MANKIND in every age, and at every period of the world, have been unani­mous in their sentiments concerning Liberty, which they have universally esteemed as one of the most sacred and invaluable blessings,—as a right naturally belonging to all,—and of which no human authority could possibly di­vest them. The human mind seems to have implanted in it by nature, a certain desire after Freedom, which rendering the smallest degree of confinement or restraint, irksome and into­lerable, appears to have been given for the very purpose of securing us in that state of Liberty and Independence, wherein we were all born, and to which we have all indiscri­minately a claim. But custom, whose laws are arbitrary and tyrannical, has gained to great [Page 6] an ascendency over our reason, that we are not surprized when we behold the most civilized and enlightened nations, deviating from those simple and invariable rules of nature which must be perceptible even to the most ignorant and unlearned people. Blinded by it, the most virtuous and respectable people, have rendered themselves contemptible, and degenerated into viciousness; and under its influence, we may at present behold the virtuous citizens of America, giving their sanction to a practice, which, in the criminality and injustice of its nature, has not been exceeded by the people of the most barbarous ages.

THE Slavery of the unfortunate Africans, is the practice to which I advert. It is a prac­tice of the most shameful and inhuman nature, and demands the attention of every citizen who would wish to be esteemed either virtuous or honest; for honestly does not always consist in a strict adherence to the laws, which are frequently defective in their nature, and in many instances give sanction to the most frau­dulent dealings. In order to avoid error, and the commission of injustice, we need only to consult our own bosoms; where the virtuous and honest man will meet with an approbation [Page 7] of his conduct; and the vicious and dishonest man, although patronized and protected by the laws, will meet with reprehension, for his dishonesty and baseness. It is to this tribunal, and not to that of the laws, that I wish to submit the propriety of the practice at present in debate. For although by the laws of our country we may be licensed in the enslaving of the Negroes, and in treating them in what manner we please, nevertheless, as those laws are of our own creation, and may consequently be replete with error and injustice, it becomes those who are the authors thereof, to inspect into the nature of them, and to abrogate whatever part of them may be improper, or inconsistent with those superior laws of nature; on which all laws, if either rightful or just, must indubitably be founded.

THAT all men have naturally a right to Liberty, and that to deprive them of it, is the most arbitrary and unauthorized extension of power (even if there were no other laws in existence which respected it, and if our own reason did not very evidently point it out to us) must most manifestly appear from the repeated declarations of our Congress, and the Consti­tutions of the different States; all of which, in [Page 8] the most positive manner assert, that all men are possessed of certain natural, inherent rights, of which they cannot be divested, but by the most arbitrary and unjustifiable measures.

IT is an invariable and an undoubted max­im, that wherever there is a right existing on the one part, there must necessarily be an ob­ligation on the other; that is, if the Negroes are rightfully entitled to their liberty, there is a consequent obligation on us, not to injure or molest them in the peaceable enjoyment of it, since it would be the height of absurdity to suppose that they could possess a just and un­alienable title to their freedom▪ and that we could at the same time be possessed of an equal right of depriving them of it.

THE only question therefore which can arise on a mature consideration of the subject, is in my opinion this, Are the Negroes men? For if they be men, and if all men have a right to liberty, as is universally acknowledged, and as you also most particularly assert, they must indubitably, as men, be entitled to a partici­pation of that right; and you, consequently, nor no other nation in the world, can right­fully deprive them of it.

[Page 9]UNDER what pretext then do we retain them; or rather, with what justice did we at first reduce them from a state of liberty, to that of the most abject servitude? For since we cannot possibly discover in the laws of nature, which are the basis of all rightful laws, any rightful power which we can have, to exercise the smallest degree of authority over the Africans, more than over any other nation in the world, those persons who can persuade themselves that the enslaving them is not one of the most unwar­rantable and inhuman practices that ever cha­racterized the people of any country, or time, must either be entirely devested of every senti­ment of humanity,—or must be so extremely ignorant as to suppose that the Creator of the universe made a discrimination between the White People and the Negroes, with respect to their privileges, and that he gave the pre­eminence to the White People; to whom it became the Negroes, either on account of their unbecoming colour, or as M. Montescue very ironically observes, of their short and curly hair, to be obedient and submissive;—a sup­position which however ridiculous it may be, is nevertheless not more so than many others which are used by the proprietors of Negroes, in vindication of their conduct.

