



Produced by David E. Brown, Bryan Ness and the Online
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  SLAVERY
  AND
  THE CONSTITUTION.

  BY WILLIAM I. BOWDITCH.

  BOSTON:
  ROBERT F. WALLCUT, 21, CORNHILL.
  1849.


  BOSTON:
  PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON,
  No. 21, School-street.




CONTENTS.


_Chapter_                                                         _Page_

I. "SLAVERY AGREEABLE TO GOD'S PROVIDENCE"                             1

II. DIRECT MENTAL INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES                                5

III. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE SLAVES                      14

IV. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS OF THE SLAVES                        19

V. DIRECT RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES                             27

VI. INDIRECT INSTRUCTION.--NO LEGAL MARRIAGE OF SLAVES                56

VII. "SOUL-DRIVING"                                                   68

VIII. "DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE"                                          77

IX. RUNAWAY SLAVES                                                    94

X. SLAVEHOLDING ALWAYS WRONG                                         107

XI. THE CONSTITUTION AND ITS INTERPRETATION                          117

XII. THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE COMMON MEANING OF ITS TERMS   120

XIII. THE CONSTITUTION AS ITS FRAMERS INTENDED TO MAKE IT            127

XIV. THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE PRACTICE OF THE GOVERNMENT    136

XV. THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE EXPOSITION OF ITS FINAL
      INTERPRETER                                                    143

XVI. NO UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS                                      150




NOTE.


Page 45 was struck off before I became aware that "Master Auld" _now_
shelters Douglass's grandmother under his own roof. We are glad of the
fact, and respect Master Auld for his change. But the case of Douglass's
grandmother is by no means a solitary instance of cruel treatment. I
might easily adduce others equally cruel, though not told with nearly so
much feeling.                                                   W. I. B.




SLAVERY AND THE CONSTITUTION.




CHAPTER I.

"SLAVERY AGREEABLE TO GOD'S PROVIDENCE"!

  "Thus did Jehovah stereotype his _approbation_ of domestic
  slavery"!--_Rev. President Shannon, of Bacon College, Ky._

  "Here we see _God dealing in slaves_; giving them to his own
  favorite child [Abraham], a man of superlative worth, and as a
  reward for his eminent goodness."--_Rev. Theodore Clapp, of New
  Orleans._


Nearly three millions of men, women, and children are held in slavery in
the Southern States, not by the ignorant and brutal alone, but by
enlightened Christian bishops, ministers, and church members of all
denominations; whilst men and women of cultivated minds, refined
manners, and delicate tastes, indignantly deny that slaveholding is
wrong.

The Right Rev. George W. Freeman, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in Arkansas and Texas, whilst a minister at Raleigh, N.C. Nov.
27, 1836, preached two discourses on the character of slavery and the
duties of masters. In these ("A Reproof of the American Church, by the
Bishop of Oxford; with an Introduction, by an American Churchman;" New
York, 1846, p. 6) he declared "that no man, nor set of men in our day,
unless they can produce a new revelation from Heaven, are entitled to
pronounce slavery wrong;" and that "_slavery, as it exists at the
present day, is agreeable to the order of Divine Providence_." The
Right Rev. Levi S. Ives, Bishop of the diocese, was present; and, though
a northern man, has in writing published that he listened to them "with
most unfeigned pleasure"! (Ib. p. 7.) They were afterwards published
with the bishop's note of approbation, under the title, "The Rights and
Duties of Slaveholders." They were also printed in South Carolina, and
distributed gratuitously as a tract by the Society for the Advancement
of Christianity,--a society composed of clergymen and laymen, with
Bishop Bowen at their head. (Ib. pp. 7, 8.) Rev. Theodore Clapp,[A] the
Unitarian minister of New Orleans, says ("Slavery, a Sermon delivered in
the First Congregational Church in New Orleans, April 15, 1838," p. 11),
"The same _God_ who gave Abraham sunshine, air, rain, earth, flocks,
herds, silver, and gold, _blessed him with a donative of slaves_." Ib.
p. 33: "To succeed, then, in putting down every thing like servitude,
you must annihilate the word of God." Bishop Hedding, of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, says ("The Church as it is," p. 50), "The right to
hold a slave is founded on this rule, 'Therefore, all things whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto them.'" The funds
of churches and theological institutions are not unfrequently invested
in slaves. Sometimes these slaves are hired out at auction, and from
their earnings the salaries of the clergymen and professors are paid! At
other times, they are sold in order to change the investment! Thus, in
the "Charleston Courier," Feb. 12, 1835, there is advertised for sale,
by Thomas N. Gadsden, "a prime gang of ten <DW64>s, accustomed to the
culture of