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CONSIDERATIONS - 
 
 I ^ iT^ ox THE USE OF 
 
 THE PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY, 
 
 ESFECIALLT ADDRESSED TO THE 
 
 RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 W1THI5 THE LIMITS OF 
 
 PIIIL.\DELPIIIA YEARLY MEETING. 
 
 Philadelphia: 
 
 merrihew and thompson, rri>ters, 
 
 No. 7 Carter's Alley. 
 
 1844. 
 
CONSIDERATIONS 
 
 ON THE USE OF 
 
 THE PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY, 
 
 ISPECIALLI ADUnESSED TO THE 
 
 RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 
 
 "WITHIX THE LIMITS OF 
 
 PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING. 
 
 n -^ 
 
 Philadelphia: 
 
 MERRIHEW & THOMPSOX, PRINTERS, 
 
 No. 7 Carter's Alley. 
 1844. 
 

 
 / Otf-'u ^^ 
 
A faithful testimony was borne against holding slaves by 
 inJiviJuals in the Society of Friends, long before the Society 
 itself was prepared to adopt such a testimony as a duty con- 
 nected with pure Uhristiarjity. For a century past, numerous 
 individuals hive maintained a/i^r/Aer testimony against Slave- 
 ry, by abstaining from the use of its productions, and thereby 
 avoided contributing to its support; hut, as a bod i/, the So- 
 ciety has not yet adopted abstinence from the produce of slave 
 labour as one of its testimonies. 
 
 Believing that the principles of the Society, faithfully and 
 consistently carried out, would lead to this abstinence, the 
 compiler has felt constrained to offer the following "Consi- 
 derations" to the calm, serious, and unprejudiced attention of 
 his fellow-members. He has availed himself of arguments and 
 observations which he has found in the printed and manuscript 
 correspondence of other persons; hence the variety of style 
 and the recurrence of similar or nearly similar ideas, which 
 may be observed in the compilation. 
 
CONSIDERATIONS, &c. 
 
 Ix the early settlement of America, when 
 there was little known of the manner in which 
 slaves were procured in Africa, and the pur- 
 chase of them here was deemed favourable to 
 both master and slave, Friends not only pur- 
 chased and held slaves, but even engaged m the 
 foreign slave-trade. At a very early period a 
 few Friends were enlightened to see the sinful- 
 ness of this trade, and after long and arduous 
 labours with their brethren the practice was con- 
 demned. Our worthy forefathers, however, 
 continued to hold their slaves in bondage, be- 
 cause they had not sufficiently examined the 
 subject in the Light of Truth: for when in the 
 course of a long series of years they became 
 convinced that this practice also was wrong, 
 they united in abolishhig it. Our Society havmg 
 thus cleared itself of the sin of owning slaves, 
 yet finds that millions of them are held in cruel 
 bondage by our fellow-citizens and by the in- 
 habitants of some other countries; and now, the 
 very serious and awfully important question 
 arises— whether in our commercial intercourse 
 with these, or in paying the slaveholders for, 
 and partakin,? of, that which they cruelly and 
 wrongfully exact from their slaves, we are m 
 1* 
 
6 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 any degree encouraging the atrocious system or 
 enjoying its fruits. 
 
 That deeply instructed and faithful servant of 
 Christ, John Woolman, declared " the trading 
 in or frequent use of any produce known to be 
 raised by the labours of those [slaves] who are 
 under such lamentable oppression, hath appear- 
 ed to be a subject which may yet require the 
 more serious consideration of the humble fol- 
 lowers of Christ, the prince of peace. After long 
 and mournful exercise, I am now free to men- 
 tion how things have opened in my mind, with 
 desires that if it may please the \^ox^ further to 
 open his will to any of his children in this 
 7natter, they may faithfully follow him in 
 such further manifestation.^^ 
 
 It is well known that John Woolman declined 
 the use of the productions of the labour of slaves, 
 and that from his day down to the present, the 
 same testimony has been upheld by many of 
 our most prominent and worthy members. Be- 
 lieving that the time of which he spoke has 
 arrived when this subject demands our " most 
 serious consideration/' and that the present state 
 of slavery and the continued horrors of the fo- 
 reign and domestic slave-trade loudly call us to 
 faithfulness in tliis matter, we feel concerned to 
 address our brethren in relation to it. 
 
 " Deep rooted customs, though wrong, are not 
 easily altered; but it is the duty of every one to 
 be firm in that which they certainly know is 
 right for them." " As men obtain reputation 
 by their profession of the Truth, their virtues are 
 mentioned as arguments in favour of general 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. / 
 
 error; and those of less note to justify them- 
 selves, sav, such and such good men did the 
 like." "Customs generally approved, and opi- 
 nions received by youth from their superiors, 
 become like the natural produce of a soil, espe- 
 cially when they are suited to favourite inclina- 
 tions; but as the judgments of God, by which 
 the state of the soul must be tried, are without 
 partiality, it would be the highest wisdom to 
 forego customs and popular opinions, and try 
 the treasures of the soul by tlie infcillible stand- 
 ard. Truth." — Woohnan. 
 
 In reference to slavery itself, John Woolman 
 inquires, *' whence is it tliat men who believe in 
 a righteous omnipotent Being, to whom all na- 
 tions stand equally related and are equally ac- 
 countable, remain so easy in it, but that they do 
 not discuss this matter ivith that candour and 
 freedom of thought, luhich the cascjustty calls 
 fjrV and this, we behevc, is one great reason 
 why so many now remain easy in a custom 
 which is the main support of slavery— the use 
 of its productions. 
 
 " Christ, our holy leader, graciously conti- 
 nueth to open tlie understandings of his people, 
 and as circumstances alter from age to age, some 
 who are deeply baptised into a feeling of the 
 state of things are led by his Holy Spirit into 
 exercises in some respects different from those 
 which attended the faithful in foregoing ages" 
 
 "and from a clear convincement, may see 
 
 the relation of one thins; to another, and the 
 necessary tendency of each; and hence it may 
 be absolutely binding on them to desist from 
 
8 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 some parts of conduct^ which some good men 
 have been in." — Woobnan. Thus it was in re- 
 gard to a participation in the slave-trade and in 
 slavery, and thus it is as respects the support of 
 slavery by using its productions. 
 