[Page 10]THE introduction of the Negroes into this country, was one of the greatest proofs which the British crown could give, of their tyranny and baseness. In order to increase the popu­lation of the country, they did not think it sufficient to send over a number of criminals, who being detrimental to society were unwor­thy of living longer in their own country, but also by the establishment of the Guinea trade, sent over thousands of miserable wretches, over whom we were privileged to exercise the most unlimited authority, for the purpose of pro­moting the wealth and richness of the then colonies, and the consequent advantages to the mother country. This traffic obtained imme­diately the countenance of the laws, by means of the British governors on the continent, who studious only of the interest of the crown, were ready to adopt any measures which might have a tendency to increase it. But however fla­grant the injustice, or however glaring the insolence of the measure, I am sorry to observe that they have passed away entirely unnoticed; and that altho' free, we still pursue a practice which would have rendered us contemptible, even as the subjects of a different power. Many of our citizens are irrational enough [Page 11] or at least are so blinded by their interest, as to imagine t hat the purchase of the Negroes from the British, or those acting under their authority, was sufficient of itself to afford a rightful and compleat title, not only to them but also to their posterity forever. But those persons might, with as much propriety, con­tend that the purchase of any article from a thief, who had wrongfully gotten it into his possession, would have an effect to deprive the original possessor of his right, and to vest it in the purchaser; which would be entirely to overthrow that just, tho' simple maxim, which informs us that no man can give that which is not his own; and would open a field to the commission of every species of dishonesty and fraud.

IT must unavoidably inspire with horror, a mind possest of the most trifling portion of sensibility, to reflect on the many and enor­mous cruelties which have been practised to­wards those ignorant and inoffensive people, by the consent of our government, and under the sanction of our laws. The wars which have been carried on among them for a series of years, have taken their rise, in a great mea­sure, from the lucrative dispositions of those [Page 12] nations which may have promised to themselves a considerable profit from the sale of those whom they might have captured from another nation, less numerous and less powerful than themselves.

THE barbarous and uncivilized people make war, and the civilized and enlightened people share with the victorious in the cruel and de­plorable consequences of it. It is true that we have not been spectators, but we may very easily form a judgment of the horrors and distress which have been the necessary and inevitable consequences of those savage wars. Our ears have not been saluted by the groans of wounded and of dying wretches, nor have our eyes beheld the outrages and devastations which have been committed by the conquerors, on the country of the vanquished. We hear not the sighs of parents for their unfortunate children, nor the cries of children for their absent parents; of whose protection and assist­ance, death or an extensive ocean, must forever deprive them. We hear not the reiterated lamentations of the husband for his wife, or of the wife for her husband; but we behold those very persons when they arrive in our country, where, with all these agonizing and [Page 13] torturing reflections,—after having been drag­ged away from their friends, relations, and every thing that could be dear to them,—after having been cast into a nauseous dungeon, and brought through tempestuous seas, instead of meeting with a little consolation, or receiving something which might in some degree, com­pensate for their liberty, they are compelled to labour continually in the fields, and to under­go all the additional miseries and distress of which the human mind is susceptible; and to suffer the most excruciating tortures the body can possibly endure, or the unrelenting hand of cruelty can inflict. But not content with the barbarity and injustice which we exercise upon the fathers, we have extended our inhu­manity still farther, towards their guiltless and unoffending offsprings. From whom do we derive an authority over them? Is the unborn infant, involved also in the fate of its unhappy parent? Is it because distant from its country and its friends, cut off from every right and every privilege of Men? Or do we rather con­stitute ourselves beings of a superior order, and determine to visit upon it, and its posterity forever, the calamities of its father?

