Produced by Suzanne Shell, C. St. Charleskindt and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. Transcriber's Note A Table of Contents has been added to this ebook for the reader's convenience. The Index has been moved from its original place at the beginning of the text to the end of the text. The Index has been transcribed to match that of the original document; the reader may find the browser's search function to be a more robust way of locating specific items. Variant and inconsistent spellings and punctuation have been retained in this ebook to match the original document. Only suspected typographical errors have been corrected. Details of these corrections can be found in a second Transcriber's Note at the end of this text. AN APPEAL IN FAVOR OF THAT CLASS OF AMERICANS CALLED AFRICANS. BY MRS. CHILD, AUTHOR OF THE MOTHER'S BOOK, THE GIRL'S OWN BOOK, THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE, ETC. "We have offended, Oh! my countrymen! We have offended very grievously, And been most tyrannous. From east to west A groan of accusation pierces Heaven! The wretched plead against us; multitudes, Countless and vehement, the sons of God, Our brethren!" COLERIDGE. NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY JOHN S. TAYLOR. 1836. PREFACE. Reader, I beseech you not to throw down this volume as soon as you have glanced at the title. Read it, if your prejudices will allow, for the very truth's sake:--If I have the most trifling claims upon your good will, for an hour's amusement to yourself, or benefit to your children, read it for _my_ sake:--Read it, if it be merely to find fresh occasion to sneer at the vulgarity of the cause:--Read it, from sheer curiosity to see what a woman (who had much better attend to her household concerns) will say upon such a subject:--Read it, on any terms, and my purpose will be gained. The subject I have chosen admits of no encomiums on my country; but as I generally make it an object to supply what is most needed, this circumstance is unimportant; the market is so glutted with flattery, that a little truth may be acceptable, were it only for its rarity. I am fully aware of the unpopularity of the task I have undertaken; but though I _expect_ ridicule and censure, it is not in my nature to _fear_ them. A few years hence, the opinion of the world will be a matter in which I have not even the most transient interest; but this book will be abroad on its mission of humanity, long after the hand that wrote it is mingling with the dust. Should it be the means of advancing, even one single hour, the inevitable progress of truth and justice, I would not exchange the consciousness for all Rothchild's wealth, or Sir Walter's fame. CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. BRIEF HISTORY OF NEGRO SLAVERY.--ITS INEVITABLE EFFECT UPON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 7 CHAPTER II.