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 ADDRESS 
 
 PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 K! 
 
 ON THE SUBJECT OF 
 
 SLAVERY 
 
 ^ BOSTON: 
 PUBLISHED BY GARRISON & KNAPP. 
 
 1834. 
 
% 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 The Committee appointed by the New-England Anti-Slavery Convention to prepare an 
 Address to the People of the United States on the subject of Slavery, beg leave to report 
 the following : 
 
 With all the deference which is due from 
 individuals to society, to the great union of 
 free and intelligent beings on whose sym- 
 pathy, respect and protection they depend ; 
 with all the confidence inspired by the de- 
 fence of a cause which requires for its com- 
 plete success, nothing but an impartial hear- 
 ing ; with all the fervent hope, all the fear- 
 ful solicitude for the destinies of mankind, 
 wrapt up in the fate of this country, we, the 
 humble and devoted advocates of the op- 
 pressed, address you, our fellow-citizens, in 
 behalf of more than two millions of men, 
 our countrymen, whom we, the people of 
 these United States, have doomed to abso- 
 lute and perpetual bondage. 
 
 What is the burthen of our address, — the 
 object of our petition? Is it to provoke or 
 offend — is it to wrong, or to desire to wrong 
 our neighbor — is it to slander— is it to set 
 ourselves up above others, as if we were 
 better than they— is it to disturb the peace, 
 or to loosen or to dissolve the Union — is it 
 to promote divisions and to stimulate our dif- 
 ferent classes to discord— the North against 
 the South— the East against the West— the 
 ■enslaved American against the free Ameri- 
 
 can — or the colored man against the white ? 
 No — It is none of these. 
 
 It is our object, in the first place, to set 
 before you the nature and consequences of 
 slavery ; not in order to convince you that 
 slavery is an immeasurable evil, for this 
 would be as useless as to attempt to per- 
 suade you that liberty is an inestimable 
 good. But we wish to impress you with the 
 idea that we cannot hold this simple and in- 
 contestable truth with impunity, that we 
 drink the cup of freedom to our own con- 
 demnation, unless we are willing to confess 
 and repair our wrongs— unless we resolve 
 to act in obedience to the law of liberty 
 which we have proclaimed, and by which 
 we naust be judged. 
 
 Every Fourth of July is to us a day of ex- 
 ultation for what we have done, and a day of 
 humiliation for what we have left undone. 
 The Declaration of Independence, which is 
 read throughout our land, bears record to 
 our glory, our shame, our inconsistency. It 
 proves the unlawfulness of the government 
 established over the slave, in the same ternss 
 in which it justifies the self-government of 
 
 the free. For it asserts that all government 
 
Address to the People of the United States. 
 
 among men derives its just powers from the 
 consent of the governed ; that it is instituted 
 to secure the inalienaUe rights of life, liber- 
 ty, and the pursuit of happiness, with which 
 all men are endowed equalli/ by their Cre- 
 ator. 
 
 These self-evident truths, set forth in that 
 document of philanthropic wisdom and he- 
 roism, are borne out by the testimony of in- 
 spiration. Let us place side by side the law 
 of the white man, concerning his colored 
 fellow-man, and the law of God, concerning 
 all his children. 
 
 God said, ' Let us make man in our im- 
 age, after our likeness.' Negro slavery de- 
 nies God in man ; the children do not recog- 
 nise their Father's likeness, because it has 
 pleased Him to set it in a dark frame. 
 
 The Son of God says, 'Be not ye called 
 masters ; for one is your master; one is your 
 Father ; and all ye are brethren.' This uni- 
 versal brotherhood, established by the God 
 ofnature, the Father of spirits, has it indu- 
 ced the white man, the professed Christian, 
 to see in his colored fellow-man, a child of 
 God, to be respected and loved by him as he 
 respects and loves himself? Look at the 
 history of negro slavery. All its authentic 
 records, all its unpublished volumes may be 
 summed up in one sentence. The white 
 man, the professed Christian, has treated his 
 brother, the colored man, first, as a beast of 
 prey, and then as a beast of burthen and of 
 draught. 
 
 The Son of man farther says, ' Whatsoev- 
 er ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
 even so to them.' And, ' with what judgment 
 ye judge, ye shall be judged ; and with what 
 measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you 
 again.' To do unto others as we would have 
 them do unto us— if this be the great law of 
 justice by which we shall be judged— what 
 must we think, we do not say of the 7nen, for 
 we would not interfere between them and 
 their own consciences— but what must we 
 think of the laivs of our slaveholding states 
 and territories, which the white inhabitants 
 have made, and which the whole country 
 has sanctioned .= The law secures to the 
 white man, the poorest as well as the rich- 
 est, whatever property he finherits, or gains 
 by his own industry, or by exchange with 
 others. The earnings of the slave, the fruits 
 of his life-wasting industry, are not his own ; 
 he inherits nothing butskvery, he bequeaths 
 
 I nothing but slavery ; he himself is the pro- 
 duct of slave-breeding industry, a market- 
 able and hereditable commodity. Is this 
 doing unto others as we would have them do 
 unto us ? The ties of domestic affection, the 
 covenant ofnature which binds to each oth- 
 er husband and wife, parent and child, broth- 
 er and sister, are acknowledged by public 
 opinion, by the enlightened sentiments of 
 I mankind, as the highest incentives to indi- 
 vidual industry, the richest source of social 
 enjoyment, the main support of order, mutual 
 good will, and improvement in society. The 
 voice ofnature and of reason has sanctioned 
 the privacy of domestic life, and has placed 
 the law of the land like a cherub with a fla- 
 ming sword before the garden of life. But 
 the law of the land, which declares the house 
 of the white man his ' castle,' and guards it 
 against the threats of intruders by imprison- 
 ment and death— the same law, like a faith- 
 less sentinel, admits to the unguarded dwel- 
 ling of the colored man, every selfish and 
 brutal passion, if it bears the color of legal- 
 ized oppression ; it licenses the profanation 
 of all that is sacred and dear to the wretched 
 victim of avarice and prejudice. Though 
 conjugal fidelity, parental and filial affection 
 and brotherly love be all placed in one scale, 
 yet the market price in the other, seldom, if 
 ever, fails to kick the beam. Is this doing 
 unto others as we would have them do unto 
 us ? All civil and political power is in the 
 hands of the white man,— the colored man 
 has none. He is compelled to live under ru- 
 lers in whose election he has no voice— un- 
 I der laws in whose enactment he is permitted 
 to take no part— and under the verdict and 
 judgment of courts which are constituted 
 whoUy by others, and where he is not allow- 
 ed to defend himself by his own oath, or that 
 of those of his own color. Is this doing unto 
 others as we would have them do unto us ? 
 
 The foundation of all rights, the right of 
 personal independence and self-ownership, 
 by which every human being is invested 
 with the free use and disposal of his own 
 body and his own soul, is denied to the slave. 
 Resistance against violence, the natural right 
 of self-defence, the right of the husband and 
 the father to protect the virtue of his wife 
 and child— if it be exercised by the colored 
 man against the white, is deemed worthy of 
 death. The right and duty of every human 
 being to improve his mind, for which schools 
 
jiddress to the People 0/ Ihs United Slates. 
 
 an,l associations for the advancement and , history did not supersede all speculation on 
 dilFusion of knowledge are ^^tabhshed , tin. subject. 
 
 " -'-"^ z 'r^i t^^ ^:: be :;rii:: ?s"::: ^ci.y 4 ..ru. 
 