 ^' Under a solemn sense of the awful load of 
 guilt which is impending over our beloved coun- 
 try, and of our share in the responsibiliti/, may 
 we seriously and impartially examine what is 
 required at our hands. '^ " If our hearts are 
 softened and expanded by the love of God, wo 
 shall be prepared to view these oppressed 
 people as children of the same Almighty Father, 
 equally with ourselves the objects of His divine 
 regard, and of that salvation which comes by 
 Jtisus Christ ; and thus be enabled to enter into 
 a lively feeling of the miseries and hardships 
 they endure; to put our souls in their souls' 
 stead, and in singleness of heart to follow every 
 clear opening of duty in their behalf, whatever 
 sacrifice it may cost us, either of loorldly trea- 
 sure or popularity.^' — Yearly Meeting Mi- 
 nute, 1839. 
 
 Let us then inquire by what means the vast 
 and atrocious system of slavery is maintained, 
 and upon whom the responsibility of its conti- 
 nuance rests. The whole system is composed 
 of parts necessarily connected with and depen- 
 dent upon each other: — viz. man-stealing; slave- 
 trading; slaveholding; buying and using the 
 productions of slaver^^ We all acknowledge that 
 a tremendous load of guilt rests somewhere. Is 
 it upon the poor, ignorant, heathen Chief in 
 Africa, who attacks a neighbourmg tribe and 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 9 
 
 seizes his miserable victims for the slave-trader? 
 Is it upon him who in performing his share of 
 the dreadful business, furnishes the slaveholder 
 with " human chattels?" Does the slaveholder 
 in retaining tliem in bondage, incur the whole 
 guilt of the system? For what does slavery, 
 with all its abominations exist? Its gains. What 
 supports slavery ? Tlie use of its productlom. 
 If therefore, there was no contributor to its 
 gains — no purchaser of its productions, it would 
 of necessity cease. Is he guiltless who fur- 
 nishes the incentive for its continuance and 
 the means of its support? 
 
 In tliis view of the subject, how plain is the 
 course which our duty as Christians points out! 
 "Cease to do evil;" "do justly;" "thou shall 
 be far from oppression ;" " be not partakers of 
 other men's sins;" "cleanse your hands, ye 
 sinners;" ^' all things, whatsoever ye would that 
 men should do unto you, do ye even so to 
 them." 
 
 If, indeed, slavery is the most monstrous evil 
 of the times, wicked in itself, and dreadful in its 
 consequences — depriving in this country alone, 
 nearly three milUons of human beings of their 
 right to act out the ends for which an all wise and 
 bountiful Creator formed them; stilling His spirit 
 in their hearts, and when through darkness it ma- 
 nifests itself, disabling tlieni iVom following its re- 
 quisitions; making, as far as human enactments 
 and customs can make, the slave-master the 
 slaves' God, and the slave, not a man created 
 in God's image but a chattel, a brute, a tool — 
 not his own but his master's: — if, indeed, slave- 
 
10 CONSIDERATIONS OX THE 
 
 ry thus tramples under foot the highest princi- 
 ples of moral obhgation, ought not all to avoid 
 upholding it? And should not Friends espe- 
 cially, who, above others, profess to be very de- 
 licate in their preceptions of 7'ight, and firm in 
 their adherence to it, refuse to sustain it by any 
 means ? 
 
 In a " Minute on Slavery," issued by our 
 Yearly Meeting in 1S39, we find the following 
 paragraphs : viz. — " The close connexion and in- 
 timate intercourse which are maintained be- 
 tween the different sections of our common 
 country, through the diversified and widely 
 spread channels of commerce and business, may, 
 unless we are very watchful, blunt our sensibi- 
 lities to the cruelties of slavery and diminish our 
 abhorrence of its injustice. We wish tenderly 
 to incite our dear friends to an individual in- 
 quiry, with a single eye to the pointings of 
 Truth, how far they are clear in these respects, 
 and should such an examination awaken serious 
 apprehensions as to any part of their traffic, that 
 they may be willing to forego every prospect of 
 gain, arising from the prosecution of business, 
 which is incompatible with the purity of our re- 
 hgious profession." 
 
 What connexion and intercourse are here al- 
 luded to ? Those with slaveholders. What part 
 of their traffic is it that Friends may seriously ap- 
 prehend is incompatible witli the purity of their 
 religious profession? That composed of the 
 productions of slave labour. Here then is the 
 principle distinctly recognized by our Yearly 
 Meeting, that a traffic in the productions of sla- 
 
PIIODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 11 
 
 very tends to blunt our sensibilities to its cruel- 
 ties, and diminish our abhorrence of its injustice, 
 and may be found incompatible with the purity 
 of our religious profession ; how then can the 
 use of these productions be consistently indulged 
 in or advocated? What difference exists in 
 principle between our purchasing a bale of slave 
 grown cotton, or a hogshead of slave made 
 sugar, to sell it again for the support of our fa- 
 milies, and our purchasing the same article to 
 be used in them ? Does the turpitude of the 
 transaction consist in our selling to another that 
 which we may innocently use ourselves ? 
 
 '' Seed sown with the tears of a confined, op- 
 pressed people — harvests cut down by an over- 
 borne, discontented reaper, make bread less 
 sweet to the taste of an honest man, than that 
 which is the produce or just reward of such vo- 
 luntary action as is a proper part of the business 
 of human creatures." — PVoolman. 
 
 If our moral sense would revolt at holding a 
 slave ourselves, it should also revolt at another's 
 holding one. 
 
 If it would revolt at using the unpaid toil of 
 him we might so hold, it should also revolt at 
 using the unpaid toil of him who is held by an- 
 other. 
 
