JIdwards, Jonathan, 
 
 The Injustice and Impolicy of the 
 Slave trade and the Slarery of the Afri- 
 cans: a Sermon, 1822. 
 
 
Glass 1 ^ ^ 'o 
 Book .£_11- 
 
M. 
 
The 
 
 INJUSTICE AND IMPOLICY ^f 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SLAVE TRADE, 
 
 AND OE l^it f 
 
 j^ ILLUSTRATED IN 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE THE CONNECTICUT SOCIETY FOR THE 
 
 PROMOTION OF FREEDOM, AND FOR THE RELIEF 
 
 OF PERSONS UNLAWFULLY HOLDEN 
 
 IN BONDAGE, 
 
 AT THEIR ANNUAL MEETING IN NEW-HAVEN, SEPT. 15, 1791- 
 
 By JONATHAN EDWARDS, D D. 
 
 Pastor of a Church in New-Haven. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 boston: 
 
 WELLS AND LILLY— COURT-STREET. 
 1822. 
 
^tf^tvtmmmt 
 
 The author of this sermon was possessed of an intellect of the 
 liighest order. As a logician, he was probablj' inferiour to no 
 individual of the age in which he lived. Capable alike of the 
 profoundest and most acute investigations, he brought the rich- 
 est treasures from the deepest mines of truth, and exhibited 
 them in a light which left no doubt of their character. In this 
 discourse, his mighty powers are exerted for the relief of op- 
 pressed and bleeding humanity. His arguments to prove slave- 
 ry inconsistent with the principles of Christianity, appear to us 
 irresistible. The writer is not reluctant to acknowledge his 
 desire, that the sentiments of this discourse may obtain a univer- 
 sal prevalence in our country. For christians at the south, he 
 entertains the sincerest respect. On the subject of slavery, 
 many individuals among them, he doubts not, maintain opinions 
 entirely correct ; others he believes are in error. Slavery, say 
 ihey, is an evil which admits of no remedy — it must be endured. 
 They fortify themselves in their conclusion, by the recollection, 
 that servants were born in the house of Abram, and that Onesi- 
 mus was restored by Paul to his master. The writer hopes 
 that these persons will peruse this sermon with attention and 
 candour. Let them not be offended with the plainness and se- 
 verity of some of the remarks, but recollecting the time and 
 place in which they were originally made, may they receive 
 them in the spirit of christian love. The editor, has taken the 
 liberty to exchange a few of the author's obsolete words, for 
 more modern phraseology ; also to omit a few sentences at the 
 conclusion of the appendix. Pnocio\. 
 
r>- 
 
 The injustice and impolicy of the slave-trade, 
 and of the slavery of the Africans. 
 
 MATTHEW Vn. 12o 
 
 THEREFORE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER YOU WOULD, THAT MEN SHOULE 
 DO TO YOU, DO YE EVEN SO TO THEM ; FOR THIS IS THE LAW AND THE 
 PROPHETS. 
 
 This precept of our divine Lord hath always beeis 
 admired as most excellent ; and doubtless with the 
 greatest reason. Yet it needs some explanation, 
 it is not surely to be understood in the most unlimit- 
 ed sense, implying that because a prince expects and 
 wishes for obedience from his subjects, he is obliged 
 to obey them : that because parents wish their chil- 
 dren to submit to their government, therefore they 
 are to submit to the government of their children : 
 or that because some men wish that others would 
 concur and assist them to the gratification of their un- 
 lawful desires, therefore they also are to gratify the 
 unlawful desires of others. But whatever we are 
 conscious, that we should, in an exchange of circum- 
 stances, wish, and are persuaded that we might rea- 
 sonably wish, that others would do to us ; that Ave 
 
4 
 
 are bound to do to them. This is the general rule 
 given us in the text ; and a very extensive rule it is, 
 reaching to the whole of our conduct : and is par- 
 ticularly useful to direct our conduct toward infei-i- 
 ours, and those whom we have in our power. I 
 have therefore thought it a proper foundation for 
 the discourse, Avhich by the Society for the promotion 
 of Freedom^ and for the Relief of Persons unlai fully 
 holden in Bondage, I have the honour to be appoint- 
 ed to deliver, on the present occasion. 
 
 This divine maxim is most properly applicable to 
 the slave-trade, and to the slavery of the Africans. 
 Let us then make the application. 
 
 Should Ave be Avilling, that the Africans or any other 
 nation should purchase us, our wives and children, 
 transport us into Africa and there sell us into per- 
 petual and absolute slavery ? Should we be willing, 
 that they by large bribes and offers of a gainful traf- 
 fic should entice our neighbours to kidnap and sell us 
 to them, and that they should hold in perpetual and 
 cruel bondage, not only ourselves, but our posterity 
 through all generations? Yet Avhy is it not as right 
 for them to treat us in this manner, as it is for us to 
 treat them in the same manner ? Their colour in- 
 deed is dilferent from our's. But does this give us 
 a right to enslave them ? The nations from Germa- 
 ny to Guinea have complexions of every shade from 
 the fairest Avhite, to a jetty black : and if a black 
 complexion subject a nation or an individual to slave- 
 ry ; where shall slavery begin ? or where shall it 
 end? 
 
I propose to mention a few reasons against the 
 right of the slave-trade — -and then to consider the 
 principal arguments, which I have ever heard urg- 
 ed in favour of it. — What will be said against the 
 slave-trade will generally *be equally applicable to 
 slavery itself ; and if conclusive against the former, 
 will be equally conclusive against the latter. 
 
 As to the slave-trade, I conceive It to be unjust in 
 itself — abominable on account of the cruel manner 
 in which it is conducted — and totally wrong on ac- 
 count of the impolicy of it, or its destructive tenden- 
 cy to the moral and political interests of any coun- 
 try. 
 
 I. It is unjust in itself. — It is unjust in the same 
 sense, and for the same reason, as it is, to steal, to 
 rob, or to murder. It is a principle, the truth of 
 which hath in this country been generally, if not 
 universally acknowledged, ever since the commence- 
 ment of the late war, that all men are born equally 
 free. If this be true, the Africans are by nature 
 equally entitled to freedom as we are ; and therefore 
 we have no more right to enslave, or to afford aid to 
 enslave them, than they have to do the same to us. 
 They have the same right to their freedom, Avhich 
 they have to their property or to their lives. There- 
 fore to enslave them Is as really and in the same 
 sense Avrong, as to steal from them, to rob or to 
 murder them. 
 
 There are Indeed cases in which men may justly 
 be deprived of their liberty and reduced to slavery ; 
 as there are cases in which they may be justly de- 
 
 ^'%. 
 
prived of their lives. But they can justly be depriv- 
 ed of neither, unless they have by their own volun- 
 tary conduct forfeited it. Therefore still the right 
 to liberty stands on the same basis Avith the right to 
 life. And that the Africans have done something 
 whereby they have forfeited their liberty must ap- 
 pear, before we can justly deprive them of it ; as it 
 must appear, that they have done something where- 
 by they have forfeited their lives, before we may 
 justly deprive them of these. 
 