 ■ctual nature ot man, is secureu onij lo , 1 1 , ' tl.Pn.sclvcs Its influence 
 
 ,, . ThP fiimole art of rcudincr, by slaveholders tlieniscivcb. ii^ nmu 
 
 iiii^' tree -man. Ine simpie urt ui n-auui^, . i ,..„^i,-,a „r iiwhmtrv nartic- 
 
 ».„c„o„aMc, e.er, o„c to »PF0P-.-" - -«'- ^ ' ,.d ^ISu.'rc,, i. 
 himself what other men have Jone lor the u ady °" "1."='"' of our eoun- 
 
 elevalioa a„a happiness of „,a„l<„,J, is .r,th- P'-'''y„l= '" "1,°" J h 1 ,,.sU,e. 
 
 held from Uie slave. The law in some parts 
 ofour country tlireatens death, even to the 
 master himself, who should persist in teach- 
 ing his slave to read. The safety of the 
 slave State is thought to require this prohi- 
 
 try. The condition ofour slaveholding states 
 compared with that of the free, the contrast 
 between the two great sUtes on the banks 
 of the Ohio, and between the western and 
 eastern portion of Virginia-are facts too 
 
 slave State IS thought to require inis pro...- ^^ ..^- .- - ,.^.^"^..^^^,^ an elabor- 
 hition ; tke kno.Mge of the alphahetm.gh. '^"^^Z "'t:::^: l...n,en 
 
 enable the slave to find out, from the Decla- 
 ration of American Independence, and from 
 the word of God, that, by Divine right, and 
 by the fundamental law of this country, eve- 
 ry man is a freeman. If, indeed, the master 
 should give his consent, whicli he may re- 
 fuse or retract at any time, that cliristianity 
 should be taught to the slave, it is only suck 
 Christianity, rather such a religion, as is con- 
 sistent with slavery. Is this doing unto oth- 
 ers as we would have them do unto us? 
 The only case of importance in which the 
 law acknowledges a crime committed against 
 a slave as a crime, and tlireatens punish- 
 ment to the offender, tiie case of murder, 
 affords but feeble protection to the life of the 
 slave. The law enables the master to free 
 
 ate treatise on tlie comparative advantages 
 of free and slave labor. 
 
 And what are tlie natural effects of slave- 
 ry on the mind and disposition of the master 
 and the slave ? A restless dissatisfaction, 
 or a brutal contentment with his lot, aversion 
 to all labor, because he labors not from the 
 hope of a just reward, but from the dread of 
 punishment at tiie hand of arbitrary power, 
 addictcdncss to low and sensual enjoymenU 
 I because others arc withheld ; these are some 
 of the natural effects of slavery on the slave. 
 On the other hand, constant fear of insurrec- 
 tion, disdain of nseful labor as associated 
 with the condition of slavery, love of power 
 nourished in the master from infancy, with 
 freedom to gratify all his passions and whims 
 
 slave The law enables tlie masiur lo uec- ..^^^-..- - =- . ,',^a =lovPs_is it 
 
 r;.f fro. punishment hy she.,„, that '-1^:; '^ leTr^ratesTon.dhe 
 
 the slave came to his death in consequence 
 of moderate castigation. Nay, the law se- 
 cures impunity to the offender in almost eve- 
 ry case of offence committed by a white 
 against a colored man, by rejediug black tes- 
 timony agaiiist icliite crime. 
 
 If doing unto others as we would be done 
 
 probable that these circumstances should be 
 favorable to the growth of private virtue, or 
 of true republicanism? For, true republi- 
 canism does not consist in maintaining equal 
 ity of rights among oppressors, but in honor- 
 ing all men as equals in all their natural and 
 inalienable rights. 
 
 When we say that freedom has a salutary. 
 
 i. „ -^ <■ „„.„r„i When we say mat, irueuuuj »j.^.= ". jj 
 
 by, is indeed the eternal f "^^^^^^ "^ ^J, jVhvery a hurtful infiuence on the mind 
 • -•.:-„ u^tT^con man and man, what ngnt M-"" ='"**^^'J' . . „ , .. i .u^ 
 
 by, is inaeuu t... ......"■ ^^ - ^^^^^^^ influence on tne minu 
 
 justice between man and man, what '^'S'^T"^ '' L^„ both of the master and the 
 Lve we, the freemen of this country, to our -^^^^^P^^^^ ^,°^'; ^^ ,, ,,, ,,,,,,1 result 
 
 of that unnatural relation. Among the in- 
 numerable cases which have been brought 
 
 property, our families, our political privileges, 
 to the possession of our own bodies and 
 souls, while we persevere in denying the 
 same privileges and blessings to our colored 
 fellow-men ? In strict justice, he who strips 
 his unoffending fellow-man of his natural and 
 civil rights, forfeits his own 
 
 forward in confirmation of this truth, there 
 are undoubtedly some which have been ex- 
 a<r<rerated, if not invented, by those who have 
 published them. But if we confine ourselves 
 
 • 1 nn'thP simole truth only to the official and authentic accounts of 
 Enough has been said on he « "P^^^ >^'^ J ^,, ^ .^ ^^ ■ ^^e foreign and do- 
 that slavery is m Itself unjust, that it is "^ r'^^'ve trade there is enough to rouse 
 
 crime agaiiist 1-"-" -^^^ ^^ ^ ' '^rL \ rvCc^rtant te'ling of hun.anUy, and in- 
 sib.l.ty. That the efle ts of slas ry re no > ^^^^ ^^^^^ ,^.^^ ^^^^ .^^^ ^^ ^^^^., 
 
 S::;r::;r;erl?«Peneoc^andUd enterprising benevolence. It is true. 
 
Address to the Peoplr of the IhiUed Stales. 
 
 thera are virtues, such as frankness and g-en- 
 erosity, which are found among slaveholders 
 as well as among consistent freemen; and 
 we rejoice to acknowledge them in our south 
 
 immediate and unlimited exercise of every 
 privilege. Yet we certainly are not justified 
 in asserting that the slave is content with his 
 present lot, until we have offered to him the 
 
 en, brethren, without entering into an i;;;i-;;::d^;^.Zr:;\nl^ • h. f 
 lous inquiry concerning the comparative dif- the possession of whlh\ "^^'' ^"^ 
 
 ficu Ity of practising the virtue of generosity together with t n at to^rr^'f '' 
 indifferent portions of our country. It is soon as Dossn,]/ f T ^^ ^"'"self. as 
 upon the belief in the existence of those pricte'el'd t^^^^^^^^^^ °^ ^^^^^ 
 generous sentiments, that the friends of aho- But^upplT U true !h!?f 'k '"^"• 
 ition rest much of their confident hope that ed, that tfe v" 1 1 ^7^ ! '" ""TTr": 
 the slaveholders of the South will take this happy-,,,/ ^I'^^^f^^^- -d 
 
 great work into their own hands, and force should be considered^ot L tt\ T''' 
 an acknowledgment of their magnanimous the very worst and Is den n'V"' ''. 
 love ofliborty not only from thei^ rivals at slavery^ I ' human betl'T f T f 
 the North, but from the forsaken slave. On the rilhts andXibu ef ' f "'^ • '^ ^'^ 
 the other hand, we rejoice that there are contend and h'rv Ms a n fT' T 
 many instances to prove that the state of hierarchy of nafe will l.Tl ^ "" 
 degradation imposed upon the slave has not the moral a^em at tie h ad t^f r""' 
 obliterated every feature of the divine image, creatures, is^bro^len t at hein n ""= 
 That the spirit of man, however darkened, vived his pirtualnat^^re ^ 
 IS not extinct in the slave, is evident from that the slave is faC/!; lo ! '^'"' 
 the occasional wild eruptions of the smother- isfied with his own do 'T "" 7} '''- 
 ed fire of indignation and resentment, as well that he is a man th ^ i V'"'^ ^''S'' 
 
 as from the striking instance of that fidelity, done i s vor o"; h ^ a ^^b " "'"' 
 which is the moral Rnnnor*- .f „. : l^.'L... " , on lam, and it becomes our 
 
 which is the moral support of an immora, 
 power, and which has often saved the unsus- 
 pecting master from the fury of the revolt- 
 ing slaves. The same truth is confirmed by 
 numerous instances of voluntary death pre- 
 ferred to a life of bondage, and by the still 
 more cheering and elevating example ofthose 
 who, after having worked out their own free- 
 dom, have not ceased to toil and to starve 
 until they have redeemed their friends from 
 servitude. 
 
