Encouraging as had been the movement to enlighten the Negroes, there had always been at work certain reactionary forces which impeded the intellectual progress of the colored people. The effort to enlighten them that they might be emancipated to enjoy the political rights given white men, failed to meet with success in those sections where slaves were found in large numbers. Feeling that the body politic, as conceived by Locke and Montesquieu, did not include the slaves, many citizens opposed their education on the ground that their mental improvement was inconsistent with their position as persons held to service. For this reason there was never put forward any systematic effort to elevate the slaves. Every master believed that he had a divine right to deal with the situation as he chose. Moreover, even before the policy of mental and moral improvement of the slaves could be given a trial, some colonists, anticipating the "evils of the scheme," sought to obviate them by legislation. Such we have observed was the case in Virginia,[1] South Carolina,[2] and Georgia.[3] To control the assemblies of slaves, North Carolina,[4] Delaware,[5] and Maryland[6] early passed strict regulations for their inspection. [Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, 1871, p. 391.] [Footnote 2: Brevard, _Digest of the Public Statute Law of S.C._, vol. ii., p.243.] [Footnote 3: Marbury and Crawford, _Digest of Laws of the State of Georgia_, p. 438.] [Footnote 4: _Laws of North Carolina_, vol. i., pp. 126, 563, and 741.] [Footnote 5: _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, 1871, p. 335.] [Footnote 6: _Ibid._, p. 352.]