An apology for abolitionists: addressed by the anti-slavery society of Meriden, Conn., to their fellow citizensAnti-slavery Society of Meriden, Conn.
Philosophy
An apology for abolitionists: addressed by the anti-slavery society of Meriden, Conn., to their fellow citizens
Anti-slavery Society of Meriden, Conn.
Abolitionists -- Connecticut -- Meriden; Slavery -- United States; Slavery -- United States -- Societies, etc.
_Many of the youth of the South must continue, as in times past, to
be educated in the free states._ Mr. Calhoun was educated at Yale
College. Who can doubt that an influence might have been exerted on
his mind, in relation to Slavery, of the most happy character, if the
officers of that institution, if the surrounding community, if the
literature of the day, had all breathed the spirit of Arthur Tappan
and Gerritt Smith? There are now hundreds of southern youth in our
schools, and hundreds will succeed them, whose minds would be set in
deadly and deathless hostility to the robbery of God’s poor, were
their teachers Abolitionists. Some think that in such an event, they
would be kept at home. A few might be, but not all. The salubrity
of our climate, the excellence of our institutions, the comparative
purity of our morals, give us an advantage, that the more virtuous
and intelligent of southern parents, would not relinquish, for fear
that their sons should embrace views, which in their own hearts they
must approve.
It should also be remembered, that we not only educate the most
precious youth of the South, but we _supply many of her pulpits,
professorships, and shops with our own sons_. The great body of
southern merchants are northern men. Such is the genius of Slavery
that this will continue to be the case. The result would be, were we
all Abolitionists, that the adopted sons of the South would soon form
a strong body of opposition to Slavery, laboring to overthrow it, by
their votes, their arguments and their example. Some may think that
lynch law would then drive us all from the South; or that we should
be received there only on condition of letting Slavery alone. They
are mistaken. Were we _all_ Abolitionists, we should be defended. The
national government would protect us. The constitution guarantees the
rights of a citizen in all the states to the citizens of each state;
and had the North been thoroughly abolitionized, she would have
demanded and obtained redress for the blood of her innocent citizens,
who have been hung without color of law, by southern ruffians. Be
assured when we all become Abolitionists, an end will be put to the
reign of terror in every part of the country. Men of all creeds and
colors, will then go where they please, speak what they please, and
do what they please, with perfect safety, so long as they commit no
offence against just and impartial law.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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