 Whether the slaves are treated well or ill, 
 whether they are contented or not, these are' 
 circumstances which do not affect the duty 
 of emancipation. The very existence of 
 laws against runaway slaves would be suffi- 
 cient to prove that many of them, surely, are 
 not contented. We have no right to assert 
 
 most sacred duty to break the spell that has 
 converted human beings into brutes 
 
 Many objections to the immediate aboli- 
 tion of slavery have been brought forward, 
 ;vhich, like the one already mentioned, the 
 alleged contentment of the slaves, only re- 
 quire a fair and thorough examination, to be 
 defeated or converted into auxiliary aro-u- 
 ments for emancipation. It has been said, 
 the slaves are not prepared for liberty. But 
 It IS clear that the first step toward civilizing 
 and christianizing the negro is to acknowl- 
 edge that he is a man, whose confidence we 
 have to gam by confessing that we have 
 wrongfed him, and endeavoring to repair the 
 injury by abandoning forever the inhuman 
 principle that man can hold property in man. 
 It has been said that the slaves, if suddenly 
 emancipated, would use their liberty for 
 
 that the slave is happy, in a condition "the , w.an.,puL«u would „.p tho" vu 
 
 least particle of which, if it were imposed avengigreVprsufferinl,'' ^ '" 
 
 upon us, would be re=!istpd nntr. Ki^^ i .-i L %, ^ sunerings upon the mas- 
 
 we have' offered to Mmtee om W '" T\ ' '' "'"'' '' ^^""^'^ ^"^-'^' ^^ ^l- 
 freedom in good fuit^ notre Xuir.T \"'u-^ "'^ '^' ""''■*'^' ^^e whole 
 precarious anowanceo/ham^'Hi^^tsLr""/. '""'^^ "^"'^ '''' ^''^^erto 
 
 settled upon the unen la e^Iit^c^^^^^ the unrighteous authority of the 
 
 most parts of our countryfbr^^I^tclX^^^^ ^] ^^'e to 
 
 as we have it, other than which we ought to the freeman Tfl. ^''' '^''" 
 
 be ashamed to offer. The stateof ignorance pose thaTlw .1 \T' ''"' '' ^"^- 
 
 in which we have placed him, ma; indexed tTr^rrr:.^^^^^^ 
 render it inexpedient to call the slave to an | who has no cans 'V "Sreta f ;: ire^^^r 
 
Mdnss to the People of the United States. 
 
 revenge against the white man, except the 
 fact that he holds him in slavery, should hate, 
 and desire to revenge himself upon lum, tor 
 restoring him to liberty. Whatever strange 
 kind of speculation may lead men to expect 
 that love should beget hatred, this surely is 
 not the logic of the human heart. 
 
 The history of the past, as well as the ex- 
 perience of our days, does not record one in- 
 stance in which the immediate abolition of 
 slavery has stirred up the freed man to vio- 
 lence, outrage and war. Within the remem- 
 brance of this generation, slavery has been 
 abolished in St. Domingo, in the republics ot 
 South America, and recently throughout the 
 vast empire of Great Britain. Different 
 modes and forms of emancipation have oeen 
 tried. In some cases, the enjoyment of per- 
 fect liberty on the part of the slaves Ijas been 
 preceded by an apprenticeship ; in others lull 
 liberty has been granted at once; m some 
 instances portions of land have been allotted 
 to the negroes;inotlicrs they have been 
 left without any means of support bat their 
 personal liberty ; in others a part of the pro- 
 duce, or certain days in the week, have been 
 secured to the free laborers remammg on the 
 plantations. In all these instances, in which 
 a whole state has abolished slavery, and in 
 many others in which the comparative value 
 of free and slave labor has been tried on a 
 smaller scale, the safety and superior advan- 
 tacres of immediate abolition have been fully 
 established. Great light has been shed on 
 this subject by the Report of the Committee 
 appointed by the House of Commons, on the 
 extinction of Slavery in Great Britain The 
 confident anticipations of many of the wi - 
 nesses who were examined by the Commit- 
 tee as to the safety and desirableness of tha 
 great national measure, for both masters and 
 slaves, have already been verified, so far as 
 the short time that has elapsed since the ac- 
 tual enfranchisement of the British West 
 Indies has enabled us to judge of the results 
 
 of this great measure. Already severa. 
 islands have petitioned the government, and 
 have obtained permission to substitute full 
 and immediate abolition for the system of 
 apprenticeship, which had been devised as 
 
 an intermediate step from servitude to f e- 
 dom; because it soon became evident, that 
 the full advantages of a free labor system 
 
 cannot be realized by any scheme of demi- 
 
 servitude. 
 
 A thorough investigation of the much dis- 
 fitrured history of St. Domingo, which has 
 been so often held out as a fearful warmng 
 against all attempts at immediate abolition, 
 boars the most decided testimony to the 
 safety of this pliilanthropic measure. Indeed, 
 the history of Hayti speaks more strong- 
 ly in lavor of this cause, than the most 
 sanguine abolitionist Gould have expected^ 
 For'it is proved by competent eye witnesses,* 
 that after the fearful contest which raged 
 in that island from 1791 to 1793, and which 
 from a civil soon became a servile war, and 
 ended in a complete abolition of slavery, the 
 slaves as soon as they were declared free- 
 men, instead of trying to avenge the cruel- 
 ties they had suffered, quietly returned to 
 their plantations. There they continued to 
 work as free laborers for a fourth part of the 
 produce, besides having two days in the week 
 entirely to themselves. And this cultivation 
 of the land on shares proved so successful, 
 that the island was fast advancing toward its 
 former prosperity, when in 1801, Buonaparte 
 conceived the inhuman and insane plan of 
 reducing the enfranchised islands again to 
 slavery. 
 
 In Guadaloupe, which had been quiet and 
 prosperous in her freedom as St. Domingo 
 was, the ruthless conqueror succeeded m 
 restoring slavery, after the most fearful and 
 bloody I'esistance. But he failed in St. Do- 
 mingo. And if we would rightly estimate 
 the 1-csult of this great struggle from servi- 
 tude, discord, and anarchy, to liberty, law, and 
 union, we must consider that during the con- 
 tinued warfare which did not wholly cease 
 until 1820, the whole island became one 
 republic, the arts and habits of peace were 
 almost entirely abandoned, and the expensive 
 works for cultivating the land on which the 
 amount of exportable property greatly de- 
 pends, were destroyed. We must consider 
 also, that the natural disposition of the people 
 inclines them to secure by moderate labor 
 the necessaries and comforts which the cul- 
 tivation of a rich soil easily affords, rather 
 than to strive and toil for wealth and com- 
 mercial eminence. Again we must consider, 
 that the industry of that island is kept down 
 by the support of a large standing army to 
 prevent invasion, and by an enormous nation- 
 
 * See parliculaily the Fvencl. works of La Croix 
 and'Malenfant. 
 