 II. The slave-trade is wicked and abominable on 
 account of the cruel manner in which it is carried on. 
 
 Beside the stealing or kidnapping of men, women 
 and children, in the first instance, and the instigation 
 of others to this abominable practice ; the inhvmian 
 manner in which they are transported to America, 
 and in which they are treated on their passage and 
 in their subsequent slavery, is such as ought forever 
 to deter every man from acting any part in this busi- 
 ness, who has any regard to justice or humanity. 
 They are crowded so closely into the holds and be- 
 tween the decks of vessels, that they have scarcely 
 room to lie down, and sometimes not room to sit up 
 in an erect posture ; the men at the same time fast- 
 ened together with irons by two and two; and all 
 this in the most sultry climate. The consequence of 
 the whole is, that the most dangerous and fatal dis- 
 eases are soon bred among them, whereby vast num- 
 bers of those exported from Africa perish in the 
 voyage : others in dread of that slavery which is be- 
 fore them, and in distress and despair from the loss 
 
of their parents, their children, their husbands, their 
 wives, all their dear connections, and their dear na- 
 tive country itself, starve themselves to death or 
 plunge themselves into the ocean. Those who at- 
 tempt in the former of those ways to escape from 
 their persecutors, are tortured by live coals applied 
 to their mouths. Those who attempt an escape in 
 the latter and fail, are equally tortured by the most 
 cruel beating, or otherwise as their j^ersecutors please. 
 If any of them make an attempt, as they sometimes 
 do, to recover their liberty, some, and as the circum- 
 stances may be, many, are put to immediate death. 
 Others beaten, bruised, cut and mangled in a most 
 inhuman and shocking manner, are in this situr^tion 
 exhibited to the rest, to terrify them from the iike 
 attempt in future : and some are delivered up to every 
 species of torment, whether by the application of the 
 whip, or of any other instrument, even of fire itself, 
 as the ingenuity of the ship-master and of his crew 
 is able to suggest or their situation will admit ; and 
 these torments are purposely continued for several 
 days, before death is permitted to aflbrd relief to 
 these objects of vengeance.* 
 
 By these means, according to the common com- 
 putation, twenty-five thousand, which is a fourth 
 part of those who are exported from Africa, and b} 
 the concession of all, twenty thousand, annually per- 
 ish, befor^ they arrive at the places of their desti- 
 nation in America. 
 
 * If any doubt these statements, they are requested to peruse Clarkson'.-; 
 History of the Abolition of the slave trade. This trade is at present carried 
 on in all its horrors. 
 
8 
 
 But this is by no means the end of the sufferings 
 of this unhappy people. Bred up in a country 
 spontaneously yielding the necessaries and conve- 
 niences of savage life, they have never been accus- 
 tomed to labour : of course they are but ill prepar- 
 ed to go through the fatigue and drudgery to which 
 they are doomed in their state of slavery. There- 
 fore partly by this cause, partly by the scantiness 
 and badness of their food, and partly from dejection 
 of spirits, mortification and despair, another twenty- 
 five thousand die in the seasoning, as it is called, i. e. 
 within two years after their arrival in America. This 
 I say is the common computation. Or if we will in 
 this particular be as favourable to the trade as in 
 the estimate of the number which perishes on the 
 passage, we may reckon the number which dies in 
 the seasoning to be twenty thousand. So that of 
 the hundred thousand annually exported from Afri- 
 ca to America, fifty thousand, as it is commonly 
 computed, or on the most favourable estimate, forty 
 thousand, die before they are seasoned to the coun- 
 try. 
 
 Nor is this all. The cruel sufferings of these 
 pitiable beings are not yet at an end. Thencefor- 
 ward they have to drag out a miserable life in abso- 
 lute slavery, entirely at the disposal of their masters, 
 by whom not only every venial fault, every mere 
 inadvertence or mistake, but even real virtues, are 
 liable to be construed into the most atrocious crimes, 
 and punished as such, according to their caprice or 
 i-agc, while they are intoxicated sometimes with 
 liquor, sometimes with passion. 
 
 I 
 
By these masters they are supphed with barely 
 enough to keep them from starving, as the whole 
 expence laid out on a slave for food, clothing and 
 medicine is commonly computed on an average at 
 thirty shillings sterling annually. At the same time 
 they are kept at hard labour from five o'clock in 
 the morning, till nine at night, excepting time to eat 
 twice during the day. And they are constantly un- 
 der the watchful eye of overseers and Negro-drivers 
 more tyrannical and cruel than even their masters 
 themselves. From these drivers, for every imagin- 
 ed, as well as real neglect or want of exertion, they 
 receive the lash, the smack of which is all day long 
 in the ears of those who are on the plantation or in 
 the vicinity ; and it is used with such dexterity and 
 severity, as not only to lacerate the skin, but to tear 
 out small portions of the flesh at almost every 
 stroke. 
 
 This is the general treatment of the slaves.* But 
 many individuals suffer still more severely. Many, 
 many are knocked down; some have their eyes 
 beaten out ; some have an arm or a leg broken, or 
 chopt off; and many for a very small or for no crime 
 at all, have been beaten to death merely to gratify 
 the fury of an enraged master or overseer. 
 
 Nor ouofht we on this occasion to overlook the 
 wars among the nations of Africa excited by the 
 
 * This declaration we are happy to say is not at the present time true ; at 
 least as it respects our own country. We can testify to the mildness and 
 humanity of the treatment which the slaves generally experience from the re- 
 spectable Planters of the South. Instunces of cruelty, we doubt not, occur, 
 but we believe receive no countenance from public opinion. 
 
 2 
 
 ^jt 
 
w 
 
 ?iade, or the destruction attendant on those wars ■ 
 Not to mention tlie destruction of property, the 
 burning of towns and villages, &;c. it hath been de- 
 termined by reasonable computation, that there arc 
 •innualiy exported from Africa to the various parts 
 of America, one hundred thousand slaves, as was be- 
 fore observed ; tliat of these, six thousand are cap- 
 lives of war; that in the Avars in which these are 
 taken, ten persons of the victors and vanquished are 
 killed, to one taken ; that therefore the taking of 
 the six thousand captives is attended with the 
 slaughter of sixty thousand of their countrymen. 
 Now does not justice ? docs not humanity shrink 
 from the idea, that in order to procure one slave to 
 gratify our avarice, we should put to death ten hu-- 
 man beings ? Or that in order to increase our pro- 
 perty, and that only in some small degree, we should 
 carry on a trade, or even connive at it, to support 
 which sixty thousand of our own species are slain in 
 war? 
 
 These sixty thousand, added to the forty thou- 
 sand who perish on the passage and in the season- 
 ing, give us an hundred thousand who are annually 
 destroyed by the trade ; and the whole advantage 
 gamed by this amazing destruction of human lives 
 IS sixty thousand slaves. For you will recollect, 
 l)hat the Avhole number exported from Africa is an 
 hundred thousand : that of these forty thousand die 
 on the passage and in the seasoning, and sixty thou- 
 sand are destroyed in the wars. Therefore while 
 «nc hundred and sixty thousand are killed in the 
 
11 
 
 ^wars and are exported from Africa, but sixty thoiv- 
 sand are added to the stock of slaves. 
 
 Now when we consider all this; Avhen Ave con- 
 sider the miseries which this unhappy people suffer 
 in their wars, in their captivity, in their voyage to 
 America, and during a wretched life of cruel slave- 
 ry : and especially when we consider the annual d^ 
 struction of an hundred thousand lives in the man- 
 ner before mentioned ; who can hesitate to declare 
 this trade and the consequent slavery to be contrary 
 to every principle of justice and humanity, of the 
 laAV of nature and of the law of God? 
 
 III. This trade and this slavery are utterly wrong 
 on the ground of their impolicy. In a variety of re- 
 "spects they are exceedingly hurtful to the state which 
 tolerates them. 
 