 It is no argument for our partaking of the 
 fruit of crime, that if we do not partake of it 
 others will; and as therefore our abstinence will 
 not arrest or mitigate the evil, we may inno- 
 cently derive from it a good to ourselves. We 
 do not know the premises to be true. God has 
 made us moral instruments, and we are to act 
 
12 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 as the medium tlirough which His ends are to 
 be accomplished. So far as our means extend, 
 we are to combat evil, as if its extirpation de- 
 pended on our individual action. Does slavery 
 exist for its gains, and would it cease if there 
 were no purchaser of its productions ? If the 
 answer be affirmative, could I, let each of us in- 
 quire, morally be the purchaser ? Could I in- 
 nocently hold up one end of a system which the 
 slaveholder at the other would in vain attempt 
 to sustain without me ? Does the circumstance 
 that several join me in the purchase, make it 
 right for me to do that conncctively, which to do 
 singly was wrong I Do numbers annihilate re- 
 sponsibility, and make me a virtuous partner in 
 the mighty aggregate of wickedness? 
 
 That the slave-trade and slavery exist only 
 by reason of the use of the produce of slave la- 
 bour — to obtain which is the sole end of the 
 slave-trade, whether foreign or domestic, and of 
 slavery with all its abominations — is so plain to 
 every understanding, that it may be assumed as 
 self-evident. Indeed, it is universally acknow- 
 ledged that as respects manufactures, and the 
 products of the earth raised by the labour of 
 ivhites, the consumer who pays I lis money for 
 such articles is the great supporter of those pro- 
 ductions ; and of course, the same rule must be 
 admitted in respect to the productions of the 
 labour of blacks. 
 
 But it is objected: — " God blesses the produce 
 of the slaves' labour, and therefore in refusing 
 to partake of it we do wrong, and call in ques- 
 tion His goodness and His mercy." It is true 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 13 
 
 His rain descends upon the just and the unjust; 
 are we therefore to be partakers of the sins of 
 the unjust? His light guides the robber to the 
 work of evil — the murderer to the deed of death ; 
 arc we hence to conchide that the robber and 
 the murderer are right, or tfiat we may inno- 
 cently })artake of tlie fruits of their deeds ? 
 
 The inference from God's blessing the slaves' 
 labour, if just, would be more comprehensively 
 expressed thus: God has blessed the labour of 
 slaves, therefore the holding of slaves is right ! 
 But the rice, cotton and tobacco plants, the 
 sugar cane and all other plants which are cuhi- 
 vated by slaves, grow in accordance with a 
 law which was established by the Almighty 
 when he said, " Let the earth bring forth grass, 
 the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yield- 
 ing fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself 
 upon the earth." Now His laws of nature are 
 unalterable, except by His special intervention; 
 and are we to conclude that because He does 
 not thus interpose, and by a miracle blast all 
 the plants cultivated by slaves. He therefore 
 regards their labour with His especial favour 
 and blessing I And because He does not send 
 down fire from Heaven to destroy the oppressor 
 — the slaveholder — that therefore He blesses 
 slavery ! God blesses the labour of all, both 
 freemen and slaves, in contemplation of His 
 having benevolently given to the cultivator of 
 the soil, the production of the sweat of his face. 
 God changes not ; it is man who perverts and 
 misuses His blessing. " When the earth is 
 planted and tilled, and the fruits brought forth 
 2 
 
14 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 are applied to support unrighteous purposes; 
 here the gracious design of infinite goodness in 
 these his gifts being perverted, the earth is de- 
 filed, and the complaint formerly uttered be- 
 comes applicable, ' Thou hast made me to serve 
 with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine 
 miquities.' " — Woolmcin, 
 
 We assert for man an ownership in the pro- 
 duction of his own toil, unless alienated by 
 his direct or implied consent: the exception be- 
 ing an affirmation of the doctrine. The free- 
 man cannot raise his arm to do an act of labour 
 but that he feels the truth of this ownership. 
 The Christian cannot read the history of man's 
 fall and the accompanying promises, without 
 perceiving that in the sentence which connect- 
 ed labour with his condition, — "in the sweat 
 of thy face shalt thou eat bread,'^ — the fruit 
 of it was given to him. Thus both natural 
 and revealed law accord to man the produce 
 of his labour. It is true, that man in society 
 parts with some of his rights that others 
 may be the better secured; and thus is the 
 primitive law rightfully modified by parties 
 to the social compact, and is so modified in the 
 matter of labour : though the justice of natural 
 law is often affirmed in the granting of specific 
 liens on workmanship performed. But shall 
 the slave's right be mystified by the plea of 
 having surrendered some of his rights that others 
 may be assured to him .^ Who is he ? An 
 outlaw ! What is he in contemplation of the 
 social law ? A chattel ! What are his rights 
 in that relation? He has none — not even 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 15 
 
 the right to complain of being treated as 
 the beasts that perish ! He has no lot in 
 the social arrangement. The fruits, then, of 
 the sweat of his brow belong to him, and he 
 that takes them from him commits a robbery ; 
 not the less true or monstrous because sanctified 
 hy law. What, in this view of the case, are the 
 rights of the slaveholder to the produce of the 
 slave's labour? Can he create ownership to it 
 l)y selling it to us ? Can we honestly buy it ? 
 
 It is objected to the doctrine which rejects 
 the use of slave produce, that "it cannot 
 be carried out, and therefore is not a principle 
 having its foundation in the Truth/' The same 
 objection applies with equal force to a testimony 
 against war ; it might also be applied to other 
 doctrines of morality. But shall we, for these 
 objections, commit war, by giving it encourage- 
 ment when we can avoid it ? Must we commit 
 acts of dishonesty or other immorality, when we 
 can freely act to the contrary? Must we forego 
 all good, because we cannot accomplish ever?/ 
 good ? 
 
 The use of gold and silver (some of which is 
 taken from the mines by slaves) is particularly 
 charged as an inconsistency, and as a proof that 
 it is impracticable to avoid the use of the pro- 
 ductions of slavery. Now it is well known 
 that during war, more or less gold and silver 
 coin is found in prize-ships, and of course is 
 thrown into general circulation ; and those who 
 refuse to purchase prize-goods which, by in- 
 quiry, may be identified as such, do not decline 
 the use of coin because a portion of it, which 
 
16 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 cannot by any means be distinguished, has been 
 obtained in war. These cases are sufficiently 
 parallel to show, that if in the first we are justi- 
 fiable in using all articles procured Avrongfully 
 in slavery ; in the latter, we may lawfully pur- 
 chase prize-goods of every description. 'As a 
 general fact, it is easier to avoid the productions 
 of slavery, which are limited to a few articles, 
 than those of war, which have no such limita- 
 tion; yet no one contends that the avoidance of 
 the productions of war is less a duty than the 
 avoidance of the productions of slavery. 
 