8 
 
 Address to the People of the United States. 
 
 al debt to France. Under all those circum- 
 stances, which have necessarily reduced the 
 produce, the exports and imports of St. Do- 
 mino-o, and affected the character of its in- 
 habitants, if we consider that tlie population, 
 which in 1801 amounted to about 400,000, 
 had^ncreased, according to the official census 
 in IQ'U, to 935,335, and if we look upon the 
 amount of freedom, security, and prosperity 
 enjoyed in that island— we cannot help see- 
 ing in the whole unprecedented history 
 of St. Domingo, a most satisfactory evi- 
 dence of the safety and expediency of 
 immediate abolition, even under the most un- 
 favorable circumstances. 
 
 That the Africans will not work from any 
 better impulse than the cart-whip, is an as- 
 sertion so oflen refuted, that it is not worth 
 while to dwell upon it. It is indeed not im- 
 probable, that the long continuance of slave- 
 ry has degraded many so deeply as to re- 
 quire some impulses besides those of self- 
 interest, honor, and family attachment, to 
 stimulate them to honest industry ; some le- J 
 gal restraints to prevent those who by a sud- 1 
 den act of abolition are made masters of 
 their time, from abusing it to the injury of 
 others as well as themselves. Laws may be 
 necessary like those existing in Hayti, which 
 compel idlers and vagabonds, all those who 
 cannot show that they possess the means of 
 an honest subsistence, to cultivate the earth 
 for their living ; as in many parts of our 
 country also, paupers are compelled to labor 
 for the sustenance provided for them by the 
 community. But the practical importance of 
 these laws will continually decrease, as the 
 natural effects of freedom supplant the arti- 
 ficial resorts of slavery. 
 
 The loss of property, growing out of im- 
 mediate emancipation, has been urged as 
 another objection to this measure. The gen- 
 eral ground of this question, the comparative 
 advantages of free and slave labor, have been 
 so clearly demonstrated by scientific and ex- 
 perimental investigation, that i•Q^Y, if any, 
 remarks are required on this subject. It 
 would seem superfluous to prove in detail, 
 that the master, the planter in particular.' 
 must be benefitted by the exchange of a 
 slave-labor for a free-labor system, 'it frees 
 him from the necessity of purchasing culti- 
 vators for his land, the price of which must 
 rise in proportion to what he saves by not 
 
 bein, o.i.0., .„ ,„, ,„., i„ „,,,„„ ; ae7;ii;;: ;;;;;,:;„:„■:. ":;rDrt z z 
 
 not at the risk of losing part of his capital 
 by the sickness, or death, or escape of his 
 slaves; he has not to provide for the sick, 
 the children, the aged, except so far as they 
 may have to be taken care of by the com- 
 munity. Instead of depending on laborers, 
 whose interest it is to do no more work than 
 the fear of the whip can induce them to per- 
 form, and to pass themselves off for being 
 as unprofitable as possible ; the employer of 
 free labor has the choice of laborers, whose 
 interest, whose heart and will are in their 
 business, and whose reputation for efficient 
 usefulness is at stake. Instead of finding it 
 for his advantage to debar his slave from all 
 knowledge, save what concerns him as a do- 
 mesticated animal ; instead of doing vio- 
 lence to his own nature by degrading that of 
 his slave, the master or employer will be 
 prompted both by his earthly and his spiritu- 
 al interests, to promote the intelliirence, the 
 self-respect, the love of truth and justice, 
 j the religious principle in the free laborer. 
 I These considerations are sufficient to 
 show that universal and immediate emanci- 
 pation must, in general, prove eminently 
 beneficial, both to the slaveholder and the 
 slave. Cases of individual suffering, which 
 are incidental to every general plan of re- 
 form, will be easily remedied. But although 
 the economical advantages of this reform 
 are evident, it should never be overlooked 
 that justice demands the immediate aboli- 
 tion of slavery, whether it be for the advan- 
 tage or disadvantage of the slaveholder. In- 
 stant and persevering exertion to remove 
 from the present, and to avert from every 
 future generation, the crime and the misery 
 of oppression, is all that we can do to atone 
 for the past, and to wipe off a part of that 
 fearful reckoning, which awaits us all at the 
 bar of eternal justice. 
 
 There is one more objection to the promo- 
 tion of anti-slavery principles, which ope- 
 rates as a powerful check upon many of our 
 fellow-citizens ; although we confidently be- 
 lieve that if they would subject it to a thor- 
 ough examination, they would see in this 
 very objection, the strongest argument for 
 promoting the abolition of slavery in our 
 country. It is said tliat the Constitution and 
 the Laws of the Union acknowledge and 
 secure the existence of slavery, in every 
 State in which it is not prohibited by the 
 
Address to the People of the Vniltd SlaUs. 
 
 9 
 
 lilmbia, and in several of the Territories. 
 Hence, it is argued, that the agitation of this 
 question in the free States, is an improper 
 and dangerous interference. 
 
 It is true indeed, that the constitution as 
 it is generally understood, though it nowhere 
 speaks of slavery, is niade to read so as to 
 secure a power which, according to tlic prin- 
 ples of the Declaration of Independence, 
 cannot be rendered just, by any decree or 
 act of government. It is true, that tlie ."lave 
 escaping from bondage in one State, finds in 
 every other, even in those States in which 
 slavery is by law prohibited, a powerful co- 
 adjutor of his master, in every judge or com- 
 petent magistrate cf tlie Union, who is ob- 
 liged to deliver him up to tlie pursuing own- 
 erj however his own conscience may revolt 
 against this oOicial support of legal tyranny. 
 It is true, moreover, that a standing army is 
 kept and paid by these United States, ciiiefly 
 for the protecXion of that special branch of 
 industry in one part of our country which is 
 proscribed in every other. It is true, that in 
 case the slaves should assert and insist upon 
 the rights solemnly ascribed to them, in com- 
 mon with all other men, by the Declaration 
 of our Independence, not only the army, but, 
 in case the army should prove insufficient, 
 the mditia, the whole people of these United 
 States, are bound by law to assemble under 
 the very banners under which they once 
 achieved liberty for themselves, to put to the 
 sword men who dare to claim the same inal- 
 ienable rights. It is true, that a bargain, 
 agreed to by the free states, entitles the 
 slaveholders to send, in addition to the repre- 
 sentatives to which their own number enti- 
 tles them, twenty-five others to represent a 
 portion of their population, wiiich by their 
 own laws are accounted a part of the live 
 slock, together with horses and cattle. It is 
 true, that in some of the Territories as well 
 Bs in tlie District of Columbia, over which 
 Congress has an absolute and exclusive right 
 of legislation, slavery has a legal national 
 e.vistencc and support. It is true, in fine, 
 Ihat Congress, being invested with constitu- 
 tional power ' to regulate commerce with 
 foreign nations and among the several states,' 
 although it has branded as piracy the foreign 
 slave trade, still tolerates the domestic trafhc 
 in human beings, which is characterized by 
 the essential attributes of the middle passage. 
 By means of this traffic, the produce of the 
 
 slave-breeding is convoyed to tlia slavc-con- 
 suiiiiiig slates, and tlic various wants of the 
 slaveholding community are continually nup- 
 plied. Nay, the seat of Congress, the capital 
 of tlic United States, is tiie centre, the very 
 heart of this traffic, drawing fresh supplioi 
 from dideront quarters, and sending them to 
 every part, to nourish and support the sys- 
 tem. 
 
 The fact tiien on wliichthe foremcntionod 
 objection to anti-slavery movements ii 
 grounded, is incontestable. It is true that 
 slavery, as it exists in our coCintry, is support- 
 ed by law, and by the constitution as it is 
 generally understood. But can this be con- 
 sidered as a reasonable objection ? Ought 
 it not to be to us the most powerful induce- 
 ment, to use every means which the consti- 
 tution has left us, to remove this fatal incon- 
 sistency with the vital principle of our social 
 institutions ? 
 