 1. They are hurtful, as they deprave the morals 
 of the people. — The incessant and inhuman cruel- 
 ties practised in the trade and in the subsequent 
 slavery, necessarily tend to harden the human heart 
 against the tender feelings of humanity in the mas- 
 ters of vessels, in the sailors, in the factors, in the 
 proprietors of the slaves, in their children, in the 
 overseers, in the slaves themselves, and in all Avho 
 habitually see those cruelties. Now the eradication 
 or even the diminution of compassion, tenderness 
 and humanity, is certainly a great depravation of 
 heart, and must be followed with correspondent de- 
 pravity of manners. And measures which lead to 
 such depravity of heart and manners, cannot but be 
 extremely hurtful to the state, and consequently arc 
 extremely impolltico 
 
12 
 
 2. The trade is Impolitic as it is so destructive of 
 the Hvcs of seamen. The ingenious Mr. Clarkson 
 hath in a very satisfactory manner made it appear, 
 that in the slave-trade alone Great-Britain loses 
 annually about nineteen hundred seamen ; and that 
 this loss is more than double to the loss annually 
 sustained by Great-Britain in all her other trade 
 taken to2;ether. And doubtless Ave lose as many as 
 Great-Britain in proportion to the number of sea- 
 men Avhom we employ in this trade. — Now can it 
 be politic to carry on a trade Avhich is so destructive 
 of that useful part of our citizens, our seamen ? 
 
 3. African slavery is exceedingly impolitic, as it 
 discourages industry. Nothing is more essential to 
 the political prosperity of any state, than industry in 
 the citizens. But in proportion as slaves are mul- 
 tiplied, every kind of labour becomes ignominious: 
 and in fact, in those of the United States, in which 
 slaves are the most numerous, gentlemen and ladies 
 of any fashion disdain to employ themselves m bu- 
 siness, which in other states is consistent with the 
 dignity of the first families and first offices. In a 
 country filled with Negro slaves, labour belongs to 
 them only, and a Avhlte man is despised in propor- 
 tion as he applies to it. — Noav how destructive to 
 industry in all of the lowest and middle class of ci- 
 tizens, such a situation and the prevalence of such 
 ideas will be, you can easily conceive. The con- 
 sequence is, that some will nearly starve, others will 
 betake themselves to the most dishonest practices, 
 to obtain the means of living. 
 
13 
 
 As slavery produces indolence in the white peo- 
 ple, so it produces all those vices which are natu- 
 rally connected with it ; such as intemperance, lewd- 
 ness and prodigality. These vices enfeeble both 
 the body and the mind, and unfit men for any vigor- 
 ous exertions and employments either external or 
 mental. And those who are unfit for such exertions, 
 are already a very degenerate race ; degenerate, not 
 only in a moral, but a natural sense. They are con- 
 temptible too, and will soon be despised even by 
 their Negroes themselves. 
 
 Slavery tends to lewdness not only as it produces 
 indolence, but as it affords abundant opportunity for 
 that wickedness without either the danger and dif- 
 ficulty of an attack on the virtue of a woman of 
 chastity, or the danger of a connection with one of 
 ill fame. And we learn the too frequent influence 
 and effect of such a situation, not only from common 
 fame, but from the multitude of mulattoes in coun- 
 tries where slaves are very numerous. 
 
 Slavery has a most direct tendency to haughti- 
 ness also, and a domineering spirit and conduct in 
 the proprietors of the slaves, m their children, and 
 in all who have the control of them. A man who 
 has been bred up in domineering over Negroes, can 
 scarcely avoid contracting such a habit of haughti- 
 ness and domination, as will express itself in his 
 general treatment of mankind, whether in his pri- 
 vate capacity, or in any office civil or military with 
 which he may be vested. Despotism in economics 
 naturally leads to despotism in politics, and domestic 
 
14 
 
 slavery in a free government is a perfect solecism m 
 human affairs. 
 
 How baneful all these tendencies and effects ot 
 slavery must be to the public good, and especially 
 to the public good of such a free country as ours, 
 J need not inform you. 
 
 4. In the same proportion as industry and labour 
 are discouraged, is population discouraged and pre- 
 vented. This is another respect in which slavery 
 is exceedingly impolitic. That population is pre- 
 vented in proportion as industry is discouraged, is, 
 I conceive, so plain that nothing needs to be said to 
 illustrate it. Mankind in general will enter into 
 matrimony as soon as they possess the means of sup- 
 porting a family. But the great body of any people 
 have no other way of supporting themselves or a 
 family, than by their own labour. Of course as 
 labour is discouraged, matrimony is discouraged and 
 population is prevented. — But the impolicy of what- 
 ever produces these effects will be acknowledged by 
 all. The wealth, strength and glory of a state 
 depend on the number of its virtuous citizens : and a 
 state without citizens is at least as great an absurdi- 
 ity, as a king without subjects. 
 
 5. The impolicy of slavery still further appears 
 from this, that it weakens the state, and in propor- 
 tion to the degree in which it exists, exposes it to 
 become an easy conquest. — The increase of free ci- 
 tizens is an increase of the strength of the state. But 
 not so with regard to the increase of slaves. They 
 not only add nothing to the strength of the state. 
 
15 
 
 but actually diminish it in proportion to their nun^ 
 ber. Every slave is naturally an enemy to the state 
 in which he is holden in slavery, and wants nothing 
 but an opportunity to assist in its overthrow. And 
 an enemy within a state, is much more dangerous 
 than one without it. 
 
 These observations concerning the prevention of 
 population and weakening the state, are supported 
 by facts which have fallen within our own observa- 
 tion. That the southern states, in which slaves are 
 so numerous, are in no measure so populous, ac- 
 cording to the extent of territory, as the northern, is 
 a fact of universal notoriety: and that during the 
 late war, the southern states found themselves greatly 
 weakened by their slaves, and therefore were so 
 easily overrun by the British army, is equally noto- 
 rious. 
 
 From the view we have now taken of this sub- 
 ject, we scruple not to infer, that to carry on the 
 slave-trade and to introduce slaves into our coun- 
 try, is not only to be guilty of injustice, robbery 
 and cruelty toward our fellow-men; but it is to 
 injure ourselves and our country ; and therefore il 
 is altogether unjustifiable, wicked and abominable. 
 
 Having thus considered the injustice and ruinous 
 tendency of the slave-trade, I proceed to attend to 
 the principal arguments urged in favour of it. 
 
 1. It is said, that the Africans are the posterity 
 of Ham, the son of Noah ; that Canaan one of 
 Ham's sons, was cursed by Noah to be a servant of 
 servants ; that by Canaan we are to understand 
 
le 
 
 Ham's posterity in general ; that as his posterity areJ 
 devoted by God to slavery, we have a right to en- 
 slave tliein. — This is the argument : to which I 
 answer : 
 
 It is indeed generally thought that Ham peopled 
 Africa ; but that the curse on Canaan extended to 
 all the posterity of Ham is a mere imagination. 
 The only reason given for it is, that Canaan was 
 only one of Hani's sons ; and that it seems reason- 
 able, that the curse of Ham's conduct should fall 
 on all his posterity, if on any. But this argument 
 is insufficient. We might as clearly argue, that the 
 judgments denounced on the house of David, on 
 account of his sin in the matter of Uriah, must equal- 
 ly fall on all his posterity. Yet we know, that many 
 of them lived and died in great prosperity. So in 
 every case in which judgments are predicted con- 
 cerning any nation or family. 
 
 It is allowed in this argument, that the curse was 
 to fall on the posterity of Ham, and not immediate- 
 ly on Ham himself; If otherwise, it is nothing to the 
 purpose of the slave-trade, or of any slaves now 
 in existence. It bein<£ allowed then, that this curse 
 was to fall on Ham's posterity, he who had a right 
 to curse the whole of that posterity, had the same 
 right to curse a part of it only, and the posterity of 
 Canaan equally as any other part ; and a curse on 
 Ham's posterity in the line of Canaan was as real a 
 curse on Ham himself, as a curse on all his posteri- 
 ty would have been. 
 
