Produced by David E. Brown, Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) SLAVERY AND THE CONSTITUTION. BY WILLIAM I. BOWDITCH. BOSTON: ROBERT F. WALLCUT, 21, CORNHILL. 1849. BOSTON: PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON, No. 21, School-street. CONTENTS. _Chapter_ _Page_ I. "SLAVERY AGREEABLE TO GOD'S PROVIDENCE" 1 II. DIRECT MENTAL INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES 5 III. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE SLAVES 14 IV. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS OF THE SLAVES 19 V. DIRECT RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES 27 VI. INDIRECT INSTRUCTION.--NO LEGAL MARRIAGE OF SLAVES 56 VII. "SOUL-DRIVING" 68 VIII. "DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE" 77 IX. RUNAWAY SLAVES 94 X. SLAVEHOLDING ALWAYS WRONG 107 XI. THE CONSTITUTION AND ITS INTERPRETATION 117 XII. THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE COMMON MEANING OF ITS TERMS 120 XIII. THE CONSTITUTION AS ITS FRAMERS INTENDED TO MAKE IT 127 XIV. THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE PRACTICE OF THE GOVERNMENT 136 XV. THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE EXPOSITION OF ITS FINAL INTERPRETER 143 XVI. NO UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS 150 NOTE. Page 45 was struck off before I became aware that "Master Auld" _now_ shelters Douglass's grandmother under his own roof. We are glad of the fact, and respect Master Auld for his change. But the case of Douglass's grandmother is by no means a solitary instance of cruel treatment. I might easily adduce others equally cruel, though not told with nearly so much feeling. W. I. B. SLAVERY AND THE CONSTITUTION. CHAPTER I. "SLAVERY AGREEABLE TO GOD'S PROVIDENCE"! "Thus did Jehovah stereotype his _approbation_ of domestic slavery"!--_Rev. President Shannon, of Bacon College, Ky._ "Here we see _God dealing in slaves_; giving them to his own favorite child [Abraham], a man of superlative worth, and as a reward for his eminent goodness."--_Rev. Theodore Clapp, of New Orleans._ Nearly three millions of men, women, and children are held in slavery in the Southern States, not by the ignorant and brutal alone, but by enlightened Christian bishops, ministers, and church members of all denominations; whilst men and women of cultivated minds, refined manners, and delicate tastes, indignantly deny that slaveholding is wrong.