 It is not our object now to enquire whetlicr 
 a law can be deemed valid, if il is contrary 
 to the first principles of natural justice, con- 
 trary to the inalienable rights of man, par- 
 ticularly when these principles and rights are 
 solemnly acknowledged by the sovereign 
 will of the people as the supreme standard 
 and test of the validity of any law. We 
 only ask tiie people of the United States to 
 consider what bearing thatclause in the con- 
 stitution which authorizes slavery, has upon 
 the Declaration of Independence. The words 
 of the only article which is understood as 
 securing the claims of the slate-owner (Art. 
 IV. Sec. III. 3.) are these : 'No person held 
 to service or labor in one state under the laws 
 thereof, escaping into another, shall, in con- 
 sequence of any law or regulation therein, 
 be discharged from such service or labor, but 
 shall be delivered up on claim of the party 
 to whom sucli service or labor may be due.' 
 Now it is evident that these words of tlic 
 Constitution are not inconsistent with tlie 
 acknowledgment of the inalienable rights of 
 man, in the Declaration of Independence, if 
 they are understood as having reference to 
 sucii service or labor as may be due from one 
 person to another, on any sufficient legal 
 ground, except slavery. They Sre inconsis- 
 tent with the Declaration of Independence 
 only, if tliey be understood as applying to 
 slave labor and involuntary servitude, as well 
 as to free labor and hired services. — Snppoee 
 we had no other knowledge of the actual 
 
10 
 
 Mdress to the. People of the United Slates. 
 
 intention of the framers of the Constitution, 
 than the words of the law itself, would it not 
 become a subject of grave consideration, whe- 
 ther the common understanding of tliat arti- 
 cle in the Constitution, according to which, a 
 slave escaping into a state whose laws do not 
 acknowledge slavery, is delivered up to the 
 pursuing master, is not inconsistent with cor- 
 rect principles of legal interpretation ? Even 
 if we do not look upon the Declaration of 
 Independence as the acknowledged standard 
 and test of the validity of any law ; even if 
 •we consider the Constitution simply in the 
 light of a more recent law, which, on this ac- 
 count, ought to take precedence of the Dec- 
 laration of Independence in any point in 
 which they are decidedly at variance ; yet it 
 is an undoubted principle of legal interpreta- 
 tion, that whenever there is an apparentcol- 
 lision between two laws, the later of the two 
 ought to be interpreted strictly ; that is, if 
 the words admit of a v/ider and of a stricter 
 acceptation, they should be taken in that 
 sense in which they are not at all, or in v/liich 
 they are least inconsistent, with tiie princi- 
 ples contained in a previaus law. Now it is 
 certain that the words of the Constitution in 
 the article alluded to, have and always will 
 have an exact practical meaning, whether 
 slavery is continued or abolished in this coun- 
 try, since in their widest acceptation, they 
 secure the claims both of the slaveholder, 
 and of the employer of a freeman, or master 
 of an apprentice. It is evident, moreover, 
 that if taken in their widest sense, they are 
 opposed to the Declaration of Independence, 
 inasmuch as they are understood to secure 
 the right of property in man. It seems, 
 therefore, more conformable to correct prin- 
 ciples of legal interpretation, to understand 
 them in that stricter sense, in which they do 
 now and always will secure the right of the 
 employer to the /itVerf services of the laborer, 
 and particularly that of the master to the 
 services of the apprentice. When thus un- 
 derstood, there is a propriety in using the 
 words ' to whom such service or labor \sdue.'' 
 But to whom else is service or labor 'f/»e,' 
 but the man who in some way pays- for it.'' 
 We, in fact, see no other alternative than 
 either to adopt this stricter interpretation of 
 the forementioned article of the Constitution, 
 or to admit that the fundamental principles 
 of the Declaration of Independence, which 
 acknowledges the inalienable rights of man, 
 
 as the only just foundation of governmefitV 
 have been repealed by a single clause of the 
 Constitution of the United States— a repeal 
 which would amount to an abrogation of jus- 
 tice itself, 
 
 It may be said that these principles^ of 
 legal interpretation, however just in other 
 cases, are not applicable in this, as the fore^ 
 mentioned article of the Constitution wa3 
 certainly intended by its framers to secure, 
 under terms of a more general import, the 
 legal claim of the slaveholder ; and that this 
 has been acknowledged and acted upon as 
 the true and practical sense of the law by 
 all the courts and magistrates of the Union- 
 — We would not interfere with the applica- 
 tion of the law thus interpreted. We would 
 rather forego any advantage that our cause 
 might derive from a different interpretation, 
 than in any way lessen the binding power 
 of that solemn compact which binds togeth- 
 er the several branches of this great family 
 of republics. We would adopt ourselves, and 
 urge others to adopt the sentiment of the 
 Farewell Address of the Father of his coun- 
 try: — 'The basis of our political system is 
 the right of the people to make and alter 
 their Constitution of government. But the 
 Constitution which at any time exists, until 
 changed by the whole people, is sacredly 
 obligatory upon all.' 
 
 We acknowledge that there is sufficient 
 reason to believe that the forementioned 
 Article of the Constitution was designed' 
 to secure the legal claims of the slave- 
 holder, as well as the master of an appren- 
 tice. But it seems as if its framers had couch- 
 ed their intention in such general terms, in 
 order that the Article might remain applica- 
 ble in case that slavery should be abolished 
 in the different states. They seemed to be 
 looking forward to a time, M-hen the princi- 
 ples of the Declaration of Independence 
 should have removed every species of gov- 
 ernment that is not derived from the consent 
 of the governed, and has not for its object 
 the establishment of the inalienable rights 
 of man. To carry these principles into eflect,- 
 the authors of the Declaration had pledged 
 their ' sacred honor,' — a pledge which yet 
 remains to be redeemed by their descend- 
 ants. 
 
 The same spirit and prospective policy are- 
 manifest in the early history of congressional 
 legislation ;. particularly in the ordinance for 
 
Address to the People oflhc Unilrd Slates. 
 
 11 
 
 llie fjovcrnmcnt of the groat territory north- 
 west of the Oliio, from which tlircc states, 
 Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, have taken their 
 origin. This Ordinance was passed in 17^7, 
 by the unanimous voice of all the States 
 present at its passage, viz. Massachusetts, 
 New-York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virgin- 
 ia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Geor- 
 gia. The six fundamental articles of this 
 Ordinance, which still form the basis of the 
 Territorial governments of the United States, 
 were intended, according to the Preamble, 
 * for extending the fundamental principles of 
 civil and religious liberty ; to fix and estab- 
 lish tliose principles as the basis of all laws, 
 constitutions, and governments, which forev- 
 er hereafter shall be formed in said territory.' 
 The sixth article declares, ' that there shall 
 neitlier be slavery, nor involuntary servitude 
 in the said Territory, otherwise than for the 
 punishment of crimes, whereof the party 
 shall become convicted.' 
 
 But unfortunately in some later acts of 
 Congress, this great principle was lost sight 
 of; and the slavcholding states have promot- 
 ed opposite principles, in order to open new 
 slave markets in the territories, and support 
 their own system of policy by similar con- 
 fititutions of the neighboring states. 
 
