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 Imperial Parliament of Great Britain has forever banished slavery
from the Empire. In common with all good men, we rejoice at the
consummation of this immortal act; and we hope, that all other nations
may follow the example. Every member of the human family is entitled to
certain rights and privileges, and no where on earth are they better
secured, enjoyed, or more highly valued, than in Canada. Nature,
however, has divided the same great family into distinct species, for
good and wise purposes, and it is no less our interest, than it is our
duty, to follow her dictates and obey her laws. Believing this to be a
sound and correct principle, as well as a moral and a Christian duty, it
is with alarm we witness the fast increasing emigration, and settlement
among us of the African race; and with pain and regret, do we view the
establishment of an association, the avowed object of which is to
encourage the settlement in old, well-established communities, of a race
of people which is destined by nature to be distinct and separate from
us. It is also with a feeling of deep resentment that we look upon the
selection of the Township of Raleigh, in this District, as the first
portion of our beloved country, which is to be cursed, with a systematic
organization for setting the laws of nature at defiance. Do communities
in other portions of Canada, feel that the presence of the negro among
them is an annoyance? Do they feel that the increase of the colored
people among them, and amalgamation its necessary and hideous attendant,
is an evil which requires to be checked? With what a feeling of horror,
would the people of any of the old settled townships of the eastern
portion of this Province, look upon a measure which had for its avowed
object, the effect of introducing several hundreds of Africans, into the
very heart of their neighborhood, their families interspersing
themselves among them, upon every vacant lot of land, their children
mingling in their schools, and all claiming to be admitted not only to
political, but to social privileges? and when we reflect, too, that many
of them must from necessity, be the very worst species of that neglected
race; the fugitives from justice; how much more revolting must the
scheme appear? How then can you adopt such a measure? We beseech our
fellow subjects to pause before they embark in such an enterprise, and
ask themselves, 'whether they are doing by us as they would wish us to
do unto them.' . . . . Surely our natural position is irksome enough
without submitting to a measure, which not only holds out a premium for
filling up our district with a race of people, upon whom we can not look
without a feeling of repulsion, and who, having been brought up in a
state of bondage and servility, are totally ignorant both of their
social and political duties; but at the same time makes it the common
receptable into which all other portions of the Province are to void the
devotees of misery and crime.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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