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)
Such is American slavery, or as Mr. Henry
Hughes happily terms it, "Warranteeism."
In order that the subject of American slavery may be thoroughly
discussed, we have availed ourselves of the labors of several of the
ablest writers in the Union. These have been taken, not from one section
only, but from both sections of our country. It is true, most of them
are citizens of the Southern States, and for this there is a good and
obvious reason; no one can correctly discuss this subject, or any other,
who is practically unacquainted with it. This was the error of the
French nation, when they undertook to legislate the African savages of
St. Domingo into free citizens of the model republic; of the English
nation when they undertook to interfere in the internal affairs of
their colonies; and thus must it always be, when men undertake to think
or write, or act, in reference to any subject, of whose fundamental
truths, they are profoundly ignorant. It is true, that in every part of
the civilized world there are noble minds, rising superior to the
prejudices of education, and the influence of the society in which they
are placed, and defending the truth for its own sake; to all such we
render their due homage.
It is objected to the defenders of American slavery, that they have
changed their ground; that from being apologists for it as an inevitable
evil, they have become its defenders as a social and political good,
morally right, and sanctioned by the Bible and by God himself. This
charge is unjust, as by reference to a few historical facts will
abundantly appear. The present slave States had little or no agency in
the first introduction of Africans into this country; this was achieved
by the Northern commercial States and by Great Britain. Wherever the
climate suited the negro constitution, slavery was profitable and
flourished; where the climate was unsuitable, slavery was unprofitable,
and died out. Most of the slaves in the Northern States were sent
southward to a more congenial clime. Upon the introduction into Congress
of the first abolition discussions, by John Quincy Adams, and Joshua
Giddings, Southern men altogether refused to engage in the debate, or
even to receive petitions on the subject. They averred that no good
could grow out of it, but only unmitigated evil.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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