[Page 14]IF we cannot justify ourselves in the com­mission of such acts as these, upon princi­ples of right: If in the place of law or justice, we substitute violence and superior force, then are we again returned to that state of anarchy and disorder, wherein one man may seize upon another's property, injure his person, or even take away his life, without the dread of pu­nishment, or the apprehension of being com­pelled to make the smallest degree of restitu­tion for the injury which he may have done. If force be our law, then do we subject our­selves to the government of the Negroes, whenever by their numbers they may be ren­dered capable of exercising it. The law by which we hold them, being in their favour, we cannot reckon it unjust that they should wrest the rod of despotism from our hand, and inflict it with as little humanity on us as we have been accustomed to inflict it upon them.

IF we would but consider for a moment, the origin of the contest between Great-Britain and ourselves, and would but condescend to compare their situation with respect to us, to our then situation with respect to what was at that time called the Mother Country, we shall be able to discover the injustice of our conduct [Page 15] towards the Africans, in a plainer and more conspicuous light. What, in the first place, was the cause which induced us into that war?—a war, which although justifiable, was as cruel and unnatural as, that between a parent and a child. Was it not the apprehension which we entertained, of a disposition in the Mother Country to incroach upon our natural Liberties, and to divest us of those privileges to which all mankind are entitled, and which we considered as our birth-right? We were not in a situation similar to that of the Ne­groes, nor could we apprehend that the British crown ever had it in contemplation to reduce us to such an one; yet notwithstanding, pos­sest of a just and lively sense of our rights, we contemned the idea of being subject to the insolence and caprice of a Parliament; and were led on to break every tye of relationship, of friendship and affection, rather than to suf­fer tamely, what we considered as an unwar­rantable exercise of power. But how much more deplorable than ours could have been, must be the situation of the Negroes in our country. They do not enjoy any of those privileges which we esteemed so essential to our existence, as to hazard our lives in order [Page 16] to obtain them. In point of liberty, they are by no means to be considered as superior to the Brutes in our fields, and are inferior to those who range the forests, and partake of nature's gifts. The world has at all times afforded us examples of licentiousness and vice; but if we can reflect on all these, cir­cumstances which respect our fellow creatures, without commiserating their fate, or making a single effort, in order to relieve them of it, we may assure ourselves that the history of our time will equal that of our most barbar­ous predecessors, in the number of examples which it will furnish both of licentiousness and depravity.

THE United States of America, have, by one of the most vigorous exertions that ever adorned the page of ancient or of modern his­tory, established to themselves that Liberty and Independence which they so ardently de­sired; and to which, as men, they conceived they had a claim.—Their Legislators are the guardians of that Liberty; but how inconsist­ently with the sacred nature of their trust, and the dignity of their station, do they conduct themselves! Whilst with one hand they are vigorously supporting the standard of Liberty, [Page 17] they are exercising with the other, the rod of Slavery and Despotism;—whilst engaged in preserving their constitutions from violation or infraction, they violate one of its most essential articles, and subvert the very basis on which it is constructed. By their constitutions it is declared, that Liberty is inherently the property of all; and nevertheless, in open vio­lation of that principle, (to which one would suppose they are not only bound by every tye of justice, but also of honor, to comply) they deprive more than two-thirds of their inhabi­tants of their freedom, without being able to assign a single reason for which they do it, or offering a single argument in vindication of the measure.

IF we properly consider the principles by which the human mind is most generally ac­tuated, we shall be induced also to believe the injustice of this practice is not more flagrant, than its consequences may in time be detri­mental. The most ignorant and unenligh­tened nations may, like those who have already become civilized and enlightened, emerge from their state of ignorance and incogitancy, and be possest of the same sentiments of their dig­nity and right, with those who exist in a state [Page 18] of liberty and refinement;—and should the Negroes, while living in subjection to us, ac­quire those sentiments, and be divested of those servile notions by which they are at pre­sent influenced, what should we not have to apprehend from their indignation and resent­ment. When created by a sense of injuries sustained, how dreadful, and how greatly to be apprehended, are the insurrections of the injured;—imbecility, or a want of numbers, can alone be sufficient to prevent them from gratifying their revenge, by retaliating fully on their oppressors. It would be prudent then to consider well these consequences, before the time come when we may probably experience them. If we have no regard to the justice, let us at least pay some attention to the policy of our practices, which in the present instance would, I am convinced, be sufficient to induce us to divest ourselves of our property in Ne­groes, as speedily as possible; for the profits which are derived from them, are in my opi­nion, too trifling to render it our interesst to retain them.