 Some say " there must be as great ?n evil in 
 partaking of productions made through oppres- 
 sion, whether free or otherwise, for all oppres- 
 sion must be wrong." In reply to this, we may, 
 in the first place, suggest that a remarkable 
 difierence exists in regard to the effects of using 
 the productions of the two classes alluded to. 
 Let us take the British manufacturers for in- 
 stance ; a class generally compared, by certain 
 writers, with American slaves. What is the 
 effect upon their condition of our using the 
 productions of their labour ? Why just in pro- 
 portion to the increase of that use, and the 
 consequent increase of demand, is the condition 
 of the labourer improved, and his oppression 
 lessened. The greater the demand for his labour, 
 the higher are his wages; and his means of 
 comfort and enjoyment are proportionably in- 
 creased. Thus the more we use of the produc- 
 tions of his labour, the greater is the benefit we 
 bestow upon him. But how does our use of 
 the productions of slavery affect the condition 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 17 
 
 of the slave ? When do the slaves in point of 
 acknowledged fact fare the worst? When there 
 is a hrisk market for the productions of their 
 unrequited toil. It is then tliat the whip is in- 
 cessantly applied— then that the slaves are 
 forced to labour twenty hours out of every 
 twenty-four— then that the loss often to twenty 
 per cent, of his slaves annually by overwork is 
 disregarded by the slaveholder! And when 
 does the slave'fare the best? When the demand 
 for the produce of his labour stagnates. The 
 oft heard prayer of the slave, who, in the sim- 
 plicity of his heart, asks of his Heavenly Father 
 that cotton may be tow, speaks volumes to 
 this point. 
 
 Secondly. We do not object to the use of the 
 productions of slavery, merely or principally, 
 on the ground of the oppression, or of any 
 abuses to which the slaves are liable; but be- 
 cause slaveny is in itself inherently and neces- 
 sarily sinful: and herein it diliers from all 
 systems of mere oppression. Without referring 
 at all to the abuses of slavery, let us inquire 
 how, as by law established, it necessarily ^fi^cAs 
 the slave. 
 
 " 1st. It debars an immortal and accountable 
 being, charged with no crime, from the pursuit 
 of happiness, and reduces hnn to an article of 
 merchandise. 
 
 " 2d. It dooms ^his posterity to degradation 
 and bondage. 
 
 ''3d. It annihilates the marriage relation by 
 refusing to acknowlege it, and authorises the 
 master to separate those whom God hath joined. 
 
IS CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 " 4th. It annihilates the parental relation by 
 tranferring to the master the authority given by 
 God to the parent, and authorising him to sell 
 the children like cattle in the market. 
 
 " 5th. It annihilates the right of conscience ; 
 giving to the master the entire dominion over 
 the time and conduct of the slave." — Judge 
 Jay. 
 
 These properties of slavery are essential^con- 
 stituent elements of the system. Take any one 
 of them away, and it cannot exist. The sin of 
 slavery then consists not so much in the cruelty 
 of the master, as in the annihilation of the rights 
 of human nature. It has been, we apprehend, 
 with such views as these, and on such principles, 
 that our religious Society has discriminated 
 between the system of slavery and other op- 
 pressions, and has felt bound to hold up a pecu- 
 liar testimony against it. 
 
 It is said, "if the principle of abstinence was 
 carried out, many persons would have to leave 
 their accustomed business and seek new employ- 
 ment ; trade itself would be subjected to a con- 
 vulsion, the extent of which could not be 
 foreseen." So thought the shrine-makers at 
 Ephesus when the light of Christianity dawned 
 upon them ! Shall we for such reasons, or in 
 contemplation of any privation or difficulty, 
 serve mammon rather than God ? And is He, 
 who so loved us that he gave for us his only be- 
 gotten Son, to make all the sacrifice ? 
 
 We are told that in retusing to use the pro- 
 duce of slave labour, we adopt a compulsory 
 measure, and undertake to 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 19 
 
 holder to liberate his slaves. If there was any 
 force or truth in this objection, it would also 
 apply to our testimony against supporting war. 
 On what principle do we decline purchasing 
 articles captured in war ? Not to " coerce" na- 
 tions into peace, but to wash our own hands in 
 innocency from the blood of our fellow men, 
 and as a testimony against the injustice of using 
 property that has been wrested from the right- 
 ful owners by violence. John Woolman used 
 such coercion towards the slaveholders; such 
 coercion the Christian must ever use when he 
 withdraws his countenance and support from 
 crime. Is it compulsion to refuse to purchase a 
 stolen jewel of a thief, or contraband goods 
 of a smuggler? Is it compulsion to refuse to 
 share in the plunder of a pirate, or to hold fel- 
 lowship with the oppressor ? Those who object 
 to abstinence from the productions of slavery on 
 the plea that it is a coercive measure, should re- 
 member that by usitig those productions they 
 enable the slaveholder to coerce his slaves into a 
 condition of cruel bondage, and deprive them 
 of their rights as human beings ! 
 
 If a refusal to purchase the productions of 
 slavery while it is leqal, and the slaveholders 
 are not convinced of its sinfulness, be justly con- 
 sidered an improperly coercive measure, how 
 can we avoid placing the conduct of our fore- 
 fathers in the same light, when they refused to 
 purchase the miserable victims of the foreign 
 slave-trade, while it was sanctioned and encou- 
 raged by law, and the traders still viewed it as 
 a legitimate branch of commerce ? Or, how can 
 
20 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 we ask, or approve a law to prevent, by prohi- 
 bitory enactments, the continuance of the do- 
 mestic slave-trade or any other immoral act, 
 while those engaged in it remain insensible of 
 its sinfulness? 
 
