PART II.

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.

CHAPTER I.

Principles of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Character of American Slavery.

THE principles professed by the American Anti-Slavery Society, are set forth in the following articles of its Constitution, viz :

ARTICLE 2. The objects of this Society, are the entire abolition of slavery in the United States. While it admits that each State, in which slavery exists, has by the Constitution of the United States, the exclusive right to legislate in regard to its abolition in that State, it shall aim to convince all our fellow citizens by arguments addressed to their understandings and consciences, that slave-holding is a heinous crime in the sight of God; and that the duty, safety and best interests of all concerned, require its immediate abandonment, without expatriation. The Society will also endeavor in a Constitutional way to influence Congress to put an end to the domestic slave trade; and to abolish slavery in all those portions of our common country, which come under its control, especially in the District of Columbia, and likewise to prevent the extension of it to any State that may hereafter be admitted to the Union.

ART. 3. This Society shall aim to elevate the character and condition of the people of color, by encouraging their intellectual, moral and religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice; that thus they may according to their intellectual and moral worth, share an equality with the whites, of civil and religious privileges; but the Soci

slavery, but they provide for reducing free persons to hereditary bondage. In South-Carolina, fines are imposed on free negroes for certain offences, and in default of payment, they are made slaves. If a colored citizen of any other State enters Georgia, he is fined, and if he cannot raise the money, he is sentenced to perpetual slavery, and his children after him. In Maryland if a free negro marries a white, the negro becomes a slave. In almost every slave State, if a free negro cannot prove that he is free, he is by law sold at public auction as a slave for life. is both law and practice in the district of Columbia, and with the sanction of the Congress of the United States. In no civilized country but the slave States, are children punished for the crimes of their parents; but in these, the children of free blacks, to the latest posterity are condemned to servitude for the trivial offences, and often for the most innocent acts of their ancestors.

This

It necessarily follows from the legal definitions we have given of a slave, that he is subjected to an absolute and irresponsible despotism.

The master has in point of fact the same power over his slave, that he has over his horse. Some few laws there may be, forbidding the master to treat his slave with cruelty, and so the common law every where forbids cruelty to beasts; but it is far easier to enforce the latter than the former. Any spectator of cruelty to a beast, may ordina rily be a witness against the offender; but a slave may be mutilated or murdered with impunity in the presence of hundreds, provided their complexions are colored and even should the crime be proved by competent testimony, the master is to be tried by a court and jury who are all interested in maintaining the supreme authority of slave-hold

ers.

But although no laws can in fact restrain the power of the master, yet laws to a certain degree, indicate what kind of treatment is tolerated by public opinion. Thus when we find the laws of South-Carolina limiting the time which slaves may be compelled to labor, to fifteen hours a day, we may form some opinion of the amount of toil which Southern masters think it right to inflict upon the slaves; and when we recollect, that the laws of Maryland, Virginia and Georgia forbid that the criminals in their penitentia

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ries shall be made to labor more than ten hours a day; we discover the relative place which white felons, and unof fending slaves, occupy in the sympathies of slave-hold

ers.

The slave is, at all times, liable to be punished at the pleasure of his master; and although the law does not warrant him in murdering the slave, it expressly justifies him E in killing him, if he dares to resist. That is, if the slave does not submit to any chastisement, which a brutal master may of his sovereign pleasure choose to inflict, he may legally be shot through the head.

In South-Carolina, if a slave be killed on a sudden heat or passion, or by undue correction," the murderer is to pay a fine and be imprisoned six months. What would be thought of such a punishment for the murder of a white apprentice?

In Missouri, a master is by law expressly authorized to imprison his slave during pleasure, and thus may a human being be legally incarcerated for life without trial, or even the allegation of a crime. The despotism of the slave holder is a negociable despotism; it is daily and hourly bought and sold, and may at any moment be delegated to the most brutal of the species.

The slave, being himself property, can own no property. He may labor fifteen hours a day, but he acquires nothing by his labor. In South-Carolina, a slave is not permitted to keep a boat, or to raise and breed for his own benefit, any horses, cattle, sheep, or hogs, under pain of forfeiture, and any person may take such articles from him.

