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preserve the peace of the community and the welfare of the slaves. The spiritual welfare, the eternal welfare of the slave must have been regarded, as better secured under the comparatively mild dominion of Roman slavery, than it could be in a state of insurrection, civil war, and the numerous murders massacrees devastations and destruction of human life, necessarily attending it. We cannot suppose that the apostle Paul intended to affirm the justice of slavery, and that it was established among the Israelites as a matter of justice. It was not however a religious, but a political question, and in any view which can be taken of it,-it seems to have been tolerated by God; and his chosen ministers taught servants and slaves to obey their masters, as a christian duty. We can see no grounds for it but expediency. How different the teachings of modern fanatics, who, assuming to speak as the chosen ministers of God, overlooking the peace of the community and its importance, and pretending to rely upon principle only, teach a total disregard of expediency. They attempt to superintend matters of governmeut, law, and social institutions, as well as matters of religion and morals; and by connecting them all together, they assume to act upon higher and purer principles than those upon which the Gospel is based. Their assumption is that God has revealed to them a purer and more enlightened Gospel than he did to the apostles; that slavery as a political and social institution is sinful and wicked, under any and all circumstances; and that millions of professing christians have not understood their duty, and have been very wicked, by reason of their holding slaveя. The people have reason to fear and distrust teachers of so high assumptions, and so much wisdom, upon questions that are not religious, but political and social.

Christ and his apostles confined themselves entirely to spiritual matters, and matters of religion and morals. They never discussed, and never attempted to teach the people questions of government, politics, the justice and policy of war, nor social philosophy. But some of our modern ministers of the Gospel claim to be taught of God upon the question of slavery and upon many questions of political policy, and to be able to teach the people authoritatively upon such subjects. Much of their teaching is of a strange character. They often attribute to God motives and purposes which seem unbecoming and unworthy of the Supreme Being. Such assumptions appear impious.

I believe it is possible to hold slaves under such circumstances, and to treat them in such a manner, as to do them no injustice,but to benefit them, to promote their welfare, and to commit no sin by reason thereof; and that such is often the case, under laws which prohibit emancipatioa, except on conditions that are impracticable. General Washington may be named as an example.

SEC. 9.

THE SLAVE TRADE, COLONIAL SLAVERY, AND EMANCIPA-
TION.

The first expedition by an Englishman to the coast of Africa for negro slaves was by Capt., afterwards Sir John Hawkins, who procured a cargo of them, and took them for sale to the West Indies, in October, 1563. The first African slaves brought to the English North American colonies, were brought to the colony of Virginiaby a Dutch ship of war, in 1620.

It is said in Putnam's World's Progress, that "Queen Anne directed the colonial government of New York to take care 'that the Almighty should be devoutly and duly served according to the rights of the Church of England, and also that the Royal African Company should be encouraged, and that the colony should have a constant and sufficient supply of merchantable negroes at moderate rates." In the year 1786 (he says) England employed 130 ships in the African slave trade, and that there were 770,280 slaves in the British colonies and plantations at the period of their emancipation,

in 1833.

Mr. Cary says, in his history of the Slave Trade, that "in 1714, the number of blacks was 58,850, and they were dispersed throughout the provinces from New Hampshire to Carolina." He estimated the number imported into the thirteen colonies prior to 1714, at 30,000 from 1714 to the end of of 1770, at 199,500, and from 1771 to 1790 inclusive, at 34,000.

These facts show how active the foreign slave trade must have been during the whole of the 18th century, how it was regarded by Queen Anne, and by the government and christian people of Eng. land at that period, and how rapidly the slaves increased in these states, ther colonies of England. There were more or less slaves in all the colonies.

The following is an estimate of the number of slaves in the several

colonies in 1776, and the number in 1790, according to the census

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At the time of the declaration of indepencence, in 1776, the African slave trade was in full operation, and no nation of the earth had taken any measures for its abolition. It was not abolished by the British Parliament until March 1807, and the act of Congress to abolish it took effect in January 1808.