 God has commanded us " not to be partakers 
 in other men's sins ;'' and surely if He regards 
 with displeasure the slaveholder, whose educa- 
 tion and habits from early childhood have tend- 
 ed to weaken his abhorrence of oppression, and 
 cause him to regard slavery, if not as a righteous 
 institution, at least as a necessary evil ; how can 
 we, who have seen its iniquity and felt for the 
 captive's wrong ; who are professedly anxious 
 for its overthrow, and yet join hands with the 
 oppressor — u})holding him in his sin, and shar- 
 ing in his plunder — expect to be found guiltless 
 in His sight ? 
 
 But an apology for the use of slave produce 
 is sought for in the precepts given by the apostle 
 Paul to the Corinthians, respecting the use of 
 meats dedicated to idols, and peculiar to the iso- 
 lated case of idol worship. The advocates of 
 slavery itself represent Paul as justifiying it, 
 when he sent back to Philemon his near kins- 
 man and confidential servant, Onesimus, with 
 directions to receive him, *' not now as a ser- 
 vant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, 
 both in the flesh and in the Lord," adding, " If 
 he hath wronged thee or oweth thee aught, put 
 that on mine account ; I Paul have written it 
 with my own hand, I will repay it." 
 
 With equal fairness has his doctrine forbid- 
 ding the use of meats oflfered unto idols, wiien 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 21 
 
 the dedication was known, yet allowing their 
 use when it was unknown, and prohibiting in- 
 quiry as to such dedication, been taken out of 
 its legitimate case and construed into a general 
 rule of morality ; and the direction belonging to 
 that case, " Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, 
 that eat, asking no question for conscience sake," 
 converted into an aphorism for the common 
 purposes of life, in our daily intercourse with 
 the wickedness abounding in the world, to tlie 
 great prejudice of sound morality. 
 
 It is obvious the rule must extend to all cases 
 of things procured wrongfully, if it is made to 
 apply to any case of things so procured. Thus, 
 under cover of it, no matter what circumstances 
 of atrocity, violence or fraud may have attended 
 the procurement of an article; no matter what 
 suspicions may have assailed our minds, as to 
 the bad concomitants of such procurement, if 
 we keep ourselves prudently ignorant of the 
 express facts, we may innocently buy and enjoy 
 the thing ! This has been termed, a Christian 
 liberty! Pagan freedom, with an honest pur- 
 pose, would disdain the privilege: but pagan or 
 pseudo-Christian, it falls to pieces by the weight 
 of its own enormity ! 
 
 The true meaning of the Apostle rises above 
 this miserable system of connivance with wrong. 
 The brethren converted from heathenism were 
 in perpetual danger when there v/as presented 
 to them food which they knew to be dedicated 
 to an idol, of relapsing into the condition of 
 idolaters; momentarily, it maybe presumed, but 
 still with great prejudice to their confirmation 
 
22 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 in true piety. There was nothing appertaining 
 to the food itself, produced by the dedication, 
 which made its use criminal. The evil, wholly 
 a mental one, existed in the knowledge of the 
 dedication, which operating on infirm con- 
 sciences, tended to re-excite in the minds of the 
 converted brethren those feelings of false wor- 
 ship which had been habitual to them on eating 
 food so consecrated. Under these circumstances, 
 it was the part of true wisdom to prohibit the 
 inquiry after that knowledge, which, when ac- 
 quired, might be a snare and temptation ; as it 
 also was, though in a greater degree, to prohibit 
 the use of the food when the knowledge of its 
 dedication had arrived. Let Paul be heard in 
 explanation of his own rule : '' As concerning 
 therefore the eating of those things that are of- 
 fered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that au 
 idol is nothing in the world, and that there is 
 none other God but one. How be it, there is 
 not in every man that knowledge, for some with 
 conscience of the idol unto this hour, eat it as a 
 thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience 
 being weak, is defiled." 
 
 It is a general remark that ^' if we do not pur- 
 chase and use the products of the slave's labour, 
 their masters will not be able to feed them, and 
 they must starve." This is overlooking the 
 main question whether such use is right or 
 wrong, and acting on the false principle, that 
 "the end justifies the means." If such use be 
 wrong, no good consequences resulting from it, 
 can make it right. But to assert that the slaves 
 must starve if we do not purchase the products 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 23 
 
 of their labour, is assuming a fact without proof 
 and against probability. Will the climunition 
 of demand for these products give them more 
 or less time to raise the food necessary to their 
 own existence ? Cut off wholly the demand for 
 these productions,'will it cut off the right arm of 
 the slave — that power of labour which his Crea- 
 tor gave him by which to raise his daily food ? 
 Will the master from sheer depravity, compel 
 his slaves to be idle and to starve, because others 
 will not buy of him the productions of extorted 
 labour ? 
 
 But suppose the slave would starve unless 
 we contributed to his support : the question then 
 arises, in what way shall we so contribute as to 
 make justice and benevolence coincident? To 
 answer this let us take a sufficiently parallel 
 case. A man engaged in a piratical trade, sus- 
 tains by it his wife and an innocent family of chil- 
 dren. He applies to us to buy of him his ill- 
 gotten wares, which we refuse to do on princi- 
 ple. He then urges that those who are depen- 
 dent on him must starve, unless he can take 
 back with him the means of supplying them with 
 food. The appeal is made to us in such since- 
 rity as to lead us to inquire how we can make 
 our sense of immutable justice, and our inclina- 
 tion to succour the innocent and helpless, to 
 act together consistently. What would be our 
 necessary conclusion ? Obviously this : to con- 
 tinue to reject the goods, and yet to give gra- 
 tuitously the aid which we should deem due to 
 the occasion. 
 