 Tlierefore we have no <;round lo believe, that 
 
17 
 
 this curse respected any others, than the posterity of 
 Canaan, who Hved in the land of Canaan, which is 
 well known to be remote from Africa. We have 
 a particular account, that all the sons of Canaan 
 settled in the land of Canaan ; as may be seen in 
 
 Gen. X. 15 20. " And Canaan begat Sidon his 
 
 " first born, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the 
 " Emorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and 
 « the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and 
 " the Zemorite, and the Hamathite ; and afterAvard 
 " were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. 
 " And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, 
 « as thou goest to Gerar, unto Gaza ; as thou goest 
 " unto Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, 
 « even unto Lashah." — Nor have we account that 
 any of their posterity except the Carthaginians after- 
 ward removed to any part of Africa : and none will 
 pretend that these peopled Africa in general ; es- 
 pecially considering, that they were subdued, des- 
 troyed and so far extirpated by the Romans. 
 
 This curse then of the posterity of Canaan, had 
 no reference to the inhabitants of Guinea, or of 
 Africa in general ; but was fulfilled partly in Joshua's 
 time, in the reduction and servitude of the Canaan- 
 ites, and especially of the Gibeonites ; partly by 
 what the Phenicians suffered from the Chaldeans, 
 Persians and Greeks ; and finally by what the Car- 
 thagenians suffered from the Romans 
 
 Therefore this curse gives us no right to enslave 
 the Africans, as we do by the slave-trade, because 
 it has no respect to the Africans whom we enslave. 
 .3 
 
1'8 
 
 Nor if it had respected them, would it have given- 
 any such right ; because it was not an institution cf 
 slave y, but a mere prophecy of it. And from this 
 prophecy we have no more ground to infer the right 
 of slavery, than v/e have from the prophecy of the 
 destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, or by 
 the RomanF, to infer their right respectively to de- 
 stroy it in the manner they did ; or from other pro- 
 phecies to infer the right of Judas to betray his mas- 
 ter, or of the Jews to crucify him. 
 
 2. The right of slavery is inferred from the in- 
 stance of Abraham, who had servants born in his 
 house and bought with his money. — But it is by no 
 means certain, that these Avere slaves^ as our Ne- 
 grocs are. If they were, it is unaccountable, that 
 he went out at the head of an army of them to fight 
 his enemies. No West-India planter would easily 
 be induced to venture himself in such a situation. 
 It is far more probable, that similar to some of the 
 vassals under the feudal constitution, the servants of 
 Abraham were only in a good measure dependant 
 on him, and protected by him. But if they were to 
 all intents and purposes slaves, Abraham's holding of 
 them will no more prove the right of slavery, than 
 his go'P in to Hagar, will prove it right for any 
 min to iiivlulge in criminal intercourse with his do- 
 mestic. 
 
 3, From the divine jxirmission given the Israelites 
 to b;iy servants of the nations round about them, it 
 IS argued, thai we have a right to buy the Africans 
 aad hold them in slavery. See Lev. xxv. 44-47,. 
 
•** Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids, whicli 
 •*« thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are 
 •^' round about you ; of them shall ye buy bondmen 
 " and bondmaids. Moreover, of the children of the 
 " strangers that do sojourn among- you, of them shall 
 « ye buy, and of their families, that are with you, 
 " which they begat in your land ; and they shall be 
 « your possession. And ye shall take them as an m- 
 " heritance for your children after you, to inherit 
 " them for a possession ; they shall be your bondmen 
 " for ever : but over your brethren the children of 
 " Israel ye shall not rule one over another with rigour." 
 But if this be at all to the purpose, it is a permission 
 to every nation under heaven to buy slaves of the 
 nations round about them ; to us, to buy of our In- 
 dian neighbours ; to them, to buy of us ; to the 
 French, to buy of the English, and to the English 
 to buy of the French ; and so through the world. 
 If then this argument be valid, every man has an 
 entire right to engage in this trade, and to buy and 
 sell any other man of another nation, and any other 
 man of another nation has an entire right to buy and 
 sell him. Thus according to this construction, av« 
 have in Lev. xxv. 43, kc. an institution of an uni- 
 versal slave-trade, by which every man may not 
 only become a merchant, but may rightfully become 
 the merchandize itself of this trade, and may be 
 bought and sold like a beast. — Now this consequence 
 will be given up as absurd, and therefore also the 
 construction of scripture from which it follows, must 
 •be given up. Yet it is presumed, that there is 
 
20 
 
 no avoiding that construction or the absurdity flow- 
 ing frojn it, but by admitting, that this permission 
 to the IsraeHtes to buy slaves has no respect to us, 
 but was in the same manner pecuhar to them, as the 
 permission and command to subdue, destroy and 
 extirpate the whole Canaanitish nation ; and there- 
 fore no more gives countenance to African slavery, 
 than the command to extirpate the Canaanites, gives 
 countenance to the extirpation of any nation in these 
 days, by an universal slaughter of men and women, 
 young men and maidens, infants and sucklings. 
 
 4. It is further pleaded, that there were slaves in 
 the time of the apostles ; that they did not forbid 
 the holding of those slaves, but gave directions to 
 servants, doubtless referring to the servants of that 
 day, to obey their masters^ and count them worthy of 
 all honour. 
 
 To this the answer is, that the apostles teach the 
 general duties of servants who are righteously in 
 the state of servitude, as many are or may be, by 
 hire, by indenture, and by judgment of a civil court. 
 But they do not say, whether the servants in gener- 
 al of that day were justly holden in slavery or not. 
 In like manner they lay down the general rules of 
 obedience to civil magistrates, without deciding con- 
 cerning the characters of the magistrates of the Ro- 
 man empire in the reign of Nero. And as the 
 apostle Paul requires masters to give their servants 
 that which is just and equals (Col. iv. i.) so if any 
 were enslaved unjustly, of course he in this text re- 
 quires of the masters of such, to give them their 
 
21 
 
 freedom. — Thus the apostles treat the slavery of 
 that day in the same manner that they treat the 
 civil government ; and say nothing more in favour of 
 the former, than they say in favour of the latter. 
 
 Besides, this argument from the slavery prevail- 
 ing in the days of the apostles, if it prove any thing, 
 proves too much, and so confutes itself. It proves, 
 that we may enslave all captives taken in war, of 
 any nation, and in any the most unjust war, such as 
 the wars of the Romans, which were generally un- 
 dertaken from the motives of ambition or avarice. 
 On the ground of this argument we had a right to 
 enslave the prisoners, Avhom we, during the late 
 war, took from the British army ; and they had the 
 same right to enslave those whom they took from 
 us; and so with respect to all other nations. 
 
 5. It is strongly urged, that the Negroes brought 
 from Africa are all captives of Avar, and therefore 
 are justly bought and holden in slavery. — This is a 
 principal argument always urged by the advocates 
 for slavery; and in a solemn debate on this subject, 
 it hath been strongly insisted on, very lately in the 
 British parliament. Therefore it requires our par- 
 ticular attention. 
 
 Captives in a war just on their part, cannot be 
 justly enslaved ; nor is this pretended. Therefore 
 the captives who may be justly enslaved, must be 
 taken in a war unjust on their part. But even on 
 the supposition, that captives in such a war may be 
 justly enslaved, it will not follow, that we can just- 
 ly carry on the slave trade, as it is commonly car- 
 
^'2 
 
 ij^red on from the African coast. In this trade any 
 slaves are purchased, who are offered for sale, 
 whether justly or unjustly enslaved. No enquiry is 
 made whether they were captives in any war ; much 
 less, whether they were captivated in a war unjust 
 on their part. 
 
