Slavery and the ConstitutionBowditch, William I. (William Ingersoll)
Religion
Slavery and the Constitution
Bowditch, William I. (William Ingersoll)
Enslaved persons -- United States -- Social conditions; Slavery -- United States
What but pecuniary profit does the speculator in horses look to? What
other object has the speculator in men, women, and children, in view?
Whatever mammon bids the slave-trader do, will be done. How much more
than this, or will any thing more than this, be done? Will such a person
consider as of any consequence the broken hearts of husbands and wives,
of parents and children, who are torn by this terrible trade from all
they hold dear in life, so long as their bodies are sound, strong, and
healthy; so long as the investment retains its market-value? Of what
consequence is deep, heart-felt agony to a speculator? Is he whose idol
is gold to be turned from his purpose merely by the foolish wailing of a
woman whose heart-strings are breaking? Do the cries of children made
orphans, and of parents made childless, by his acts, move the heart of
that man who makes his living by buying parents and children, husbands
and wives, at the lowest prices, and by selling them, "singly or in lots
to suit," to whomsoever will give the highest price?
The following is a well-known extract front an Address (p. 12) published
by the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky to the churches under their care,
in 1835:--
"Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are
torn asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. These acts
are daily occurring in the midst of us. The shrieks and the agony
often witnessed on such occasions proclaim, with a trumpet-tongue,
the iniquity of our system. There is not a neighborhood where these
heart-rending scenes are not displayed. There is not a village or
road that does not behold the sad procession of manacled outcasts,
whose mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by force from
all that their hearts hold dear."
In the "New Orleans Bulletin," we find the following "Slavery as it is,"
p. 168):--
"NEGROES FOR SALE.--A negro woman, 24 years of age, and has two
children, one eight, and the other three years. _Said negroes will
be sold separately or together, as desired._ The woman is a good
seamstress. She will be sold low for cash, or _exchanged for
groceries_. For terms apply to MAYHEW, BLISS, & CO.
1, Front Levee."
A similar advertisement will be found in the "New England Weekly
Journal" (Boston), April 9, 1733; printers, S. Kneeland and T. Green:--
"A VERY LIKELY NEGRO WOMAN, that has a child of _about six weeks
old, to be sold, either with or without the child_. Inquire of the
printers hereof."
The following was a standing advertisement, a few years since, in the
Charleston (S. C.) papers:--
"ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY NEGROES FOR SALE.--The subscriber has just
arrived from Petersburg, Virginia, with one hundred and twenty
likely young negroes, of both sexes and every description, which he
offers for sale on the most reasonable terms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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