 Let us trace out the reasonable consequences 
 
24 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 of disusing the produce of slave-labour. " Supply 
 follows demands This is an undisputed axiom 
 of commerce, and within tlie limits of a physi- 
 cal ability to furnish the supply, is as true as that 
 "shade follows substance." The tnanner of 
 the supply is just as much under the control of 
 the demander as the matter, provided he is 
 willing to pay a fair equivalent for the manner. 
 Commerce is without a conscience of its own, 
 yet bows to the dictation of its customer's con- 
 science. It is then the index to that conscience. 
 The consideration here involved indicates a two- 
 fold duty — to demand that which is just in the 
 manner of its procurement, and to avoid that 
 which is unjustly procured. The business of 
 the Christian's life is to struggle for the advance- 
 ment of virtuous principles and to discourage 
 the opposite. Individuals in various places ap- 
 preciating this truth, refuse to be accessary to 
 the creation of a demand for goods produced by 
 slave-labour. Each of such individuals has 
 his own numerical value, besides his moral in- 
 fluence extending around him, and adding ones, 
 tens and hundreds to the espousal of the doc- 
 trine that it is unjust to use those productions, 
 and a decided impression is made on the market 
 for slave goods. No slaveholder would add to 
 his slaves under a decaying demand for the pro- 
 ductions of slavery. Hence amongst the first 
 fruits of abstinence from their use, we should 
 expect to see some ships, ceasing to be freighted 
 for the slave trade ; some wars ceasing to be 
 created on the African coast ; some of the " thou- 
 sand daily victims" ceasing to be offered to the 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 25 
 
 Moloch of Slavery ; some of the home nurseries 
 for propagating men as cattle ceasing to exist; 
 but all this unaccompanied by starvation. Men 
 do not starve because slaveships rot ; because 
 there are no wars in Africa; because fewer die 
 in the middle passage and in seasoning, or be- 
 cause men are less encouraged to the rearing of 
 domestic slaves. 
 
 I'hus the first impression, it is seen, would be 
 on the outskirts of slavery, and would prevent 
 starvinsf and other su2:o;ested miseries to our 
 species. The slaveholders, seeing the approach 
 towards them of a more elevated public senti- 
 ment, would meet the change — not by starving 
 tlieir miserable slaves into some new submis- 
 sions, — but by changing their condition l^rom 
 chattels to men. This change would be com- 
 menced, doubtlessly, by a few of themostenlight- 
 ened slaveholders, with whom the history of 
 the transition of the British West Indian slaves 
 into the state of freemen, stripped now of all 
 gorgon terrors, is familiar ; and perceiving there 
 is really an honest testimony abroad against 
 slavery which refuses all participation in its 
 fruits, and which they had previously suspected 
 to be false because of the short coming of the 
 proclaimers of that testimony, they will enter 
 themselves into the spirit of the reform, and 
 meet the sentiment in its fulness. The example 
 of these would spread, as did the testimony 
 among the non-slaveholders against the use of 
 slave produce; and commensurate to the growth 
 with us of this testimony would be the volun- 
 tary extension by them of enlightened and happy 
 3 
 
26 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 freedom to slaves now groaning under a dark 
 and merciless bondage. 
 
 In the support of their testimony against icm% 
 Friends are accustomed to act on principle. 
 They do not say, we must pay taxes to support 
 war ; we must buy goods taken in icar, and 
 render it all the aid in our power short of fight- 
 ing ourselves: — otherwise an enemy may come 
 and burn our cities, lay waste our country and 
 destroy our wives and children. But in regard 
 to their testimony against slavery^ their conduct 
 and their language proclaim — it is indeed wrong 
 for us to hold slaves ; but while others hold 
 them and are not convinced of the sinfulness of 
 the custom, it would not be right for us to with- 
 draw our support from them, or to refuse to buy 
 goods taken wrongfully and by violence in sla- 
 very: — otherwise the masters and their families 
 may sufter many inconveniences and the slaves 
 must starve. Why this difference in our prac- 
 tice? Why do we act on principle and \n faith 
 in one case, and on our notions of expediency 
 and a calculation of consequences, in the other.? 
 
 Again, in the " Ancient Testimony" recently 
 published by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 
 alluding to tiie payment of the pecuniary de- 
 mands in lieu of military trainings, it is justly 
 said, "Hov/ever remote the connection may 
 seem between the payment of such a fine and 
 the cruel operations of active warfare, they are 
 parts of the same iniquitous system.'^ Surely if 
 we were not blinded by custom and self-interest, 
 we would perceive that the connection between 
 the traffic and use of the productions of slavery 
 
FRODUCTIOJ^S OF SLAVERY. 27 
 
 on the one hand, and the cruelties and insepa- 
 rable wickedness of slave-trading and slave- 
 holding on the other, is still more intimate and. 
 direct, and that they are truly and necessarily 
 " parts of the same iniquitous system." 
 
 Wars are not entered into simply for the sake 
 of the prize goods which may be taken ; but sla- 
 very and the slave-trade exist solely for the sake of 
 the productions of the slave's labour. In a higher 
 sense then the duty of abstinence from these pro- 
 ductions is obvious. We hold it is a violation 
 of our testimony against war to use prize goods; 
 why is it not in a greater degree a violation of 
 our testimony against slavery to use the goods 
 which are its avails ? We should be startled at 
 the proposition that a Friend was " in no wise" 
 concerned in supporting war, or in countenanc- 
 ing and encouraging the evil whilst he freely 
 used its productions. Shall we be less startled 
 at the proposition that he is not " hi any ivise 
 concerned in the purchasing, disposing or hold- 
 ing of mankind as slaves," and does, " by no 
 means encourage or countenance a traffic in 
 slaves," whilst he freely uses, buys and sells, 
 that for the procuring of which slaves are held 
 and the traffic in slaves exists? 
 
 Wliat will it avail the slaves for us " to dwell 
 under a lively feeling of the wrongs of our fellow 
 men, and of the enormity of the system by 
 which they are enslaved and oppressed," if we 
 refuse to bear a practical testimony against 
 that system, and on the contrary, continue to 
 give it our effective support? '^ Let us beware 
 at' resting in a bai^c ack7iowleds;ement, even of 
 
28 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 the most sound and consistent principles ; ever 
 remembering that a profession of the Truth 
 will add to our condemnation, if we are not en- 
 deavouring to live in conformity with it.'' — 
 Jincient Testimony^ <^'C. 
 
 We are told that we shall have no reward for 
 attempting to do good in our own wills: and it 
 is most uncharitably assumed that those who 
 are labouring in this cause are so doing. Would it 
 not be as well to inquire what our reward will 
 be for persisting to do evil in our own ivills; 
 and whether, when our understandings are con- 
 vinced, it be not presumptuous to ask a further 
 extension of Divine revelation, before we cease 
 to be the cause of oppressing our fellow-crea- 
 tures? "Shall we continue in sin that grace may 
 abound? God forbid." To abstain from doing 
 wrong is always safe, and what is morally 
 wrong, can never be religiously right. 
 
