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Editor: Thomas O. Summers

LECTURES ON THE Philosophy and Practice OF SLAVERY, AS EXHIBITED IN THE INSTITUTION OF DOMESTIC SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES:

WITH THE Duties of Masters to Slaves.

BY WILLIAM A. SMITH, D.D., PRESIDENT OF RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE, AND PROFESSOR OF MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL PHILOSOPHY.

EDITED BY THOMAS O. SUMMERS, D.D.

Nashville, Tenn.: STEVENSON AND EVANS. 1856.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by WILLIAM A. SMITH, In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY A. A. STITT, SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN.

Contents.

PREFACE

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE SUBJECT OF AFRICAN SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES.

General subject enunciated--Why this discussion may be regarded as humiliating by Southern people--Other stand-points, however, disclose an urgent necessity, at this time, for a thorough investigation of the whole subject--The results to which it is the object of these lectures to conduct the mind

THE ABSTRACT PRINCIPLE OF THE INSTITUTION OF DOMESTIC SLAVERY.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

Objections classified--Popular views discussed--"All men are born free and equal"--"All men are created equal"--"All men in a state of nature are free and equal"--And the particular form in which Dr. Wayland expresses the popular idea, viz., "The relation in which men stand to each other is the relation of equality; not equality of condition, but equality of right"--Remarks on Dr. Wayland's course--His treatise on Moral Science as a text-book.

THE QUESTION OF RIGHTS DISCUSSED.

Why it is necessary to define the term RIGHTS--The RIGHT in itself defined to be the GOOD--The doctrine that the will of God is the origin of the right considered--The will of God not the origin of the right, but an expression of the right which is the GOOD--Natural rights and acquired rights, each defined

THE DOCTRINES OF RIGHTS APPLIED TO GOVERNMENT.

THE ABSTRACT PRINCIPLE OF SLAVERY DISCUSSED ON SCRIPTURE GROUNDS, AND MISREPRESENTATION OF THE PRINCIPLE EXAMINED.

The true subjective right of self-control defined according to the Scriptures--The abstract principle of slavery sanctioned by the Scriptures--The Roman government--Dr. Wayland's Scripture argument examined and refuted--The positions of Dr. Channing and Professor Whewell examined and refuted

THE INSTITUTION OF DOMESTIC SLAVERY.

DOMESTIC SLAVERY, AS A SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE AFRICANS IN AMERICA, EXAMINED AND DEFENDED ON THE GROUND OF ITS ADAPTATION TO THE PRESENT CONDITIONS OF THE RACE.

There should be a separate and subordinate government for our African population--Objection answered--Africans are not competent to that measure of self-government which entitles a man to political sovereignty--They were not prepared for freedom when first brought into the country; hence they were placed under the domestic form of government--The humanity of this policy--In the opinion of Southern people, they are still unprepared--The fanaticism and rashness of some, and the inexcusable wickedness of others, who oppose the South

THE NECESSITY FOR THE INSTITUTION OF DOMESTIC SLAVERY EXEMPLIFIED BY FACTS.

The attempts made at domestic colonization--The result of the experiment in the case of our free colored population--The colonization experiment on the coast of Africa--The example of the Canaanitish nations--Summary of the argument on the general point, and inferences

EMANCIPATION DOCTRINES DISCUSSED.

Gradual emancipation the popular plan--It would operate to collect the slaves into a few States, cut them off from contact with civilization, and reduce them to barbarism--It would make an opening for Northern farmers and their menials to come into those States from which they retired--The modifications which the system of slavery has undergone within late years--A comparison of the menials of the free and of the slave States, and the only plan of emancipation admissible--The gospel the only remedy for the evils of slavery--Paul's philosophy and practice, 1 Tim. vi. 1-5

TEACHING THE SLAVES TO READ AND WRITE.

THE CONSERVATIVE INFLUENCE OF THE AFRICAN POPULATION OF THE SOUTH.

Preliminary remarks--American party--The present and prospective condition of our country--The large number of voters in the free-soil States who will be under a foreign influence, political and religious, inducing them to discard the Bible and the right of private judgment--The freedom of the Southern States from this anti-Christian and anti-republican influence--The presence of the African race in the Southern States secures them this advantage--The unpatriotic policy of freesoilism

THE DUTIES OF MASTERS TO SLAVES.