In Georgia, the master is fined thirty dollars for suffering his slave to hire himself to another for his own benefit. In Maryland the master forfeits thirteen dollars for each month that his slave is permitted to receive wages on his

own account.

In Virginia, every master is finable who permits a slave to work for himself at wages. In North-Carolina, "all horses, cattle, hogs, or sheep, that shall belong to any slave, or be of any slave's mark in this State, shall be seized and sold by the County Wardens."

In Mississippi, the master is forbidden, under the pe

nalty of fifty dollars, to let a slave raise cotton for himself, or to keep stock of any description."

Such is the anxiety of the slave laws to repress every benevolent desire of the master to promote in the slightest degree the independence of the slave.

Slaves, being property, are like cattle liable to be leased and mortgaged by their owners, or sold on execution for debt.

A slave having no rights, cannot appear in a court of justice to ask for redress of injuries. So far as he is the subject of injury, the law regards him only as a brute, and redress can only be demanded and received by the owner. The slave may be beaten, (robbed he cannot be) his wife and children may be insulted and abused in his presence, and he can no more institute an action for damages, than his master's horse. But cannot he be protected by his master's right of action? No. The master must prove special injury to his property, to recover damages. Any man may, with perfect impunity, whip another's slave, unless he so injure him as to occasion "a loss of service, or at least a diminution of the faculty of the slave for bodily labor." Such is the decision of the Supreme Court of Maryland. In Louisiana, if a third person maim a slave, so that he is "forever rendered unable to work," the offender pays to the owner the value of the slave, and is also to be at the expense of his maintenance; but the unfortunate slave, mutilated or crippled for life, receives not the slightest compensation. The master's right of action is a protection to his property, not to the comfort or security of the slave; indeed, it tends to degrade the latter to the level of the other live stock on his master's farm.

A necessary consequence of slavery, is the absence of the marriage relation. No slave can commit bigamy, because the law knows no more of the marriage of slaves, than it does of the marriage of brutes. A slave may, indeed, be formally married, but so far as legal rights and obligations are concerned, it is an idle ceremony. His wife may, at any moment, be legally taken from him, and sold in the market. The slave laws utterly nullify the injunction of the Supreme Lawgiver--" What God hath joined, let not man put asunder,"

Of course, these laws recognize not the parental relation as belonging to slaves. A slave has no more legal authority over his child, than a cow over her calf.

The Legislatures of the slave States, when legislating respecting slaves, seem regardless alike of the claims and the affections of our common nature. No right is more sacred, or more universally admitted, than that of self-preservation; but the wretched slave, whether male or female, is denied the right of self-defence against the brutality of any person whomsoever having a white skin. Thus the law of Georgia declares, "if any slave shall presume to strike any white person, upon trial or conviction before the Justice or Justices, according to the directions of this act, shall, for the first offence, suffer such punishment as the said Justice or Justices shall in their discretion think fit, not extending to life or limb; and for the second offence, suffer DEATH."

The same law prevails in South-Carolina, except that death is the penalty for the third offence.

In Maryland, the Justice may order the offender's ears to be cropped. In Kentucky, "any negro, mulatto, or indian, bond or free," who "shall at any time lift his hand in opposition to any white person, shall receive thirty lashes on his or her bare back, well laid on, by order of the Justice."

In South-Carolina, "If any slave, who shall be out of the house or plantation where such slaves shall live, or shall be usually employed, or without some white person in company with such slaves, shall refuse to submit to undergo the examination of any white person, it shall be lawful for any white person to pursue, apprehend, and moderately correct such slave; and if such slave shall assault and strike such white person, such slave may be LAWFULLY KILLED.'

We have seen that the slave laws regard the slave, so far as human rights and enjoyments, and social relations are concerned, as a mere brute; we are now to see, that so far as he can be made to suffer for his acts, he is regarded as an intelligent and responsible being.

Divine equity has established the rule, that the servant which knew not his master's will, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. If