 But our belief does not rest on human 
 legislation, or on the interpretation of 
 any document of human device, however 
 venerable. It is enough for our purpose that 
 the constitution and the laws have left to us 
 means to spread and to carry into effect the 
 <loctrine of human rights^f universal lib- 
 erty. The law, at least in the free states, 
 allows the use of all means, except those 
 which our own conscience would forbid ; the 
 constitution of the New-England Anti-Slave- 
 ry Society permits no others than such as are 
 sanctioned by laio, humanih/ and religion. 
 It is enough that we have freedom to speak 
 and to print ; freedom peacefully to assem- 
 ble, and associate, to consult, and to petition 
 the government of the Union as well as the 
 legislature of every state,and thus by individ- 
 ual and united exertion, to act upontlic pub- 
 lic mind. Thus armed with all the legiti- 
 mate weapons of truth, we feel bound in 
 conscience never to lay them down until the 
 principle that man can hold property in man 
 is effaced from our statute books, and held 
 in abhorrence by public opinion. After the 
 piost careful examination, we are convinced 
 
 that slavery is unjust in itself, and cannot be 
 justified by any laws or circumstances ; that 
 it wars against Christianity, and is condemned 
 by the Declaration of our Independence. 
 We are convinced that it is injurious to 
 every branch of industry, and more injurious 
 still to the mind and character both of the 
 master and the slave.' Its existence is the 
 chief cause of all our political dissensions; 
 it tends to unsettle the groundwork of our 
 government, so that every institution,found- 
 ed on the common ground of our Union, ia 
 like an edifice on a volcanic soil, ever liable, 
 to have its foundation shaken, and the whole 
 structure consumed by subterraneous fire. 
 The danger of a servile and a civil war is 
 "■aining cyery year,every day ; for the annual 
 increase of the slave population is more than 
 sixty thousand ; and every day about two 
 hundren children are born into slavery. As 
 the more northern of the slave states, seeing 
 the advantages of free labor, dispose of their 
 slaves in a more southern market,and by de- 
 o-rces abolish servitude,the whole slave popu- 
 lation, and with it the danger of a terrible 
 revolution, are crowded together iu the more 
 southern states. Under all these threaten- 
 in"- circumstances, what have the southern 
 states, what has congress done, to avert the 
 impending calamity from the Union? Con- 
 gress, which has full and exclusive power to 
 abolish slavery in the district of Columbia 
 and in the Territories, and to abolish the do- 
 mestic as well as the foreign slave trade 
 shrinks from touching the subject. The fear 
 of instant difficulties to be encountered 
 overcomes ttie more patriotic fear of the 
 ever increasing evils engendered by improv- 
 ident delay, which reserves to our descend- 
 ants, if we should escape them, the inevita- 
 ble consequences of our own culpable neg- 
 lect. 
 
 And what has been done in the slavehold- 
 ing states to prepare the great change from 
 a corrupt to a sound and vigorous state of 
 society ? There are indeed, benevolent in- 
 dividuals endeavoring to elevate their slaves 
 by oral instruction, and by allowing them to 
 cultivate portions of land for the joint profit 
 of the master and the laborers. But the law 
 and the general practice, so far from en- 
 deavoring to diminish, are calculated rather 
 to increase the evil in order to render it more 
 secure, to imbrute the slave more and more, 
 and extinguish in him every aspiration 
 
12 
 
 Mdress to the People of the United States. 
 
 and pretension to bo a man. Hence the laws 
 against teaching a slave have become more 
 numerous, and the penaltie* more severe, 
 particularly in those states in which the co- 
 lored population is continually gaining upon 
 the white.* Thoy refuse to free the 'slaves 
 on the ground of their not being fitted for 
 the proper use of freedom; and they refuse 
 to prepare them for it, because the prepara- 
 tory course would induce them to throw off 
 the yoke instantly. 
 
 In this hopeless state of things, a few in- 
 dividuals, deeply impressed with the great 
 and increasing evil of slavery, have thought 
 it their duty to unite their efforts to undeceive 
 the public mind, to rouse the fortunate heirs 
 of freedom to a sense of their own obliga- 
 tion to extend and secure the blessings they 
 possess. They saw that the most powerful • 
 men in the nation were inactive, either be- 
 cause the magnitude of the evil led them to 
 doubt the possibility of finding an adequate 
 remedy, or because they feared to disturb 
 the political or commercial connections be- 
 tween the north and the south, or because 
 they were prejudiced thcmselves,or thought 
 it a hopeless attempt to conquer the preju- 
 dice of others. The disinterested devotion 
 of the few who went forth to prepare the 
 vray for ths gospel of universal freedom by 
 teaching that slavery is a sin of whicii all 
 the people of this country are more or less 
 guilty, and ought immediately to repent and 
 to reform— the generous efforts of a few ar- 
 dent minds have kindled the philanthropic 
 sympathies of many. 
 
 The liostility, and still more the indiffer- 
 ence with which the sentiments of the first 
 champions of immediate abolition were re- 
 ceived by the m.ajority of influential men in 
 this country, may have betrayed some of 
 them occasionally into unguarded and 
 intemperate expressions. Still, the people 
 at large begin to feel that the object as wei\ 
 as the motives of the friends of the oppressed 
 are right ; and as soon as the conviction of 
 a good cause has once unsealed the deep 
 fountains of the heart, and has engaged the 
 energies of a free people, it is as vain to at- 
 tempt to check or divert tiieironward course, 
 as to coax or force Niagara to roll back its 
 mighty waters from lake Ontario to Eric. 
 
 * Let it be rsmembeied tliat those laws were en- 
 acted many years ago and before the Anti-Slaverv 
 Societies were thought of. 
 
 But the dissemination of Anti-Slavery sen- 
 timents, it is said, will be productive of a ser- 
 vile and civil war, and terminate in the dis- 
 solution of the Union. Now if there is 
 anything in the theory of government that 
 can be considered as an unquestionable truth, 
 it is the principle that/ree discussion of eve- 
 ry thing that concerns the constitution and 
 government, is the indispensable condition, 
 the conservative principle of every republic. 
 The Constitution of our country has fully 
 recognized this conservative principle, in or- 
 daining that no law shall be enacted ' abridg- 
 ing the freedom of speech or of the press.'' 
 And what more have abolitionists done, what 
 else do they aim at, than free discussion of 
 a part of our social system ? To collect and 
 to disseminate correct information, to argue, 
 to answer objections, and to advise— these, 
 and no other means, are authorised by the 
 constitution of any Anti-Slavery Society in 
 the United States. However strongly and 
 urgently the sin and misery of servitude have 
 been set forth in the writings that have ap- 
 peared with the sanction of these Societies, 
 yet they have never countenanced, but al- 
 ways most earnestly disapproved the use of 
 force, and the desperate recourse to insur- 
 rection. They have appealed to the con- 
 science and the self-interest both of the 
 slaveholder and the slave ; and on the ground 
 of religion as well as worldly prudence, they 
 have urged the masters to give up, of their 
 own accord, their despotic power, and the 
 slaves to be subject to their masters, with a 
 religious trust that the voice of reason and 
 Christianity will ere long overcome the par- 
 tiality of the law which makes the enjoy- 
 ment of the rights of man to depend on the 
 color of his skin. From the mouth of an 
 abolitionist, the doctrine of subjection to his 
 master is a solemn truth to the injured slave ; 
 and the words, Peace ! Be still! when com- 
 ing from the friend of freedom, are sufficient 
 to assuage the wildest storm of revolutionary 
 passion. From the mouth of an advocate 
 or apologist of slavery, Christianity itself, the 
 gospel of eternal freedom and universal love, 
 appears to the defrauded slave, only as a 
 solemn pretext for oppression. Slavery is 
 the true and lasting source of insurrection ; 
 it is the avowed or secret cause of all the 
 erious differences between the members of 
 this Union. Those, therefore, who directly 
 or indirectly strive to secure the existence 
 
Address to the People of the United States. 
 
 13 
 
 of slavety in this country, are nourishing 
 the seeds of a servile and civil war; and 
 their efforts to avert it from tlieraselves, only 
 serve to insure its breaking in upon our de- 
 scendants, with increased violence. The 
 fact that in those States which depend most 
 especially on slave labor, the colored popu- 
 lation is continually {jaining upon the white, 
 is too obvious an indication of the future to 
 require any explanation. 
 
