An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called AfricansChild, Lydia Maria
History
An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans
Child, Lydia Maria
Antislavery movements -- United States; Slavery -- United States
[Footnote AL: This remark is not intended to indicate want of respect
for the early exertions of the Friends, in their numerous manumission
societies; or for the efforts of that staunch, fearless, self-sacrificing
friend of freedom--Benjamin Lundy; but Mr. Garrison was the first that
boldly attacked slavery as a sin, and Colonization as its twin sister.]
The palliator of slavery assures the abolitionists that their
benevolence is perfectly quixotic--that the negroes are happy and
contented, and have no desire to change their lot. An answer to this
may, as I have already said, be found in the Judicial Reports of
slaveholding States, in the vigilance of their laws, in advertisements
for runaway slaves, and in the details of their own newspapers. The West
India planters make the same protestations concerning the happiness of
their slaves; yet the cruelties proved by undoubted and unanswerable
testimony are enough to sicken the heart. It is said that slavery is
a great deal worse in the West Indies than in the United States; but I
believe precisely the reverse of this proposition has been true within
late years; for the English government have been earnestly trying to
atone for their guilt, by the introduction of laws expressly framed to
guard the weak and defenceless. A gentleman who has been a great deal
among the planters of both countries, and who is by no means favorable
to anti-slavery, gives it as his decided opinion that the slaves are
better off in the West Indies, than they are in the United States. It
is true we hear a great deal more about West Indian cruelty than we do
about our own. English books and periodicals are continually full of
the subject; and even in the colonies, newspapers openly denounce the
hateful system, and take every opportunity to prove the amount of
wretchedness it produces. In this country, we have not, until very
recently, dared to publish any thing upon the subject. Our books, our
reviews, our newspapers, our almanacs, have all been silent, or exerted
their influence on the wrong side. The negro's crimes are repeated, but
his sufferings are never told. Even in our geographies it is taught that
the colored race _must_ always be degraded. Now and then anecdotes of
cruelties committed in the slaveholding States are told by individuals
who witnessed them; but they are almost always afraid to give their
names to the public, because the Southerners will call them "a disgrace
to the soil," and the Northerners will echo the sentiment. The
promptitude and earnestness with which New-England has aided the
slaveholders in repressing all discussions which they were desirous to
avoid, has called forth many expressions of gratitude in their public
speeches, and private conversation; and truly we have well earned
Randolph's favorite appellation, "the white slaves of the North," by
our tameness and servility with regard to a subject where good feeling
and good principle alike demand a firm and independent spirit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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