 By the most authentic accounts, it appears, that 
 the wars in general in Africa are excited by the 
 prospect of gain from the sale of the captives of the 
 ivar. Therefore those taken by the assailants in 
 •such wars, cannot be justly enslaved. Beside these, 
 many are kidnapped by those of neighbouring na- 
 tions ; some by their oAvn neighbours ; and some 
 hj their kings or his agents ; others for debt or 
 some trifling crime are condemned to perpetual 
 slavery — But none of these are justly enslaved 
 And the traders make no enquiry concerning the 
 mode or occasion of their first enslavement. They 
 buy all that are offered, provided they like them 
 and the price. — So that the plea, that the African 
 •slaves are captives in war, is entirely insufficient to 
 justify the slave trade as now carried on. 
 
 But this is not all ; if it were ever so true, that 
 all the Negroes exported from Africa were captives 
 in war, and that they were taken in a war unjust on 
 their part ; still they could not be justly enslaved- 
 — -We have no light to enslave a private foe in a 
 •state of nature, after he is conquered. Suppose in 
 a state of nature one man rises against another and 
 t3ndcavours to kill him ; in this case the person as- 
 •saulted has no right to kill the assailant, unless it be 
 
23 
 
 necessary to preserve his own life. But in wars be^ 
 tween nations, one nation may no doubt secure it- 
 self against another, by other means than the slave- 
 ry of its captives. If a nation be victorious in the 
 war, it may exact some towns or a district of coun- 
 try, by way of caution ; or it may impose a fine 
 to deter from future injuries. If the nation be not 
 victorious, it will do no good to enslave the captives 
 whom it has taken. It will provoke the victors, 
 and foolishly excite vengeance which cannot be re- 
 pelled. 
 
 Or if neither nation be decidedly victorious, to 
 enslave the captives on either side can answer no 
 good purpose, but must at least occasion the enslav- 
 ing of the citizens of the other nation, who are now, 
 or in future may be in a state of captivity. Such a 
 practice therefore necessarily tends to evil and not 
 good. 
 
 Besides ; captives in vv^ar are generally common 
 soldiers or common citizens ;. and they are general- 
 ly ignorant of the true cause or causes of the wan 
 and are by their superiours made to believe, that 
 the war is entirely just on their part. Or if this be 
 not the case, they may by force be compelled to 
 serve in a Avar which they know to be unjust. In 
 either of these cases they do not deserve to be con- 
 demned to perpetual slavery. To inflict perpetual 
 slavery on these private soldiers and citizens is man- 
 ifestly not to do, as we would wish that men should 
 do to us. If we were taken in a war unjust on our 
 part,, we should not think it right to be condemned 
 
24 
 
 to perpetual slavery. No more right is it for us to 
 condemn and hold in perpetual slavery others, who 
 are in the same situation. 
 
 6. It is ai'gued, that as the Africans in their own 
 country, previously to the purchase of them by the 
 African traders, are captives in war ; if they were 
 not bought up by those traders, they Avould be put 
 to death : that therefore to purchase them and to 
 subject them to slavery instead of death, is an act of 
 mercy not only lawful, but meritorious. 
 
 If the case were indeed so as is now repre- 
 sented, the purchase of the Negroes would be no 
 more meritorious, than the act of a man, who, if 
 we were taken by the Algerines, should purchase us 
 out of that slavery. This would indeed be an act 
 of benevolence, if the purchaser should set us at li- 
 berty. But it is no act of benevolence to buy a 
 maji out of one state into another no better. Nay, 
 the act of ransoming a man from death gives no 
 rio;ht to the ransomer to commit a crime or an act 
 of injustice to the person ransomed. The person 
 ransomed is doubtless obligated according to his 
 ability to satisfy the ransomer for his expence and 
 trouble. Yet the ransomer has no more right to 
 enslave the other, than the man Avho saves the life 
 of another who was about to be killed by a robber 
 or an assassin, has a riglit to enslave him. — The li- 
 berty of a man for life is a far greater good, than 
 the property paid for a Negro on the African coast. 
 And to deprive a man of an immenselv greater 
 good, in order to recover one immensely less, is an 
 Immense injury and crime. 
 
25 
 
 ^. As to the pretence, that to prohibit or lay 
 aside this trade, would be hurtful to our commerce ; 
 it is sufficient to ask, whether on the supposition, 
 that it were advantageous to the commerce of Great- 
 Britain to send her ships to these states, and trans- 
 port us into perpetual slavery in the West Indies,, 
 it would be right that she should go into that trade. 
 
 8. That to prohibit the slave trade would in- 
 fringe on the property of those, Avho have expended 
 large sums to carry on that trade, or of those who 
 wish to purchase the slaves for their plantations, 
 hath also been urged as an argument in favbur of 
 the trade. — But the same argument would provCj 
 that if the skins and teeth of the Negroes were as 
 valuable articles of commerce as fui's and elephant'g 
 teeth, and a merchant were to lay out his property 
 in this commerce, he ought by no means to be ob- 
 structed therein. 
 
 9. But others wUl carry on the trade, if we da 
 not. — So others will rob, steal and murder, if we dq 
 not. 
 
 10. It is said, that some men are intended by na- 
 ture to be slaves. — If this mean, that the author of 
 nature has given some men a licence, to enslave 
 others ; this is denied and proof is demanded. If 
 it mean, that God hath made some of capacities in- 
 ferior to others, and that the last have a right to en- 
 slave the first ; this argument will prove, that some. 
 of the citizens of every country, have a right to en- 
 slave other citizens of the same country ; nay, that 
 some have a right to enslave their own brothers and 
 
26 
 
 sisters. — But if this argument meaiiy that God in- his 
 providence suffers some men to be enslaved, and 
 that this proves, that from the beginning he intend^ 
 ed they should be enslaved, and made them with 
 this intention; the answer is, that in like manner 
 he suffers some men to be murdered, and in this 
 sen^e, he intended and made them to be murdered. 
 Yet no man in his senses will hence argue the law- 
 fulness of murder. 
 
 11. It is further pretended, that no other men^ 
 than Negroes, can endure labour in the hot cli- 
 mates of the West Indies and the southern states. — - 
 But does this appear to be fact? In all other 
 climates, the labouring people are the most healthy. 
 And I confess I have not yet seen evidence, but 
 that those who have been accustomed to labour 
 and are inured to those climates, can bear labour 
 there also. — However, taking for granted the fact 
 asserted in this objection, does it follow, that the 
 inhabitants of those coaatries have a right to enslave 
 the Africans to labour for them? No more surely 
 than from the circumstance, that you are feeble and 
 cannot labour, it follows, that you have a right to 
 enslave your robust neighbour. As in all other ca- 
 ses, the feeble and those who choose not to labour, 
 and yet wish to have their lands cultivated, are ne- 
 cessitated to hire the robust to labour for them ; so 
 no reason can be given, why the inhabitants of hot 
 climates should not cither perform their own labour, 
 or hire those who can perform it, whether Negroes 
 or others. 
 
