Cannibals all! or, Slaves without mastersFitzhugh, George
General
Cannibals all! or, Slaves without masters
Fitzhugh, George
Slave labor; Slavery -- Justification; Slavery -- United States; Working class
We do not agree with the authors of the Declaration of Independence,
that governments "derive their just powers from the consent of the
governed." The women, the children, the negroes, and but few of the
non-property holders were consulted, or consented to the Revolution, or
the governments that ensued from its success. As to these, the new
governments were self-elected despotisms, and the governing class
self-elected despots. Those governments originated in force, and have
been continued by force. All governments must originate in force, and be
continued by force. The very term, government, implies that it is
carried on against the consent of the governed. Fathers do not derive
their authority, as heads of families, from the consent of wife and
children, nor do they govern their families by their consent. They never
take the vote of the family as to the labors to be performed, the moneys
to be expended, or as to anything else. Masters dare not take the vote
of slaves, as to their government. If they did, constant holiday,
dissipation and extravagance would be the result. Captains of ships are
not appointed by the consent of the crew, and never take their vote,
even in "doubling Cape Horn." If they did, the crew would generally vote
to get drunk, and the ship would never weather the cape. Not even in the
most democratic countries are soldiers governed by their consent, nor is
their vote taken on the eve of battle. They have some how lost (or never
had) the "inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness;" and, whether Americans or Russians, are forced into battle,
without and often against their consent. The ancient republics were
governed by a small class of adult male citizens, who assumed and
exercised the government, without the consent of the governed. The South
is governed just as those ancient republics were. In the county in which
we live, there are eighteen thousand souls, and only twelve hundred
voters. But we twelve hundred, the governors, never asked and never
intend to ask the consent of the sixteen thousand eight hundred whom we
govern. Were we to do so, we should soon have an "organized anarchy."
The governments of Europe could not exist a week without the positive
force of standing armies.
They are all governments of force, not of consent. Even in our North,
the women, children, and free negroes, constitute four-fifths of the
population; and they are all governed without their consent. But they
mean to correct this gross and glaring iniquity at the North. They hold
that all men, women, and negroes, and smart children, are equals, and
entitled to equal rights. The widows and free negroes begin to vote in
some of those States, and they will have to let all colors and sexes and
ages vote soon, or give up the glorious principles of human equality and
universal emancipation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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