Thoughts on African ColonizationGarrison, William Lloyd
Philosophy
Thoughts on African Colonization
Garrison, William Lloyd
African Americans -- Colonization -- Africa; American Colonization Society; Slavery -- United States
'The question arises, where shall these outcasts go? Ohio, and
the free States of the West, which formerly invited them into
their bosom, no longer offer them a welcome home. Disgusted with
their laziness and vice, the inevitable concomitants of the
anomalous relation in which they stand to society, the
authorities of those States are seeking to get rid of what they
find, too late, to be a curse to any settlement of whites--a
thriftless race of vagabonds, whose footsteps are the sure
precursors of indigence and crime. One of the most intelligent
gentlemen of Ohio, (Mr Charles Hammond,) in a recent notice of
this subject, says, "This dangerous class of population has
increased considerably within a few years past, and the slaves
States cannot too soon adopt efficient measures to get rid of
it. Emigrations to Liberia ought to be provided for, and
insisted upon, and the legislatures should pass laws to prevent
emancipation, without adequate provision for the transportation
of the manumitted."'--[Lynchburg Virginian.]
'As it is now, they are for the most part in a debased and
wretched condition. They have the vices of our community without
its virtues. And what is worse, I speak of the majority, they
have no desire to rise from their state of abject depression--no
wish to gain a respectable elevation of character. Consequently
it is difficult, if not impossible, to present them motives
Which shall incite them to enter on a course of industry and
virtue.' * * * 'Bound by no political ties to the community in
which they dwell, and excluded for the most part from exercising
the rights and privileges of freemen, on the ground of their
alleged inferiority and worthlessness, they have no inducements
to abandon lives of indolence, sensuality and recklessness, or
to support the laws and institutions of the government placed
over them. Nothing but the fear of suffering the penalty of
violated law, can prevent them from preying on those among whom
they live.'--[Middletown (Ct.) Gazette.]
'They have taken the free black that, as a class, dwells among
us a living nuisance, nominally free, but bowed to the ground by
public opinion--IN ONE PART OF THE COUNTRY DULL AS A BRUTISH
BEAST, IN ANOTHER THE WILD STIRRER UP OF SEDITION AND
INSURRECTION--they have shewn him to be capable of quiet and
judicious self-government.-- ... We cannot shut our eyes any
longer upon the disadvantages of our black population, whether
in slavery or freedom. It is a sword perpetually suspended over
our heads by a single hair; it is the fountain of bitter waters
that poisons all our enjoyments.'--[Speeches of J. R. Townsend,
Esq. and W. W. Campbell, Esq. New-York city.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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