to our persons, our
inter
AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVEKY SOCIETY. 21
ests, or our reputation—whether we live to witness the triumph
of
LIBERTY, JUSTICE and HUHAHITY, or perish untimely as
martyrs in
this great, benevolent and holy cause.
Done at Philadelphia, the 6th day of December, A. D. 1833.
I am informed that of the sixty persons and upwards, who
appended
their names to this Declaration, only fifteen have died, when the
an
ticipation here expressed has been realized. The large body of

the
signers " lire to witness the triumph of liberty, justice and
humanity."
You all know what have been the weapons of our friends in the
great war in which they have been engaged. If our country had
responded to these sentiments thirty years ago, as they
responded to
the tidings of the attack upon Fort Sumter, slavery would have
been
utterly abolished by this time, without the shedding of a single
drop
of blood. But there is a homely proverb, that it is in vain to talk
about what might have been, or what should have been. Blood is
running like water, and the consolation and reward of our
friends is,
that when the South broke out in brutal assault upon the life of
the
nation, that the nation was so well prepared for the hour was
due in
great part to the fidelity with which they have redeemed the
pledges
they gave in this Declaration, in forming Anti-Slavery Societies

throughout all the North, and in sending every where anti -
slavery
information.
I confess there are very strong points of resemblance between
the
Abolitionists of the North and the conspirators of the South.
Our
friends at the North, thirty years ago, undertook to fire the
Northern
heart, insensible to the fact that they were in danger of firing
the
Southern heart at the same time. So, also, a few years ago, the '
leading conspirators at the South undertook to fire the Southern
heart, never dreaming what a tremendous fire they were going
to
kindle in the Northern heart. So that, in this respect, the Aboli
tionists of the North and the Fire-eaters of the South resembled
each other; with this difference —that the Abolitionists
undertook to
kindle the Northern heart with fire from heaven ; the Fire-eaters
undertook to kindle the Southern heart with fire from—the other
place. (Applause.)

SPEECH OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
On the Fourth of July, 1776, our fathers put their names to the
Declaration of American Independence. They testified before
the

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney on the Declaration of Independ

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Chief Justice Roger B. Taney on the Declaration of Independ

Similar to Chief Justice Roger B. Taney on the Declaration of Independ (13)

More from MargaritoWhitt221

More from MargaritoWhitt221 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney on the Declaration of Independ