A Review of Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, An Essay on SlaveryWoodward, A.
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A Review of Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, An Essay on Slavery
Woodward, A.
Slavery -- United States; Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896. Uncle Tom's cabin; Uncle Tom (Fictitious character)
How is it that one nation acquires dominion over another? that one
nation falls a prey to another? that one nation makes slaves of
another? By what means were the posterity of Shem and Japheth enabled
to enslave the posterity of Ham? Some will say that God willed it
thus, and so it is. I consider the phraseology of this answer faulty.
It would, in my view, be more appropriate to say, God suffered it; or
permitted it; and so it is. I do not believe that Ham's crimes were in
accordance with the benevolent designs of Providence. The degradation
and slavery entailed upon his posterity, was but a necessary
consequence of his crimes, a just judgment, which a righteous God
suffered to fall on his posterity. It was a violation of God's laws,
which involved the African race in accursed slavery. God has attached
certain punishments to the violation of certain laws, in other words,
to the commission of certain crimes. The law is violated, otherwise,
the crime is committed, and the penalty, or punishment falls on the
head of the offender. Now all this is brought about in opposition to
the will of God; for when God gave laws, he willed that man should
obey those laws. If he says, "son honor thy father," and the son
dishonors his father, he acts in opposition to God's will. And to
secure obedience to his laws, and uphold moral order, he has attached
to every crime its appropriate punishment.
But every effect has a cause, and if one nation acquires an ascendancy
over another, there is a reason in the nature of things, _why it is
so_. There are reasons why individuals differ, and why they are found
under different circumstances and conditions in this world. Why one
becomes poor and another rich; why one acquires wealth and influence,
while another becomes poor, indigent and miserable--it may be a slave
to his wealthy neighbor. There is an internal cause; a constitutional
difference in individuals, physically, mentally, and morally. So it is
with nations. Locality, climate and other external causes have also
had much agency in shaping and moulding the characters, and
determining the destinies of nations. Nothing is more true than the
trite saying, "that knowledge is power." The Author of our existence,
"the giver of every good and perfect gift," conferred on Shem and
Japheth, or rather, on their posterity, superior mental endowments.
The African and the Anglo-Saxon races differ widely in their physical
organizations; their mental susceptibilities, and their moral natures;
and the advantages are in favor of the Anglo-Saxon. The Anglo-Saxons
are a superior race. They are the best specimens of humanity--the
noblest work of God. They excel in all those qualities and endowments
that raise man above his fellow man. The whole posterity of Shem and
Japheth are intellectually superior to the posterity of Ham. Locality
has had its influence. The human species degenerate mentally and
morally in a tropical climate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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