 If our traders Avcnt to the coast of Africa to mur- 
 
'Ser the inhabitants, or to rob them of their proper- 
 ty, all would own -that such murderous or piratica;! 
 practices are wicked and abominable. Now it is as 
 really wicked to rob a luan of his liberty, as to rob 
 'him of his life ; and it is much more wicked, than to 
 rob him of his property. All men agree to con- 
 demn highway robbery. And the slave-trade is as 
 much a greater wickedness than highway robbery, 
 as liberty is more valuable than property. How 
 strange is it then, that in the same nation highway 
 robbery should be punished with death, and the 
 slave-trade be encouraged by national authority. 
 
 We all dread political slavery, or subjection to 
 the arbitrary power of a king or of any man or men 
 not deriving their authority from the people. Yet 
 such a state is inconceivably preferable to the slave- 
 ry of the Negroes. Suppose that m the late war 
 we had been subdued by Great-Britain ; we should 
 have been taxed without our consent. But these 
 taxes would have amounted to but a small part of 
 our property. Whereas the Negroes are deprived 
 of all their property ; no part of their earnings is 
 their own ; the whole is their liiasters. — In a cor^- 
 quered state we should have been at liberty to dis- 
 pose of ourselves and of our property in most case,s, 
 as we should choose. We should have been free to 
 live in this or that town or place ; in any part of 
 the country, or to remove out of the country ; to 
 apply to this or that business ; to labour or not ; an^ 
 excepting a sufficiency for the taxes, to dispose of 
 ithe fruit of our labour to our own benefit, or that of 
 /)ur children, or of any other person. But the un- 
 
 yaiJT; 
 
28 
 
 happy Negroes in slavery can do none of these 
 tilings. They must do what they are commander 
 and as much as they are commanded, on pain of the 
 lash. They must live where they are placed, and 
 must confine themselves to that spot, on pain of 
 death. 
 
 So that Great-Britain in her late attempt to en- 
 slave America, committed a very small crime in- 
 deed in comparison Avith the crime of those who en- 
 slave the Africans. 
 
 The arguments which have been urged against 
 the slave-trade, are with little variation applicable 
 to the holding of slaves. He Avho holds a slave, 
 continues to deprive him of that liberty, which was 
 taken from him on the coast of Africa. And if it 
 were wrong to deprive him of it in the first instance, 
 why not in the second ? If this be true, no man 
 hath a better right to retain his Negro in slavery, 
 than he had to take him from his native African 
 shores. And every man who cannot show, that 
 his Negro hath by his voluntary conduct forfeit- 
 ed his liberty, is obligated immediately to manumit 
 him. Undoubtedly we should think so, were Ave 
 holden in the same slavery in which the Negroes 
 are : And our text requires us to do to others, as 
 Avc would that they should do to us. 
 
 To hold a slave, who has a right to his liberty, is 
 not only a real crime, but a very great one. Ma- 
 ny good christians have wondered hoAV Abraham, 
 the father of the faithful, could take Hagar to his 
 bed ; and how Sarah, celebrated as an holy Avomao, 
 
29 
 
 ^ould consent to this transaction : Also, how David 
 and Solomon could have so many wives and concu- 
 bines, and yet be real saints. Let such inquire how 
 it is possible, that our fathers and men now alive,' 
 universally reputed pious, should hold Negro slaves, 
 and yet be the subjects of real piety ? And wheth- 
 er to reduce a man, who hath the same right to lib- 
 erty as any other man, to a state of absolute slavery. 
 or to hold him in that state, be not as great a crime 
 as concubinage or fornication. I presume it will 
 not be denied, that to commit theft or robbery every 
 day of a man's life, is as great a sin as to commit 
 fornication in one instance. But to steal a man or to 
 rob him of his liberty is a greater sin, than to steal 
 his property, or to take it by violence. And to hold 
 a man in a state of slavery, who has a right to his 
 liberty, is to be every day guilty of robbing him of 
 his liberty, or of manstealing. The consequence is 
 inevitable, that other things being the same, to hold 
 a Negro slave, unless he have forfeited his liberty, 
 is a greater sin in the sight of God, than concubin- 
 aofe or fornication. 
 
 o 
 
 Does this conclusion seem strange to any of you? 
 Let me entreat you to weigh it candidly before you 
 reject it. You will not deny, that liberty is more 
 valuable than property ; and that it is a greater sin to 
 deprive a man of his whole liberty during life, than 
 to deprive him of his whole property ; or that man- 
 stealing is a greater crime than robbery. Nor Avill 
 you deny, that to hold in slavery a man who was 
 stolen, is substantially the same crime as to steal him. 
 
30 
 
 These principles being undeniable, I leave it to youK- 
 selves to draw the plain and necessary consequence. 
 And if your consciences shall, in spite of all opposi- 
 tion, tell you, that while you hold yoi^r Negroes m 
 slavery, you do wrong, exceedingly wrong ; that you 
 do not, as you would that men should do to you ; 
 that you commit sin in the sight of God ; that you 
 daily violate the plain rights of mankind, and that in 
 a higher degree, than if you committ^ theft or rob- 
 bery ; let me beseech you not to stifle this convic- 
 tion, but attend to it and act accordingly ; lest you 
 add to your former guilt, that of sinning against the 
 light of truth, and of your own consciences. 
 
 To convince yourselves, that your information 
 being the same, to hold a Negro slave is a greater 
 «in than fornication, theft or robbery, you need only 
 bring the matter home to yourselves. 1 am willing 
 to appeal to your own consciences, whether you 
 would not judge it to be a greater sin for a man to 
 hold you or your child during life in such slavery, as 
 -that of the Negroes, than for him to indulge in one 
 instance of licentious conduct or in one instance to 
 steal or rob. Let conscience speak, and I will sub- 
 mit to its decision. 
 
 This question seems to be clearly decided by re- 
 velation. Exod. xxi. 16. "He that stealeth a man 
 '" and sclleth him, or if he be found in his hand, 
 ■^' he shall surely be put to death." Thus death is, 
 by the divine express declaration, the punishment 
 due to the crime of man-stealing. But death is not 
 flic punishment declared by God to be due to for* 
 
 /-ldMttB*ki>*MMaMMiMM'' 
 
3-1 
 
 nrcation, theft or robbery in common cases. There- 
 fore we have the divine authority to assert, that man- 
 steahng is a gi'eater crime than fornication, theft or 
 robbery. Now to hold in &lavery a man Avho has a 
 right to Hberty, is substantially the same crime as to 
 deprive him of his liberty. And to deprive of li- 
 berty and reduce to slavery, a man who has a right 
 to liberty, is man-stealing. For it is immaterial 
 whether he be taken and reduced to slavery clan- 
 destinely or by open violence.. Therefore if the 
 Negroes have a right to libertyy to hold them in 
 slavery is man-stealing, which we have seen is, by 
 God himself, declared to be a greater crime than 
 fornication, theft or robbery. 
 
 Perhaps, though this truth be clearly demon- 
 strable both from reason and revelation, you scarce- 
 ly dare receive it, because it seems to bear hardly 
 on the characters of our pious fathers, who held 
 slaves. But they did it ignorantly and in unbelief 
 of the truth ; as Abraham, Jacob, David and Solo- 
 mon were ignorant, that polygamy or concubinage 
 was wrong. As to domestic slavery our fathers lived 
 in a time of ignorance which God winked at ; but now 
 he commandeth all mm every where to repent of this 
 wickedness, and to break off this sin by righteousness^ 
 and this iniquity by shewing mercy to the poor, if it 
 may be a lengthening out of their tranquillity. You 
 therefore to whom the present blaze of light as to 
 this subject has reached, cannot sin at so cheap a 
 rate as our fathers. 
 