PROPORTIONABLE to the number of slaves, must be the quantity of one's land; and by how much the greater may be the number of [Page 19] them, by so much the greater must be the quantity of provision, and the additional ex­pences which attend a family; so that, as the profit is increased on the one hand, it is coun­terbalanced by the expences which inevitably attend it on the other. The number of the Negroes in the southern States, and particu­larly in that of Virgina, daily continues to in­crease; while that of the White People, by reason of the emigrations to other parts of the country, continues as rapidly to decrease.—The poor man, whose land is already almost worn out by cultivation, induced to dispose of it to his more wealthy neighbour, (whose ne­cessities for territory annually increasing, is obliged to purchase that which may be most convenient to him) appropriates the money which he obtains by the sale of his land, to the purchase of other in a more fertile country, where he may obtain a sufficiency for himself, upon more moderate terms. This has occa­sioned the very great emigrations which have been made, for several years past, from the adjacent States, to the settlement of Kentucke; where the fertility of the country, and the smallness of their taxable possessions, render their subsistence more easy, and consequently their life more agreeable to them.

[Page 20]THE Negroes will always in time of war, prove injurious to the country wherein they live; for being naturally inimical to those who are their oppressors, they will avail them­selves of every opportunity which may offer, of liberating themselves from their oppression: And as an enemy will never fail to seize every occasion of the kind, we may with safety con­clude, that the Country or State which pos­sesses a considerable number of slaves, is inca­pable of defending itself against invasions from abroad; and whenever attacked, will unavoid­ably become an easy conquest to its invaders.

CONSIDERING every circumstance therefore which relates both to policy and right, we are bound by the duty which we owe to humanity and ourselves, to adopt the most immediate and effectual mode of abolishing a practice, in its nature so tyrannical, and so unworthy of mankind.—Let Liberty, of whom we have so rapturously spoken, and in whose cause we have so obstinately fought, preside universally over our country, and be the directress of our steps.—Let that patriotic spirit, of which we so greatly boast, display itself in our conduct in the present instance; and then, and not till then, shall we be a virtuous and an honest [Page 21] people.—Let our conduct be always uniformly just as well towards our own citizens, as to­wards those of other nations.—Let this rising country be forever an example of virtuous pa­triotism and unblemished faith.—Expel from its shores the advocates of despotism and cru­elty; and as we have obtained our Liberty, so let us watch over and protect it.

WHEN nations or individuals, act inconsist­ently with those principles by which they have professed themselves to be led and actuated, they render themselves contemptible in the eyes of all who are spectators of their conduct; and destroy all the confidence and faith which might have been previously reposed in them.

AFTER the effusion of so much blood in the defence of our rights, (which we did not consider as peculiarly belonging to ourselves, but as the unalienable property of all mankind) let us evince to the world that our sentiments are equally noble with our declarations; that we are in reality guided by that love of Liberty which induced us into the field of battle, and that hatred of usurpation with which our minds have apparently been fraught.

[Page 22]THE memory of those who have fallen in our cause, who have bled in the support of our honor and our rights, requires that we should be vigilant of what we have obtained, so that they may not have bled for us in vain; that a remembrance of the ransom which they have given for our Liberty, may not be effaced from our minds; but that its benefits may be equally imparted to all our countrymen, and impartially diffused throughout all the States.

THE subject is plain, and I should conceive that it would be to doubt both your under­standing and humanity, to expatiate longer on it, or to offer more arguments, in order to prove what in its nature is self-evident and simple. What I have laid down for your pe­rusal, has been dictated by the highest zeal for your prosperity and welfare.—It has been dic­tated by those principles of humanity which I shall always esteem it as the greatest Hap­piness to possess; and although it should be of no effect, and should pass away entirely dis­regarded, I shall console myself with this a­greeable reflection,—"That my motives were commendable and good." On the contrary, should it contribute in the least to call up your [Page 23] consideration on the subject, which is all that I conceive to be necessary to the acquiring so desirable an end, I shall deem myself inimi­tably happy and sufficiently rewarded, in the abolition of a practice, which involves in it consequences of so important a nature to the inhabitants of this Continent.