At the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, negroes were held, bought and sold as slaves, and universally regarded as property in each of the thirteen colonies; and such was the case also in all the states, except Massachusetts, at the time of the adoption of the federal constitution in 1788. At the former period, there were about half a million African slaves in the United States, and nearly seven hundred thousand at the the latter period-all of whom were regarded and treated as property. Such are the facts and circumstances, by the light of which the declaration and constitution of the United States should be interpreted.

The Pennsylvania Abolition Society, was founded by the Quakers in 1780 Benjamin Franklin was its first President, and Benjamin Rush its first Secretary. "The New York Manumission Society was formed in 1785,-John Jay being its first President, and Alexander Hamilton his successor. Similar associations were also formed in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

Those societies exerted a strong influence in favor of the abolition of slavery in several northern states."*

Vermont passed an act for the gradual abolition of slavery in 1777, before she was recognized as a state. Pennsylvania, in 1780, passed an act prohibiting the further introduction of slaves, and gave freedom to all persons thereafter born in the state. Connecticut and Rhode Island, passed similar acts in 1784.

Massachusetts adopted her first constitution in 1780, with a bill of rights, the first article of which was borrowed from the Declaration of Independence-declaring that "All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness." The Supreme Court of the state decided that the adoption of that article emancipated immediately all the slaves in the state. The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence constituted the germ of all the anti slavery movements in the United States, and in Europe.

In 1799, the Legislature of New York passed an act providing that slaves thereafter born should be free-the males at 28, and the females at 21 years of age. In 1804, New Jersey passed a similar act, for the gradual abolition of slavery. But none of the states ever provided any compensation to the slaveholder for the loss of his slaves. At the census of 1820 there were still in Rhode Island 48 slaves; in Connecticut 97; in New York 10,088; in New Jersey 7,557; in Pennsylvania 211; in Indiana 190; and in Illinois 917. Time greatly abated Mr. Jefferson's zeal for the abolition of slavery. In 1776 he introduced into the Declaration of Independence the first germ of abolition, which took root in all the Northern States, in England, and on the continent of Europe. In 1784 he wrote the provision for the prohibition of slavery, afterwards incorporated into the famous ordinance of 1787. While he was President he purchased of Napoleon the province of Louisiana, with a small French and Spanish population of about 30,000 at New Orleans, and on the Mississippi river and its tributaries, with a few

New American Cyclepedia, vol. 14, p 711.

+ New American Cyclopedia, vol. 11, p, 271, and vol. 14, p. 710 to 711.

thousand slaves. In 1804 an act of Congress was passed to organize a government for the then territory of Orleans, (now the State of Louisiana); and in 1805 Congress passed an act to organize a territorial government for Louisiana Territory, comprising the remaining part of the purchase of Napoleon. Slavery then existed in each of those territories. In and by those acts, Congress in express words ratified and confirmed the laws then in force in each of those territories, and thereby directly recognised, ratified, and confirmed slavery in each of them; and Mr. Jefferson approved the acts-whereby Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas became slave states. Mr. Jeffer

son then had the power to have provided for the gradual abolition of slavery in those territories, and could thereby have made each of those states a free state. Why did he not do it? Had time and observation worked any change in his opinions of slavery, and the practicability and expediency of its abolition? How can his change of action be accounted for?

SEC. 10. ACTION OF CONGRESS, DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, AND

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.

The various restrictions upon the industry, the burthens imposed upon the American Colonies, by the British government, and, numerous infringements of their rights, induced them to confer together, and finally led to an Assembly or Congress of deputies from nine Colonies, which met at New York, October 7th, 1765, to consult together for the protection of their common rights and interests. That Congress continued in session nearly three weeks, until the 25th of October, and among other things adopted a petition to the British Parliament for a redress of grievances.

For similar purposes, the first general Continental Congress of the American Colonies met at Philadelphia, September 5th, 1774. That Congress, (among other measures), adopted a declaration of Colonial rights, and a petition to the King and Parliament of Great Britain.

The second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia, May 10, 1775.

On the 7th of June, 1776, a resolution was introduced by Mr. Lee, of Virginia, "That these Colonies are and of right ought to be, free and independent States-that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown--and that all political connection be

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