 Some, indeed, have attempted to prove the 
 security of our slave States, by quoting the 
 experience of ilie States of antiquity, in some 
 of which one fourth or fifth partof the popu- 
 lation were able, for a considerable time, to 
 keep tlie rest in bondage. 13ut those wiio 
 thus quote the example of the ancient wc^ld 
 in order to quiet the apprehensions of the 
 present, overlook the fact that in antiquity, 
 slavery was a part of the law of nations, in 
 the enforcement of which, each State was 
 supported by the practice and political sym- 
 pathy of every other. Not one of the ancient 
 republics was founded, as ours is, on the 
 solemn acknowledgment of the inalienable 
 rights of man, with which the existence of 
 slavery is absolutely inconsistent. All the 
 nations around us, particularly those with 
 whom we are most closely connected, our 
 republican neighbors in South America, and 
 England, from which we draw a constant 
 supply of new ideas as well as articles of 
 merchandize, have abolished slavery. Our 
 own example, which has stirred up the na- 
 tions to a determined search after liberty, re- 
 acts upon us ; the reproachful feeling of our 
 inconsistency is growing continually more 
 general and intense, both abroad and at 
 home. Thus all the circumstances and un- 
 avoidable influences under which we are 
 placed, the spirit of our time manifested by 
 its history, the growing conviction of the in- 
 justice and impolicy of this part of our social 
 system, aggravated by tlie reproach of moral 
 and political inconsistency, serve to impress 
 us with t!ie fallacy of every remedy for the 
 evils and danjcr of slavery, except univer- 
 sal and immediate emancipation. There are 
 dangers connected with any scheme of par- 
 tial or gradual emancipation. For if you 
 emancipate only a certain number, or de- 
 clare that all shall be free after a certain 
 time, the partial justice which you show to 
 some, is an acknowledgment of the justice 
 due to all, which cannot fail to rouse the in- 
 
 dignation of those whose rights have been 
 set aside by this arbitrary arrangement. As 
 soon, therefore, as the personal antipathies 
 and prejudices which have arisen from a 
 passionate and unsparing attack and defence 
 of Anti-Slavery principles shall have given 
 way before the power of free and calm in- 
 quiry, we feel confidf nt that this great cause 
 will unite all the friends of order, peace and 
 union in our country. 
 
 Fellow-citizens! The subject of our ap- 
 peal, if rightly understood, is not calculated 
 to rouse the jealousies of one part of our 
 country against the other. We have all sin- 
 ned together. We entered into the crime 
 together, when tempted by the British gov- 
 ernment in our infancy. At years of dis- 
 cretion, when we became free, we deliber- 
 ately preferred power to righteousness, and 
 made the crime our oivn. In our vigor we 
 have continued to cherish it. The South 
 has said, ' Let slavery alone ;' and the North 
 has, till recently, replied, 'We will let 
 slavery alone.' Nay, all the freemen of this 
 country are pledged by laws of their own 
 enacting, to support the slaveholder in tram- 
 pling upon all the native rights of man, which 
 we recogHize as the foundation of our social 
 institutions. 
 
 The fact that in almost every part of our 
 country, the mere difference of color is suf- 
 ficient to exclude the unenslaved colored 
 man from public hotels, stage-coaches and 
 steam-boats, from profitable and honorable 
 professions, from public schools and col- 
 leges, from the elevating and refining influ- 
 ences of society, — these facts are strong in- 
 dications that the confinement of slavery to 
 a certain part of our country, is owing to 
 a difference of circumstances rather than 
 principles. We all have sinned against the 
 spirit, if not against the letter, of the law of 
 liberty ; for every social system beating the 
 name of a republic, unless it is founded on 
 a profound and impartial respect of human 
 nature, and the essential equality of human 
 rights, is but a more or less successt'ul coun- 
 terfeit of true republicanism. It may pass 
 for sterling coin among those who have 
 given it currency, but the world at large 
 will not fail to detect the base alloy mixed 
 up with the pure metal. 
 
 What is the dfity of the freemen, and more 
 particularly the duty of the citizens of the free 
 statcs,with regard to the cxielence of slavery 
 
14 
 
 Mdnss to the People of the Utiited Stales. 
 
 in our country ? It is our duty to use all our 
 power and influence,individually and by asso- 
 ciation, directly and indirectly, to abolish a 
 system that is absolutely inconsistent with the 
 fundamental principle of our government, 
 and must, sooner or later, if not removed, 
 prove destructive of our Union. Cono-ress 
 has power to abolish slavery in the District 
 of Columbia, and the Territories, as well as 
 the domestic slave trade. We, the citizens 
 of this country, have a right to peti- 
 tion Congress to use this power ; we, 
 the constituents of Congress, have pow- 
 er to direct our agents to execute what 
 the sovereign will of the people shall deem 
 conducive to the permanent welflire, the true 
 glory of these United States. Every ses- 
 sion of Congress, every opportunity of exer- 
 cising our political privileges for the extinc- 
 tion of slavery, so far as its existence de- 
 pends on our own will, is a trial of our love 
 of justice, our patriotism, our philanthropy ; 
 every neglect is a proof of our unworthi- 
 ness of the privileges we possess. The di- 
 rect political power of the citizens of the 
 free States over the existence of slavery in 
 this country, is confined to the constitutional 
 rights of Congress ; but their moral influ- 
 ence, their duty as men, as patriots, as chris- 
 tians, have no limits but the free power of 
 their fellow-citizens to listen or to turn a 
 deaf ear to the conscientious fears, the well 
 meant advice of those, who are pledged with 
 them for the welfare of our common country. 
 We feel bound in duty to plead the cause of 
 the oppressed with our brethren at the South, 
 who have authority to abrogate the State 
 laws, on which the existence of slavery de- 
 pends. We have no legal or constitutional 
 authority to support our plea ; but we have 
 a draft upon their hearts, which will not 
 be protested. Much as we wish that the 
 words of the constitution might be so de- 
 fined as to preclude the possibility of slavery 
 in this country, yet we believe that the means 
 which the constitution has left, are sufficient 
 to accomplish this purpose. We believe that 
 the moral action of truth and love, on the 
 hearts and consciences of slaveholders, are 
 fully adequate to the complete and speedy 
 overthrow of our nation's crying sin. We 
 would speak to the minds and the hearts of 
 our southern friends, to their earthly inter- 
 ests and their patriotic virtues. We would 
 speak to them, not in the tone of vain self- 
 
 complacency, which ill befits those whose 
 prejudices against the people of color are a 
 strong oflfset to the fact that they are not 
 actually slaveholders. Nor do we address 
 them as interested, political rivals; for it is 
 evident that, if the slaves were invested with 
 all their social as well as personal rights, 
 their interests being essentially the same as 
 those of the rest of the inhabitants of that 
 region, their emancipation would not dimin- 
 ish, but greatly increase the political influ- 
 ence of the South.* We would improve 
 our more fortunate condition, to judge de- 
 liberately and calmly of the cause of the 
 slaveholder and the slave. We acknowl- 
 edge that among the slaveholders, there are 
 many, who are prevented from immediately 
 liberating their slaves, not by base and sor- 
 did motives, but some, by the state of the 
 laws which discountenance emancipation'; 
 others, are kept back by inadequate or mis- 
 taken views of duty, or conscientious though 
 groundless fears. On the other hand, we 
 look upon the slave as a man, having all the 
 rights of a man, which no one has any right 
 to withhold from him, either from bad or 
 good motives. It is urged in vindication ot 
 the present owners of slaves, that they are 
 not the authors, but the innocent heirs of a 
 great evil, superinduced upon their ances- 
 tors by the influence of a foreign govern- 
 ment. But even if it could be shown, that 
 the present generation were forced to accept 
 the unhallowed inheritance, the origin can 
 in no way justify the continuation of the 
 evil. For it is in the power of the people 
 of each slaveholding state, at any time, to 
 abolish slavery— and no hereditary claim, 
 though approved by all the sovereign 
 powers on earth, and confirmed by long im- 
 memorial practice, holds good against the 
 certificate of freedom which every human 
 being brings with him into this world, from 
 the hand of the living God. 
 
