Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 06 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 06 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
The same disproportion appears with regard to persons connected with
the Press. In the Free States the number of _printers_ was 11,812, of
whom 1,229 were in Massachusetts; in the Slave States there were 2,625,
of whom South Carolina had only 141. In the Free States the number of
_publishers_ was 331; in the Slave States, 24. Of these, Massachusetts
had 51, or more than twice as many as all the Slave States; while
South Carolina had but one. In the Free States the _authors_ were 73;
in the Slave States, 6,--Massachusetts having 17, and South Carolina
none. These suggestive illustrations are all derived from the last
official census. If we go to other sources, the contrast is still the
same. Of the authors mentioned in Duyckinck’s “Cyclopædia of American
Literature,” 434 are of the Free States, and only 90 of the Slave
States. Of the poets mentioned in Griswold’s “Poets and Poetry of
America,” 122 are of the Free States, and only 16 of the Slave States.
Of the poets whose place of birth appears in Read’s “Female Poets of
America,” 71 are of the Free States, and only 11 of the Slave States.
If we try authors by weight or quality, it is the same as when we
try them by numbers. Out of the Free States come all whose works
have a place in the permanent literature of the country,--Irving,
Prescott, Sparks, Bancroft, Emerson, Motley, Hildreth, Hawthorne; also,
Bryant, Longfellow, Dana, Halleck, Whittier, Lowell,--and I might add
indefinitely to the list. But what name from the Slave States can find
entrance there?
A similar disproportion appears in the number of _Patents_, during
the last three years, 1857, 1858, and 1859, attesting the inventive
industry of the contrasted regions. In the Free States there were
9,557; in the Slave States, 1,306: making a difference of 8,251 in
favor of Freedom. The number in Free Massachusetts was 1,351; in Slave
South Carolina, 39. The number in Free Connecticut, small in territory
and population, was 628; in Slave Virginia, large in territory and
population, 184.
From these things we might infer the _ignorance_ prevalent in the Slave
States; but this shows itself in specific results of a deplorable
character, authenticated by the official census. In the Slave States
there were 493,026 native white adults, persons over twenty years of
age, unable to read and write; while in the Free States, with double
the native white population, there were but 248,725 persons of this
class in this unhappy predicament: in the Slave States the proportion
being 1 in 5 of the adult native whites; in the Free States 1 in 22.
The number in Free Massachusetts, in an adult native white population
of 470,375, was 1,055, or 1 in 446; the number in Slave South Carolina,
in a like population of only 120,136, was 15,580, or 1 in 8. The number
in Free Connecticut was 1 in 256, in Slave Virginia 1 in 5; in Free New
Hampshire 1 in 192, and in Slave North Carolina 1 in 3.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account