"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven."--COL. iv. 1.

The duty of masters and the rights of slaves reciprocal--1. The duty of masters to their slaves considered as "their money:" in regard to working, resting, feeding, clothing, housing, and the employment of persons over them: also to the sick and the aged. 2. Their duty to their slaves considered as social beings--Punishments and the social principle discussed. 3. Their duty to their slaves considered as religious beings--Public instruction on the Sabbath and at other times, and the opportunity of attending--The employment of preachers, and the religious instruction of children

PREFACE

The following pages contain the substance of Lectures on the subject of Domestic Slavery in the United States, which for several years have been delivered to the classes in Moral Science in Randolph Macon College.

Since the year 1844, I have been frequently called on to discuss this subject on various popular occasions in Virginia and North Carolina. My classes in college were compelled to deal with the subject of domestic slavery. Not only the popular ideas in regard to African slavery in this country, but the specific treatment of this topic by numerous text authors in Moral Science, rendered this unavoidable. A deep conviction that the minds of young men were receiving a wrong, and, in the present state of the country, a fatal direction, both as regards the principles of the institution, and the institution itself, induced me to substitute the text authorities on the subject by a course of lectures. These lectures, therefore, were originally drawn up with a view to oral delivery. They were modified by the circumstances of their origin. In preparing them for the press, however, I was led to consider the class of persons for whose use they were chiefly designed, and at the same time to adapt them as far as possible to the general reader. I was aware of the difficulty of fixing definitely on the mind of the student the nature and limits of abstract truths, and that this difficulty is, if any thing, greatly increased when we pass to those whose reading is not characterized by habits of thought,--as would be the case with many of those whose interest in the general subject of slavery might induce them to read these lectures. The task of meeting these difficulties was encountered with a measure of painful distrust.

My views on the subject of slavery, as a practical question, will be found very generally to accord with the popular ideas of those communities in which the African population chiefly resides. But, as a question of Moral Science, I will be found to differ, and in some aspects very materially, from those who have spoken and written on the subject.

The closing lecture is on the duties of masters to slaves. On this point it may also appear that my views do not accord with those of some others. There are men whose views I judge to be entirely too loose on the whole subject. But I should consider any treatise on the subject of slavery as inexcusably defective that did not embrace the duties of masters to slaves; and I persuade myself that the number, if any, who take a different view of the subject will be found to be exceedingly small.

Whether I have acted wisely in endeavoring to combine in one performance a treatise adapted to the habits of the student, and at the same time to the habits of the general reader; and whether I have succeeded to any desirable extent in so difficult an undertaking, it is not for me to determine. I can only say, that in giving these lectures to the public, I have yielded to the earnest desire, often expressed, of a large number of friends whose judgment is entitled to my highest respect and confidence. In meeting their wishes, I have endeavored to do justice to the subject. I have written honestly, and with a sincere desire to do good.

For the many imperfections of this volume, the author persuades himself that the assurance that it has been written and prepared for the press under the pressure of other important and frequently distracting avocations, will be received as some apology. In the humble hope that it may, nevertheless, shed some light on the difficulties of the general subject, and thereby contribute to diffuse sounder views on the principles involved, quiet the irritation of the public mind, and give more stability to our political union, and, at the same time, impress masters more deeply with the importance and obligations of their providential position, it is with diffidence submitted to the judgment of the public.

LECTURES ON THE Philosophy and Practice of Slavery.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE SUBJECT OF AFRICAN SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES.

General subject enunciated--Why this discussion may be regarded as humiliating by Southern people--Other stand-points, however, disclose an urgent necessity, at this time, for a thorough investigation of the whole subject--The results to which it is the object of these lectures to conduct the mind.

In maintaining the institution of domestic slavery, we are either right or wrong, in a moral point of view. We ask no mere apology on the score of necessity, and we can certainly claim none on the ground of ignorance. Those who affirm that we are wrong, directly attack our morals. In doing this, they arraign the character of many thousands, who are among the most civilized and pious people now living. This fact alone is a sufficient refutation of so foul an aspersion; and in this view, it may be readily admitted that any attempt at a more formal refutation is a humiliating condescension, to which few Southern men can willingly submit.