 Fellow-citizens! The Anti-Slavery So- 
 ciety, which is now growing so rapidly in 
 every part of our country, although its seeds 
 
 * Some Northern opposors of our cause have 
 raised a serious objection from tlie fact, that if sla- 
 very were abolished, the representation of the South 
 in Cono-ress would be increased, inasmuch as the 
 enfranchised colored man would be counted as a 
 whole man, whereas llie slave is accounted only three 
 fifths of a man. But what has the North to fear from 
 such increase of representation in the South, when, 
 ui order to it, slavery, tlie chief cause of jealousy, 
 wi)l be done away ? 
 
Address lo ihs Ptojdc of the United iilalaf. 
 
 15 
 
 were Sown among' the wecdn and tliorns of 
 popular prejudice, the Anti-Slavery Society 
 ia not a new sector party coming forward to 
 nnn<3[le in the strite ot'j)oiilics, or the contro- 
 versies of relioion. It is intended to entrage 
 the friends of justice in every party ; and it 
 is actually composed of men of almost all 
 the ditferent religious and political denom- 
 inations in our country. Its sole object is, 
 to bring about by all lawful and moral means 
 the immediate abolition of slavery in our 
 land ; to raise the colored man to that equal- 
 ity of rights with the white man, which the 
 Declaration of Independence secures to all. 
 Without objecting to any transient legal re- 
 straints and encouragements, Avhich the in- 
 fluence of past servitude may render neces- 
 sary, we claim for the colored man the im- 
 mediate possession of personal independ- 
 ence and safety, the right to hold property, 
 to be protected in all his family connections, 
 to choose his own employment, to give 
 valid testimony in any court of justice ; 
 we claim for him the free exercise of re- 
 ligion, the free expression of his senti- 
 ments, the use of every means of education 
 by which he may fit. himself as soon as pos- 
 sible for the exercise of every right enjoyed 
 by the white man. This is what we mean 
 by immediate abolition. 
 
 It may have become necessary, on ac- 
 count of misrepresentation, to disclaim as 
 a sentiment utterly foreign to abolition- 
 ists, any desire for the intermarriage of 
 the whites and blacks. Neither we nor 
 they wish it. The report of such a senti- 
 ment being cherished by us, originated with 
 our opponents, 7iot with us. On the contra- 
 ry, as the past and continual amalgamation, 
 of which the mulatto race is the offspring, 
 must be imputed to the criminal bonds of 
 slavery, so we are confident that abolition, as 
 it leaves the two races free to form their do- 
 mestic relations according to their natural 
 inclination and taste, will tend to prevent 
 amalgamation. 
 
 We have laid before you, our countrymen, 
 the object of our Society ; we invite every 
 friend of justice, every patriot, every philan- 
 thropist, to engage with us in an enterprise, 
 which, considering all the physical and spir- 
 itual wants of the slave, will be found to 
 comprise the essence of rverij benevolent soci- 
 ety in our couutrij. If the manner in which 
 our Society has pursued its great object has 
 
 been wortliy of it, we have a right lo expect 
 the sympathy and co-operation of every wise 
 and benevolent man. If our measvires Hccm 
 to you ill calculated to accomplish the ob- 
 ject of our Society; this great and holy ob- 
 ject itself should induce the wisest and best 
 men of our country, if they recognize our 
 good intentions, and approve our principles, 
 to join our ranks, in order to guide our steps 
 in the right way. 
 
 You who believe in the gospel of redemp- 
 tion, you who believe that the day will come 
 when we must all appear before the judg- 
 ment-seat of Christ, how will you stand be- 
 fore Him, who tries and judges the heart ? 
 — ' Then shall he say unto them on the left 
 hand, I was an hungered, and ye gave me 
 no meat: I was thirsty, and yc gave me no 
 drink: I Avas a stranger, and ye took me not 
 in; naked, and yc clothed me not: sick, and 
 in prison, and ye visited me not.' And when 
 a band of those, who in your day and gener- 
 ation were kept in slavery, shall rise on the 
 right hand of the Judge, to witness against 
 you, do you think that the testimony of the 
 colored man, rejected here, will be rejected 
 also, in the court of eternal justice ? Or do 
 you believe you may evade the sentence of 
 the Judge, by pleading that you attended to 
 all the bodily wants and comforts of the 
 slave — when you refused food and clothing, 
 freedom, respect, and love to the immortal 
 soul ? Or, do you think yourselves safe un- 
 der the plea that you yourselves were not 
 slaveholders — when in any degree it depend- 
 ed on your exertions to put an end to the 
 very existence of slavery in this world ? 
 
 You who discern the signs of the time, and 
 are guided by them — do you remember how 
 your forefathers left their Hither-land, to 
 seek liberty among strangers and savages ? 
 Do you remember how the sons of the pil- 
 grims rather ventured their lives and their 
 all in desperate light, than consent to pay 
 a paltry tax, because imposed by unlawful 
 authority? Did not your fathers sign the 
 Declaration of American Independence and 
 human liberty ? And did not the same spirit 
 that gave you strength to overcome the bands 
 of oppressors and mercenaries in your de- 
 voted land — follow the fugitives to their own 
 homes, and wake the nations of the old 
 world ? Franco, Italy, Spain, Germany, Po- 
 land, England, have felt the touch of the re- 
 deeming angel. A spirit of keen inquiry is 
 
16 
 
 going through the world, to examine every 
 creed and every charter; it does not believe 
 m the 'divine right of kings ;' it will not 
 pass over the flaw, the fatal defect in the 
 title of a State, that under tiie specious name 
 of a republic uses the authority of the law 
 and the sword of justice, to seal and secure 
 the oppression of more than one sixth of its 
 inhabitants. The world has heard the toe 
 Bin of truth, and is awaking. Man is felt to 
 be man, whether European prejudice frown 
 upon him on account of his station, or A- 
 mencan prejudice because of his color 
 Europe, which had rekindled the ex- 
 tinguished lamp of liberty at the altar of 
 our revolution/ still nourishes the holy fire • 
 England goes before us as a torch^bearer' 
 eading the way to the liberation of man- 
 kind. The despotism which our forefathers 
 could not bear in their native country, is ex- 
 piring, and the sword of justice in her re- 
 formed hands, has applied its exterminating 
 edge to slavery. Shall the United States 
 the free United States, which could not bear 
 the bonds of a King, cradle the bondage 
 
 Address to the People of the UnUed States. 
 
 which a King is abolishing ? Shall a fepub 
 lie be less free than a monarchy ? Shall we 
 in the vigor and buoyancy of our manhood 
 be less energetic in righteousness than i 
 kingdom in its age ? 
 
 You to whom the destinies of this country 
 are committed, Americans, patriots in public 
 and private life, on you it depends to prove, 
 whether your liberty is the fruit of your de- 
 termined choice or of a fortunate accident. 
 If you are republicans, not hy birth only, but 
 from principle, then let the avenues, all the 
 avenues of light and liberty, of truth and 
 love, be opened wide to every soul within 
 the nation,— that the bitterest curse of mil- 
 lions may no longer be, that they were born 
 and bred in ' the land of the free and the 
 home of the brave.' 
 
 CHARLES FOLLEN, 
 CYRUS PITT GROSVENOR, 
 JOHN G. WHITTIER, 
 D. PHELPS, j 
 
 JOSHUA V. HIMES, J ' 
 
 54 W 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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