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Abolition Activity
Abolition Activity
Please read the following two 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.
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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."
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Douglass, Frederick. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape From
Bondage, and His Complete History. New Y ork: 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,
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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 (write on a separate sheet of paper)
1. When 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.
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