Abolition Activity
Please read the following excerpts and answer questions as a group (please write answer on a separate
piece of paper):
A. A Defender of Slavery
Excerpt from George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters.
The negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world. The
children and the aged and infirm work not at all, and yet have all the comforts and necessities of life
provided for them. They enjoy liberty, because they are oppressed neither by care nor labor. The women
do little hard work, and are protected from the despotism of their husbands by their masters. The negro
men and stout boys work, on the average, in good weather, not more than nine hours a day. The balance
of their time is spent in perfect abandon. Besides, they have their Sabbaths and holidays. White men, with
so much of license and liberty, would die of ennui; but negroes luxuriate in corporeal and mental repose.
With their faces upturned to the sun, they can sleep at any hour; and quiet sleep is the greatest of human
enjoyments. "Blessed be the man who invented sleep." 'tis happiness in itself-and results from
contentment with the present, and confident assurance of the future. We do not know whether free
laborers ever sleep. They are fools to do so; for, whilst they sleep, the wily and watchful capitalist is
devising means to ensnare and exploitate them. The free laborer must work or starve. He is more of a
slave than the negro, because he works longer and harder for less allowance than the slave, and has no
holiday, because the cares of life with him begin when its labors end. He has no liberty, and not a single
right. We know, 'tis often said, air and water are common property, which all have equal right to
participate and enjoy; but this is utterly false. The appropriation of the lands carries with it the
appropriation of all on or above the lands, usque ad coelum, aut ad inferos. (Even to heaven or hell.) A
man cannot breathe the air without a place to breathe it from, and all places are appropriated. All water is
private property "to the middle of the stream," except the ocean, and that is not fit to drink.
Fitzhugh, George. Cannibals All! Or, Slaves Without Masters. Richmond, Va.: A. Morris, 1857.
B. Results of the Fugitive Slave Act
Excerpt from Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.
About the time that I reentered the Bruce family, an event occurred of disastrous import to the colored
people. The slave Hamlin, the first fugitive slave that came under the new law, was given up by the
bloodhounds of the north to the bloodhounds of the south. It was the beginning of a reign of terror to the
colored population. The great city rushed on in its whirl of excitement, taking no note of the "short and
simple annals of the poor." But while fashionables were listening to the thrilling voice of Jenny Lind in
Metropolitan Hall, the thrilling voices of poor hunted colored people went up, in an agony of supplication,
to the Lord, from Zion's church. Many families, who had lived in the city for twenty years, fled from it
now. Many a poor washerwoman, who, by hard labor, had made herself a comfortable home, was obliged
to sacrifice her furniture, bid a hurried farewell to friends, and seek her fortune among strangers in
Canada. Many a wife discovered a secret she had never known before -- that her husband was a fugitive,
and must leave her to insure his own safety. Worse still, many a husband discovered that his wife had fled
from slavery years ago, and as "the child follows the condition of its mother," the children of his love were
liable to be seized and carried into slavery. Every where, in those humble homes, there was consternation
and anguish. But what cared the legislators of the "dominant race" for the blood they were crushing out
of trampled hearts?
Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Boston, 1861.
C. The Horrible Inconsistencies of Slavery in a Christian Nation
Excerpt from Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I
look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. Never
was there a clearer case of "stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in." I am filled with
unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible
inconsistencies, which every where surround me. We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers
for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted
cowskin during the week fill the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly
Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on
Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for
purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious
duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the God who made me. He who
is the religious advocate of marriage robs whole millions of its sacred influence, and leaves them to the
ravages of wholesale pollution. The warm defender of the sacredness of the family relation is the same
that scatters whole families, -- sundering husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and brothers,
-- leaving the hut vacant and the heart desolate. We see the thief preaching against theft, and the
adulterer against adultery. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and
babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen! All for the glory of God and the good of souls."
Douglass, Frederick. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape From
Bondage, and His Complete History. New York: Collier Books, 1892.
D. Defending Slavery: Comparing Factory Workers and Slaves
Excerpt from William Grayson, "The Hireling and the Slave".
"The Hireling"
Free but in name -- the slaves of endless toil...
In squalid hut -- a kennel for the poor,
Or noisome cellar, stretched upon the floor,
His clothing rags, of filthy straw his bed,
With offal from the gutter daily fed...
These are the miseries, such the wants, the cares,
The bliss that freedom for the serf prepares...
"The Slave"
Taught by the master's efforts, by his care
Fed, clothed, protected many a patient year,
From trivial numbers now to millions grown,
With all the white man's useful arts their own,
Industrious, docile, skilled in wood and field,
To guide the plow, the sturdy axe to wield...
Guarded from want, from beggary secure,
He never feels what hireling crowds endure,
Nor knows, like them, in hopeless want to crave,
For wife and child, the comforts of the slave,
Or the sad thought that, when about to die,
He leaves them to the cold world's charity...
Grayson, William John. The Hireling and the Slave. (2nd ed.) Charleston: John Russell, 1855.
QUESTIONS
1. What is this main idea/statement of each primary source and who created it? Are they anti slavery or
pro slavery?
A.
B.
C.
D.
2. What was your opinion of each document? What do you find most interesting? Did you find anything
unusual?
A.
B.
C.
D.
3. How do you think these three primary sources relate to our discussion of the Slavery and Abolition?
What do you think the specific significance of each document is?
A.
B.
C.
D.