 It is sometimes said, that " using articles raised 
 by slaves may be right for some, and ivrong for 
 others." This is morally impossible, for the 
 outward obligations of justice between man and 
 man are immutably the same, and are equally 
 binding upon all, since all are required to "do 
 justly." We are far from saying that all who 
 use the productions of slavery are necessarily 
 sinners. Guilt and innocence^ depend in many 
 instances, on motives and belief; but in all cases, 
 right and wrong are determined by the unalter- 
 able laws of God. If we shut out the light and 
 refuse to comply with its requisitions we sin. 
 When we feel convictions for doing wrong, and 
 disobey the manifestations of duty, we incur 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 29 
 
 guilt. On these principles, we cannot conclemn 
 all our worthy ancestors who were slave-traders, 
 and slave-holders as sinners ; although the 
 former committed an act, which is now declared 
 piracy and is punishable with death by the laws 
 of several nations; nor do we condemn as sin- 
 ners all those who support slavery by using its 
 productions, although we believe they are com- 
 mitting a grievous wrong. 
 
 Our Discipline condemns the hiring of slaves 
 when their wages are paid to those who claim 
 the right of ownership over them. (See Discip- 
 line, p. 129.) Now let us suppose a slavehold- 
 er, having a certain number of slaves, has em- 
 ployment on his farm for only half of them, and 
 one of his neighbours, a Friend, hires the other 
 half to cultivate his farm and pays their wages 
 to their master. Another Friend who has no 
 land, and resides a mile, or a hundred miles, or 
 suppose a thousand miles distant, purchases for 
 consumption in his family, all the surplus grain, 
 meat, potatoes and other produce of the slave- 
 holder's farm and pays him for them, either 
 personally or by the hands of an agent. Do the 
 slaves who work in their master's field receive 
 from this Friend the price of their labour? Cer- 
 tainly not. It is evident then that in both cases 
 the slaveholder receives the price of his slaves' 
 labour, and it is paid by the two Friends ; who 
 thus equally countenance and encourage slave- 
 ry. One purchases the labour of the slaves, 
 the other, the produce of their labour; if there 
 is any diflerence it is in word only — tiiere can 
 be none in principle. 
 
 3* 
 
so CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 Again, our Discipline"* proliibits the buying 
 and selling of prize-goods. Tiie term prize- 
 goods, literally s\^\-\\{f\ii^ goods taken, is nsually 
 understood to describe goods taken from the 
 rightful owner by force, in war. Our Discipline 
 so applies it. The morality, however, of the 
 prohibition is not contingent on the last circum- 
 stance; but is co-extensive with the forcible and 
 wrongful taking of the goods of others. If sla- 
 very be indeed war, though in disguise, then, 
 upon the most rigid construction, are the pro- 
 ductions of the slaves' labour prize-goods of 
 war, because they are the gains contemplated 
 to be obtained by it. It is certain slavery could 
 not exist for a moment without the war power. 
 It is its breath and life. We may not perhaps 
 hear the sound of its drum, or the roar of its 
 artillery, but we perceive its presence as certain- 
 ly in making and sustaining slavery, as we do 
 tliat of the sun in giving light, though its face be 
 obscured by intervening clouds. But not to in- 
 sist on the identity of war and slavery, they are 
 at least collateral wrongs to which the same 
 rules morally apply. It is just as proper, then, 
 to speak of the prize-gcods of slavery, as to 
 speak of the prize-goods of war ; and altogether 
 proper to consider the disuse of either as equally 
 obligatory. The robbery of the humble and de- 
 
 * We fervently desire that the members of our religious 
 society \nd.y carefully avoid engaging in any trade or busi- 
 ness promotive of war; sharing or partaking of the spoils 
 of war by purchasing or selling prize-goods, &c." — Dis- 
 cipline^ p. 145. 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 31 
 
 fenceless labourer is not more perfect when the 
 product of Ills past toil is taken from him by 
 war, than when his faculties of labour being 
 seized upon, \\\q future production of that labour 
 is taken to the use of his oppressor by slavery. 
 
 Our Discipline, among other inhibitions aim- 
 ing to disconnect us from all participancy in 
 war, expresses the fervent " desire that the 
 members of our religious society may carefully 
 avoid engaging in any trade or hvxsme^s promo- 
 tive of war.'' ^ On the suggestions already made 
 it must be obvious that the avoidance of any 
 trade or \)W^\\\qs?> promotive of slavery^ is a pa- 
 rallel if not an included duty. 
 
 Overlooking the end for which slavery exists, 
 it has been contended that however wrongful 
 may be the holding of a slave and the using of 
 him as an instrument of labour, there is no wrong 
 in taking and using the fruits of his coerced 
 labour. These, it is said, do not belong to him ; 
 they have been grown on his master's soil, and 
 withal are the increase of the earth — the good 
 gifts of heaven to man — which we are thank- 
 fully to accept and use. 
 
 Let it be granted that no man is created to be 
 a slave, but that every man is entitled to the 
 proper use of himself, and it must follow that 
 the results of that use should be accorded to him 
 also: otherwise the grant would be a mere nul- 
 lity. Obviously then, the man who is compelled 
 to work for another, the fruits of his work being 
 taken to that other's use, is robbed of those re- 
 sults. The aggression, overlooking the protract- 
 
32 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 ed torture of the labourer, is as perfect as any 
 act of piracy can be, and is identical in spirit 
 with it. 
 
 The gift of " the increase of the earth" is 
 doubtless to all mankind. It is deeper, and 
 higher and stronger, than right conferred by 
 parchment and seal. But it is a gift proceeding 
 in an orderly manner: first, to the caltivator, and 
 thence through him, according to fixed laws of 
 moral action, to the consumer or user. There is 
 no gift to one of another's coerced industry, any 
 more than there is of his person, or any more 
 than there is a gift of the earth's increase to the 
 robber, who neither toils for nor bnys it, or to 
 the purchaser from that robber, though his plea 
 may be that he has " no control" of the robbery. 
 