Nor need we wonder at the ascendency of erroneous opinions on the subject of slavery, any more than at the results which they threaten.

As early as 1780, the Methodists declared, in a general convention of preachers, that "slavery is contrary to the laws of God, man, and nature, and hurtful to society; contrary to the dictates of conscience and pure religion; doing that which we would not that others should do to us and ours; and that we pass our disapprobation upon all our friends who keep slaves, and advise their freedom." This doctrine was re?sserted after the organization of the Church in 1784, and, with short intervals of time, and unimportant variations of phraseology, the essential features of this doctrine have been adhered to until the present time, by this most numerous body of professing Christians in this country. At an early day, Bishop Coke, of the M. E. Church, openly advocated this doctrine in the pulpits of the country, until silenced by the force of public opinion; yet he did not cease, while he remained in the country, to exert the full amount of his personal influence in private and social circles against the institution of domestic slavery. His example was followed by a large number of his preachers, and many ministers of other Christian denominations, who imbibed the same doctrine and were animated by the same spirit of hostility to the institution; and who, like himself, were only held in abeyance by the same force of public opinion. Many politicians, also, there were, from time to time, who did not scruple to avow Mr. Jefferson's doctrine, and like him affect to foresee dreadful calamities overhanging the country as a consequence of domestic slavery. In view of these facts, it cannot be a matter of surprise that abolition opinions and sentiments should pervade the non-slaveholding sections of the country; and that at least a private but painful impression or suspicion that there must be something wrong in the principle of domestic slavery, should be found to pervade a portion even of the Southern mind. Reluctant as we may be to admit the truth, necessity compels us to do so. Let the following facts bear witness.

No communities on earth are so free from domestic insurrections, and the disturbing influences which come up from the lower orders of society as those of the Southern States of this Union. The social condition of England and Ireland, and the states of the continent of Europe, are perpetually subject to the disturbing and ruinous influence of local, and often widely spread, insurrectionary movements against the social order, and even the safety of the governments. Nor are the Northern States of this Union any more free from these agrarian movements, than may be accounted for by the relative sparseness of their population. Yet a general feeling of security pervades all these people, whilst it is notorious that there are a great many in Southern communities who are in a constant state of feverish excitement on the subject of domestic insurrections. Any announcement of that kind is sufficient to convulse a whole community. The trifling affair of Nat. Turner painfully agitated the whole State of Virginia; and occupied her Legislature through a whole winter in grave discussions as to the "best means of freeing the State from the incubus of slavery." These results have all followed from the causes at which we have glanced.

The three great Protestant denominations of the country have been torn asunder. The flags of their time-honored unions are trailing in the dust; and they have ceased to operate as bonds to our political union. A secret suspicion of the morality of African slavery in the South, occupies the minds of many of our best citizens--citizens who are at a vast remove from the fanaticism which stigmatizes those who are known as the ultra abolitionists of the country. The great family of Methodists in the District of Columbia, the slave States of Delaware and Maryland, in Western Virginia, and a part of Missouri, retain their connection with the abolition division of the M. E. Church. All along the line of division between the M. E. Church, North, and the M. E. Church, South,--running through Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri,--the evils resulting from the conflict and strife of opinions on this subject are daily multiplying. The experiment of abolition fanaticism is progressing; and the souls as well as the bodies of men are in the crucible. It is clear that "whilst we have slept, an enemy hath sown these tares," in our literature, our politics, and our theology.

The Methodists and Baptists, it is well known, divided directly upon the subject of slavery; and the Presbyterians mediately upon a question of constitutional law; but there is reason to believe that the slavery agitation in the Presbyterian Church precipitated a division, which otherwise would probably have been averted.

If this hypothesis shall prove true, the sovereign remedy for the otherwise interminable strife, so potent for mischief, is at hand. Let us then free ourselves, let us free the country, of the dominion of Mr. Jefferson's philosophy, because it is false. In doing this, we shall terminate the conflict which now rages with so much violence. We shall be free to address ourselves to any modifications in the system of African slavery which may be demanded to adapt it to the progress of civilization.

Regarding the whole subject in this light, the duty of thoroughly investigating it seems to me to be laid upon the country as a moral necessity. It is useless to talk of "delicacy and humiliation," in the presence of such fruits as a false philosophy has already borne plentifully throughout the land.

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