 But methinks I hear some say, I have bought mf 
 
32 
 
 Negro ; I have paid a large sum for him ; I canndt 
 lose this sum, ami therefore I cannot manumit him- 
 — Alas ! this is hitting the nail on the head. This 
 brings into view the true cause which makes it so 
 difficult to convince men of what is right in this 
 case — You recollect the story of Amaziah's hiring 
 an hundred thousand men of Israel, for an hundred 
 talents, to assist him against the Edomites ; and that 
 when by the Avord of the Lord, he was forbidden to 
 take those hired men with him to the Avar, he cried 
 out, " But what shall we do for the hundred talents, 
 " which I have given to the army of Israel ?" In 
 this case, the answer of God Avas, " The Lord is 
 '■' able to give thee much more than this." — To ap- 
 ply this to the subject before us, God is able to 
 give thee much more than thou shalt lose by manu- 
 mitting thy slave. 
 
 You may plead, that you use your slave Avell ; 
 you are not cruel to him, but feed and clothe him 
 comfortably, &c. Still every day you rob him of a 
 most valuable and important right. And a highAvay- 
 man, Avho robs a man of his money in the most easy 
 and complaisant manner, is still a robber ; and mur- 
 der may be effected in a manner the least cruel and 
 tormenting; still it is murder. 
 
 Having now taken that view of our subject, AA^hich 
 Avas proposed, Ave may in reflection see abundant 
 reason to acquiesce in the institution of this society. 
 If the slave-trade be unjust, and as gross a violation 
 of the rights of mankind, as Avould be, if the Afri- 
 cans should transport us into perpetual slavery in 
 
33 
 
 Africa; to unite our influence against it, is a dutj 
 which we owe to mankind, to ourselves and to God 
 too. It is but doing as we would that men should 
 do to us. — Nor is it enough that we have formed 
 the society ; we must do the duties of it. The first 
 of these is to put an end to the slave-trade. The 
 second is to relieve those who, contrary to the laws 
 of the country, are holden in bondage. Another is 
 to defend those in their remaining legal and natural 
 rights, who are by law holden in bondage. Another 
 and not the least important object of this society, I 
 conceive to be, to increase and disperse the light of 
 truth with respect to the subject of African slavery, 
 and so prepare the way for its total abolition. For 
 until men in general are convinced of the injustice 
 of the trade and of the slavery itself, comparatively 
 little can be done to effect the most important pur- 
 poses of the institution. 
 
 It is not to be doubted, that the trade is even 
 now carried on from this state. Vessels are from 
 time to time fitted out for the coast of Africa, to 
 transport the Negroes to the West-Indies and other 
 parts. Nor will an end be put to this trade, with- 
 out vigilance and strenuous exertion on the part of 
 this society, or other friends of humanity, nor with- 
 out a patient enduring of the opposition and odium 
 of all who are concerned in it, of their friends and 
 of all who are of the opinion that it is justifiable. 
 Among these we are doubtless to reckon some of 
 large property and considerable influence. And if 
 the laws and customs of the country equally allow- 
 5 
 
34 
 
 ed of it, many, and perhaps as many as now plead 
 for the right of the African slave-trade, would plead 
 for the right of kidnapping us, the citizens of the 
 United States, and of selling us into perpetual slave- 
 ry. — If then we dare not incur the displeasure of 
 such men, we may as well dissolve the society, and 
 leave the slave-trade to be carried on, and the Ne- 
 groes to be kidnapped, and though free in this state, 
 to be sold into perpetual slavery in distant parts, at 
 the pleasure of any man, who wishes to make gain 
 by such abominable practices. 
 
 Though we must expect opposition, yet if we be 
 steady and persevering, we need not fear, that we 
 shall fail of success. The advantages, which the 
 cause has already gained, are many and great. 
 Thirty years ago scarcely a man in this country 
 thought either the slave-trade or the slavery of Ne- 
 groes to be wrong. But now how many and able 
 advocates in private life, in our legislatures, in Con- 
 gress, have appeared and have openly and irrefra- 
 gably pleaded the rights of humanity in this as Avell 
 as other instances ? Nay, the great body of the peo- 
 ple from New-Hampshire to Virginia inclusively, 
 have obtained such light, that in all those states the 
 further importation of slaves is prohibited by law. 
 And in Massachusetts and New-Hampshire, slavery 
 is totally abolished. 
 
 Nor is the light concerning this subject confined 
 to America. It hath appeared with great clearness 
 in France, and produced remarkable effects in the 
 National Assembly. It hath also shone in bright 
 
 MttiiHi 
 
35 
 
 beams in Great-Britain. It flashes with splendour 
 in the writings of Clarkson and in the proceedings 
 of several societies formed to abolish the slave-trade. 
 Nor hath it been possible to shut it out of the Brit- 
 ish parliament. This light is still increasing, and in 
 time will effect a total revolution. And if we judge 
 of the future by the past, within fifty years from 
 this time, it Avill be as shameful for a man to hold a 
 Negro slave, as to be guilty of common robbery or 
 theft. But it is our duty to remove the obstacles 
 which intercept the rays of this light, that it may 
 reach not only public bodies, but every individual. 
 And when it shall have obtained a general spread, 
 shall have dispelled all darkness, and slavery shall 
 be no more ; it will be an honour to be recorded in 
 history, as a society which was formed, and which 
 exerted itself with vigour and fidelity, to bring about 
 an event so necessary and conducive to the interests 
 of humanity and virtue, to the support of the rights 
 and to the advancement of the happiness of man- 
 kind. 
 
♦ 
 
 J^OME objections to the doctrine of the preceding sermon, 
 have been mentioned to the author, since the dehvery of it. 
 Of these it may be proper to take some notice. 
 
 1. The slaves are in a better situation than that in 
 which they were in their own country ; especially as they 
 have opportunity to know the Christian religion and to se- 
 cure the saving blessings of it. Therefore it is not an inju- 
 ry, but a benefit to bring them into this country, even 
 though their importation be accompanied and followed with 
 slavery. It is also said, that the situation of many Negroes 
 under their masters is much better, than it would be, were 
 they free in this country ; that they are much better fed and 
 clothed, and are much more happy ; that therefore to hold 
 them in slavery is so far from a crime, that it is a meritori- 
 ous act. 
 
 With regard to these pleas, it is to be observed, that eve- 
 ry man hath a right to judge concerning his own happiness, 
 and to choose the means of obtaining or promoting it ; and 
 to deprive him of this right is the very injury of which we 
 complain ; it is to enslave him. Because we judge, that 
 the Negroes are more happy in this country, in a state of 
 i>lavery, than in the enjoyment of liberty in Africa, we have 
 no more right to enslave them and bring them into this coun- 
 try, than we have to enslave any of ovn- neighbours, who 
 we judge would be more happy under our control, than they 
 are at present under their own. Let us make the case our 
 own. Should we believe, that we were justly treated, if 
 the Africans should carry us into perpetual slavery in Af- 
 rica, on the ground that they judged, that wc should be 
 more happy in that state, than in our present situation ? 
 
 As to the opportunity which the Negroes in this country 
 are said to have, to become acquainted with Christianity ; 
 this with respect to many is granted : But what follows from 
 it ? it would be ridiculous to pretend, that this is the motive 
 
37 
 
 on which they act who import them, or they who buy and 
 hold them in slavery. Or if this were the motive, it would 
 not sanctify either the trade or the slavery. We are not at 
 liberty to do evil, that good may come ; to commit a crime 
 more aggravated than theft or robbery, that we may make a 
 proselyte to Christianity. Neither our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 nor any one of his apostles has taught us this mode of pro- 
 pagating the faith. 
 
