Cotton is king, and pro-slavery arguments : $b comprising the writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartwright, on this important subject
History
Cotton is king, and pro-slavery arguments : $b comprising the writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartwright, on this important subject
Scott, Dred, 1809-1858; Slavery -- Justification; Slavery -- United States; United States -- Fugitive slave law (1850)
The occasion which called out this resolution, together with a number of
others, was the delivery of a lecture, on the 3d of October last, by an
agent from Jamaica, who urged them to emigrate to that beautiful island.
The import of this resolution will be better understood, when it is
remembered, that the organization of Brown's insurrectionary scheme took
place, in this same city of Chatham, on the 8th of May last. The
"crisis" which was soon to occur in the United States, and the
importance of every colored man remaining at his post, at that
particular juncture, as urged by the resolutions, all indicate, very
clearly, that Brown's movements were known to the leaders of the
meeting, and that they desired to co-operate in the movement. The
spirit breathed by the whole series of the Chatham resolutions, is so
fully in accord with those passed from time to time in the United
States, that there is no difficulty in perceiving that the views,
expectations, and hopes of the colored people of both countries have
been the same. The Chatham meeting was on the night of the 3d October,
and the outbreak of Brown on that of the 16th.
But the failure of the Harper's Ferry movement should now serve as
convincing proof, that nothing can be gained, by such means, for the
African race. No successful organization, for their deliverance, can be
effected in this country; and foreign aid is out of the question, not
only because foreign nations will not wage war for a philanthropic
object, but because they cannot do without our cotton for a single year.
They are very much in the condition of our Northern politicians, since
the old party landmarks have been broken down. The slavery question is
the only one left, upon which any enthusiasm can be awakened among the
people. The negro is to American politics what cotton is to European
manufactures and commerce--the controlling element. As the overthrow of
American slavery, with the consequent suspension of the motion of the
spindles and looms of Europe, would bring ruin upon millions of its
population; so the dropping of the negro question, in American politics,
would at once destroy the prospects of thousands of aspirants to office.
In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the clamor against slavery is
made only for effect; and there is not now, nor has there been at any
other period, any intention on the part of political agitators to wage
actual war against the slave States themselves. But while the author
believes that no intention of exciting to insurrection ever existed
among leading politicians at the North, he must express the opinion that
evil has grown out of the policy they have pursued, as it has excited
the free negro to attempts at insurrection, by leading him to believe
that they were in earnest in their professions of prosecuting the
"irrepressible conflict," between freedom and slavery, to a termination
destructive to the South; and, lured by this hope, he has been led to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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