 Conceding, however, to him who holds a pa- 
 tent for the soil, all the rights it c^y\ justly give 
 him, he has no patent to the man, and as much 
 superior as is iman to the dust he treads upon, 
 are his rights to those of the other when they 
 come in collision. 
 
 Although a faithful testimony has been main- 
 tained for a century past by many Friends 
 against using the productions of slaverj^, yet it 
 is very apparent that Friends /loi^ generally use 
 them, — ho-w freely ; under what degree of exa- 
 mination of the subject ; how much influenced 
 by one looking to the example of another; how 
 much by aversion to sect or person ; how much 
 by connections of trade, and considerations of 
 interest or mere convenience — must be left to 
 individual consciences ; stimulated, we should 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. S3 
 
 hope, by a sense of accountability in the matter 
 Avhich all ought to cherish. That Friends should 
 buy and sell such productions and grow ricii in 
 the traffic; that they should I'eed upon and clothe 
 themselves unreservedly and sumptuously with 
 what has cost the slave his liberty — his life* — 
 his enjoyment of all that g;ives existence its 
 value, or elevates man above the beasts which 
 perish, is to us a very sorrowful reflection. We 
 believe the Society of P'riends is called to hold 
 up totheviewof the world the true principles and 
 testimonies of Christianity — not only sound doc- 
 trines but pure morals. In relation to this sub- 
 ject the true principle is doubtless within the 
 church. It is set forth in the rules of the Society 
 on collateral subjects ; in its particular rules re- 
 garding slavery, which forbid our '^ doing any- 
 
 * The late Dr. Channinfr, speaking- of llie slave-trade 
 and slavery of Cuba, said "We do much to sustain this 
 system of horror and blood. The Cuban slave-trade is 
 carried on in vessels built especially for this use in Ame- 
 rican ports. These vessels often sail under the American 
 flaCT, and are aided by American merchantmen, and as is 
 feared, by American capital. Andthis is not all ,- the sugar, 
 in prudiicinjT vvliich so many of our fellow-creatures perish 
 niisoral)ly, is shipped in great quantities to this country. 
 We are the cxLstumers tcho htini.ilale bi/ our demands, this iii- 
 ff.rnnl cruch y . And knowing this, shall we become acces- 
 sories to the murder of our brethren, by continuing to use 
 the fruit of the hard-wrung toil which destroys them ] 
 The sugar of Cuba comes to us drenched with human hluod. 
 So we cught to see it, and turn from it with loathing. 
 The guilt which produces it ought to be put down by the 
 spontaneous, in->tinctive horror of the civilized world." 
 
84 COXSIDERATIONS ON THE 
 
 thing whereby" the slaves' " bondage may be 
 prolonged," our being " in any wise concerned 
 in holding mankind as slaves," our using ^^ any 
 means*' which " encourage or countenance a 
 traffic in slaves," and our " hiring a slave or 
 slaves;" and in its advice to its members, in 
 view of the connection between the different 
 sections of our country through commerce, inti- 
 mating that this connection may '"' blunt our 
 sensibilities to the cruelties of slavery, and di- 
 minish our abhorrence of its injustice," and de- 
 siring '^ that they may be willing to forgo the 
 prospect of gain arising from the prosecution of 
 business which is incompatible with the purity 
 of our religious profession:" \.\\q purity of our 
 religious profession being, we may well suppose, 
 that which Christianity requires — freedom from 
 admixture with, or being the occasion of sin ; 
 and thus, in the present instance of slavery. If, 
 therefore, our practice carries out impartially the 
 same rule of action in the circumstances where 
 slavery and ordinary war are alike ; if it does 
 not prolong the bondage of slaves ; if it in no wise 
 holds slaves ; if it is no means by which a traffic 
 in slaves is encouraged and countenanced ; if it 
 does not hire slaves: if it does not blunt our sen- 
 sibilities to the cruelties of slavery and diminish 
 our abhorrence of its injustice ; if, in fine, it 
 comes up to the standard of Christian purity, 
 then may we perhaps rest satisfied in its conti- 
 nuance. 
 
 It is, however, a solemn and incontrovertible 
 truth that the awful complex of crime and in- 
 
PRODUCTIONS OF SLAVERY. 35 
 
 justice which we call slavery, exists solely by 
 consent of the users of slave produce, and would 
 cease if the using was withdrawn. It is the 
 
 MARKET FOR SLAVE PRODUCE WHICH MAKES 
 
 SLAVERY ! The question then is simple and the 
 answer obvious which regards our duty under 
 this circumstance. But simple and obvious as 
 they are, many are the interests ; many the en- 
 joyments ; many the prejudices adverse to a just 
 and spontaneous decision — each interposing its 
 respective pleas for indulgence and exerting its 
 respective power of refracting and obscuring the 
 light. 
 
 If, in tliis concern, we simply '' pursue the 
 course which our duty as men and as Christians re- 
 quires, we may rely on the wisdom and good- 
 ness of God, who governs all consequences, to 
 reward our endeavours and bless the work of 
 our hands. '^ Let us dismiss all fears that in 
 keeping our consciences void of offence toward 
 God and toward man, we shall hurt our bro- 
 ther. With the same faith in which we inquire, 
 "who ever saw the righteous forsaken, or his 
 seed begging bread," we may also ask, who 
 ever saw the carrying out of righteous princi- 
 ples lead to conclusions injurious to humanity ? 
 
 Finally, we can adopt the language of John 
 Woolman : " such are the purity and certainty 
 of [the Lord's] judgments, that He cannot be 
 partial in our favour. In infinite love and good- 
 ness He hath opened our understandings from 
 one time to another concerning our duty to- 
 wards this people, and it is not a time for delay. 
 Should we now be sensible of what He requires 
 
36 CONSIDERATIONS, ETC. 
 
 of US, and through a respect to the private inte- 
 rests of some persons, or through a rec^ard to 
 some friendships which do not stand on\n im- 
 mutable foundation, [or from any other cause] 
 neglect to do our duty in firmness and con- 
 stancy, still ivaiting for some extraordinary 
 means to bring about their deliverance, it may 
 be that God may answer us in this matter, hv 
 terrible things in righteousness.'^ 
 
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