 2. It is said, that the doctrine of the preceding sermon 
 imputes that as a crime to individuuls, which is owing to the 
 state of society. This is granted ; and what follows ? It is 
 owing to the state of society, that our neighbours, the Indians 
 roast their captives : and does it hence follow, that such con- 
 duct is not to be imputed to the individual agents as a crime ? 
 Tt is owing to the state of society in Popish countries, that 
 thousands worship the beast and his image : and is that 
 worship therefore not to be imputed as a crime to those, 
 who render it? Read the Revelation of St. John. The 
 state of society is such, that drunkenness and aduhery are 
 very common in some countries ; but will it follow, that 
 those vices are innocent in those countries ? 
 
 3. If I be ever so willing to manumit my slave, I cannot 
 do it without being holden to maintain him, when he shall be 
 sick or shall be old and decrepit. Therefore I have a right 
 to hold him as a slave. — The same argument will prove, that 
 you have a right to enslave your children or your parents : 
 as you are equally holden to maintain them in sickness and 
 in decrepit old age. — The argument implies, that in order to 
 secure the money, which you are afraid the laws of your 
 country will some time or other oblige you to pay; it is 
 right for you to rob a free man of his liberty or be guilty of 
 man-stealing. On the ground of this argument every town 
 or parish obligated by law, to maintain its helpless poor, has 
 a right to sell into perpetual slavery all the people, who may 
 probably or even possibly occasion a public expence. 
 
 4. After all, it is not safe to manumit the Negroes : they 
 would cut our throats ; they would endanger the peace and 
 government of the state. Or at least they would be so idle, 
 that they would not provide themselves with necessaries : of 
 course they must live by thievery and plundering. 
 
 This objection requires a different answer, as it respects 
 the northern, and as it respects the southern states. As it 
 respects the northern, in which slaves are so few, there is 
 
38 
 
 not the least foundation to imagine, that they would com- 
 bine or make insurrection against the government; or that 
 they would attempt to murder their masters. They are 
 much more likely to kill their masters, in order to obtain 
 their liberty, or to revenge the abuse they receive, while it 
 is still continued, than to do it after the abuse hath ceased, 
 and they are restored to their liberty. In this case, they 
 would from a sense of gratitude, or at least from a convic- 
 tion of the justice of their masters, feel a strong attachment, 
 instead of a murderous disposition. 
 
 Nor is there the least danger, but that by a proper vigi- 
 lance of the selectmen, and by a strict execution of the law.s 
 now existing, the Negroes might in a tolerable degree be 
 kept from idleness and pilfering. 
 
 All this hath been verified by experiment. In Massachu- 
 setts, all the Negroes in the commonwealth were by their 
 new constitution liberated in a day : and none of the ill 
 consequences objected followed either to the common- 
 wealth or to individuals. 
 
 With regard to the southern states, the case is different. 
 The negroes in some parts of those states are a great ma- 
 jority of the whole, and therefore the evils objected would, 
 in case of a general manumission at once, be more likely to 
 take place. But in the first place there is no prospect, that 
 the conviction of the truth exhibited in the preceding dis- 
 course, will at once, take place in the minds of all the holders 
 of slaves. The utmost that can be expected, is that it will 
 take place gradually in one after another, and that of course 
 the slaves will be gradually manumitted. Therefore the 
 evils of a general manumission at once, are dreaded without 
 reason. 
 
 If in any state the slaves should be manumitted in con- 
 siderable numbers at once, or so that the number of free 
 Negroes should become large ; various measures might be 
 concerted to prevent the evils feared. One I beg leave to pro- 
 pose : That overseers of the free Negroes be appointed from 
 among themselves, who shall be empowered to inspect the 
 morals and management of the rest, and report to proper 
 authority, those who are vicious, idle or incapable of man- 
 aging their own affairs, and that such authority dispose of 
 them under proper masters for a year or other term, as is 
 done, perhaps in all the states, with regard to the poor 
 while people in like manner vicious, idle or incapable of 
 
39 
 
 management. Such black overseers would naturally be 
 ambitious to dischage the duties of their office ; they would 
 in many respects have much more influence than white men 
 with their countrymen : and other Negroes looking for- 
 ward to the same honourable distinction, would endeavour 
 to deserve it by their improvement and good conduct. 
 
 But after all, this whole objection, if it were ever so en- 
 tirely founded on truth ; if the freed Negroes would proba- 
 bly rise against their masters, or combine against govern- 
 ment ; rests on the same ground, as the apology of the rob- 
 ber, who murders the man whom he has robbed. Says the 
 robber to himself, I have robbed this man, and now if I let 
 him go he will kill me, or he will complain to authority and 
 I shall be apprehended and hung. I must therefore kill 
 him. There is no other way of safety for me. — The coin- 
 cidence between th s reasoning and that of the objection 
 under consideration, must be manifest to all. And if this 
 reasoning of the robber be inconclusive ; if the robber have 
 no right on that ground to kill the man whom he hath rob- 
 bed ; neither have the slave-holders any more right to con- 
 tinue to hold their slaves. If the robber ought to spare the 
 life of the man robbed, take his own chance and esteem 
 himself happy, if he can escape justice ; so the slave-holders 
 ought immediately to let their slaves go free, treat them 
 with the utmost kindness, by such treatment endeavour to 
 pacify them with respect to past injuries, and esteem them- 
 selves happy, if they can compromise the matter in this 
 manner.* 
 
 In all countries in which the slaves are a majority of the 
 inhabitants, the masters lie in a great measure at the mercy 
 of the slaves, and may most rationally expect sooner or 
 later, to be cut off, or oriven out by the slaves, or to be re- 
 duced to the same level and to be mingled with them into 
 
 * Some exceptionable sentences may perhaps be found in this Discourse. 
 We cannot altogether agree with the Reverend Author in this passage. His 
 reasoning will apply in its full force to slave-traders. The present slave-holders 
 stand, we think, upon different ground. We however hope that these will 
 soon be convinced, that it is a.nimmediate and imperious duty, to adopt plans, 
 and proceed with energy in the execution of them, which shall terminate in 
 universal emancipation. Every master of slaves, enlightened on this subject, 
 who does not act, (as far as the regulations of government will permit, and 
 who does not exert his influence to change the law, where it opposes his de- 
 sign,) with reference to the accomplishment of this end, is, we believe, re- 
 garded by God as an enemy of the human race. We cannot, we would not, 
 speak with moderation of a principle which would bind down millions of our 
 race, to ignorance and the chains of perpetual servitude. 
 
40 
 
 one common mass. This I think is by ancient and modern 
 events demonstrated to be the natural and necessary course 
 of human affairs. The hewers of wood and drawers of 
 water among the IsraeUtes, the Helots among the Lacede- 
 monians, the slaves among the Romans, the villains and vas- 
 sals in most of the kingdoms of Europe under the feudal 
 system, have long since mixed with the common mass of the 
 people, and shared the common privileges and honours of 
 their respective countries. And in the French West-Indies 
 the Mulattoes and free Negroes are already become so nu- 
 merous and powerful a body, as to be allowed by the Na- 
 tional Assembly to enjoy the common rights and honours of 
 free men. These facts plainly show, what the whites in the 
 West-Indies and the Southern States are to expect concern- 
 ino- their posterity, that it will infallibly be amalgamated 
 with the slave population, or else they must quit the country 
 to the Africans whom ihey have hitherto holden in bon- 
 dage.* 
 
 *We trust that evils like these will be known only in imagination. But 
 what shall prevent them ? Nothing but united and strenuous efforts in the 
 execution of a plan similar to that which has been devised by the American 
 Colonization Society.— Let this Association receive universal support.