The rise, progress, and phases of human slavery: How it came into the world and how it shall be made to go outO'Brien, James Bronterre
History
The rise, progress, and phases of human slavery: How it came into the world and how it shall be made to go out
O'Brien, James Bronterre
Labor; Labor movement; Slavery; Social problems; Working class
Answer to question, “How is Human Slavery to go
out?”--Insufficiency of mere Political Freedom--Accessibility of
Public Lands in new Countries their chief Advantage--Inadequacy of
Universal Suffrage without a Knowledge of Social Rights--America
falling into same Abyss as Europe.
Before resuming the subject of the foregoing propositions, we pray the
reader to bear in mind, that we are now arrived at that all-important
branch of our inquiry which proposes to answer the question, “How is
human slavery to be made to go out of the world?” To have shown how it
came in,--how it was propagated,--the varied phases it has assumed,
and the hideous, wide-spread proletarianism to which the conversion
of _chattel_-slavery into _wages_-slavery has given rise,--to have
shown all this, without at the same time essaying to show how the fell
monster is to be eradicated from the face of the earth, would be a
mere idle literary dissertation--a contemptible parade of erudition,
without object, without end. A higher purpose will, we trust, be
found to have dictated this inquiry. An earnest, heartfelt desire
to contribute our quota towards rescuing humanity from oppression
and sorrow is the motive we lay claim to. This motive it is which
impelled us, on the part of the National Reform League, to propose
the resolutions embodied in the last chapter. In those resolutions
we profess to answer the question, “How is human slavery to be made
to go out of the world?” It is true, their immediate application is
intended only for our own country; but they are equally applicable
to France, Germany, and every other “civilized” country--America
itself not excepted. America is comparatively free from most of the
political anomalies and exclusive privileges which disgrace Europe,
and degrade the vast numerical majority of its people. There are no
crowned heads there; there is no State Church. Some of the States have
public debts, but they are comparatively light, and, for the most
part, in course of easy liquidation. Moreover, there is no titled
aristocracy claiming, by hereditary right, to legislate for or govern
any of the States. In this respect, men of all grades and conditions
are equally eligible for office, and for places of trust, honour, and
emolument. Universal suffrage may be said to be the general rule, and
property qualifications the exception, for the election of members
of the legislature and officers of government. Treason works no
corruption of blood in America. There is no law of primogeniture or
entail; there is no religion established and maintained by law, and
consequently no legal bars to religious freedom. Taxation is, generally
speaking, equal, uniform, and direct. It was, before the civil war,
comparatively light, too; and when otherwise, the remedy lies with the
people themselves; for, as restrictions upon the suffrage by property
and tax-qualifications exist but in some few of the States (and in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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