Slaveholding

Charles Fitch

Description

In this engaging volume, American clergyman Charles Fitch presents an in-depth examination of slavery. Written in an era when much of the United States still engaged in slaveholding, it's a stirring indictment that draws on an array of compelling arguments and sources ranging from the Bible to moral philosophers.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776672332
• Langue: English

Extrait

SLAVEHOLDING
WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE OF TRUTH
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CHARLES FITCH
 
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Slaveholding Weighed in the Balance of Truth First published in 1837 Epub ISBN 978-1-77667-233-2 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77667-234-9 © 2016 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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SLAVEHOLDING, & c. Endnotes
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Produced by Heiko Evermann, Martin Pettit and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Thisbook was produced from scanned images of public domainmaterial from the Google Books project.)
SLAVEHOLDING, & c.
*
WEIGHED IN THE
BALANCE OF TRUTH,
AND ITS COMPARATIVE GUILT ILLUSTRATED.
In order that we may understand the duties, which we owe to God and ourfellow men, relative to the subject of slavery, it is necessary that weexamine the institution, in all its bearings upon the temporal andeternal interests of the enslaved; and ascertain, as far as we are ableto do so, the extent of the injuries which it inflicts. To aid myreaders in doing this is now my object.
I do not propose however, to gauge this mammoth evil, and show you itsexact dimensions; I fully confess to you in the outset, that I am notable so to do. That it is greater, in some of its bearings at least,than any other evil that ever existed among men, and involves more guiltthan any other crime ever committed by men, I fully believe, and shallendeavor to show; still the evil has a magnitude which my powers cannotdescribe; and the guilt a blackness which can never be painted, exceptby a pencil dipped in the midnight of the bottomless pit.
I am aware, that great complaint has often been made, of those, whohave endeavored to rouse the indignation of their fellow men against thewrongs inflicted on the poor slave, that they deal in unjust severity oflanguage. That they have at any time spoken more than the truth, I donot believe—nor can I admit that they have dealt out severity andpainted rebuke, in more unmeasured terms, than they have received themfrom their opponents.
When I remember, too, the long and profound slumberings, even ofChristians on this subject, while their brethren were groaning under allthe injuries, and cruelties, of iron-handed and steel-heartedoppression; I cannot suppress the feeling, that it was necessary, thatthat those who would arouse them, should break forth as in thundertones, and gird up all their energies, to shake off the sloth in whichtheir fellow men were bound. They had themselves but just awoke as froma dream, and found that they had long been sleeping, as on theoverhanging brink of a burning crater; and when they saw the wholemultitude of their fellow countrymen, still asleep in the same situationof fearful peril; who can wonder that they should cry out at the top oftheir voice, and resort to every possible expedient, to awaken thosearound them before it was too late? They heard the suppressed andterrific mutterings of the incipient earthquake below, and felt theground beneath them already giving way, what less could they do, than tolay about them with all their strength, in the use of the firstexpedient, that seemed calculated to awaken and save? They had no timeto devise a multitude of measures, and then choose from among them,such as would be most likely to satisfy those who were unwilling to beawaked. They must do something, and do it then. Previous measures,though entered upon ostensibly for the purpose of arousing men fromsleep, had only served as a lull-a-by. The oppressors of their fellowmen, were but becoming more secure in their claims of property in God'simage—the chains of the slave were getting more and more firmlyrivetted, and the whole nation were fast binding themselves in a willingbondage to those, who found it conducive to their ease, and interest,and shameful indulgence, to be permitted to inflict all the wrongs theypleased on their fellow men, with none to utter a single note ofremonstrance or rebuke. It was seen that the press was bribed, and thepulpit gagged, and the lips of the multitude padlocked, and nearly thewhole population of the free States bound, by chains either ofprejudice, or interest, or ignorance, to the tremendous car of Slavery;and those who loved to have it so, had mounted the engine and weredriving at rail-road speed, withersoever they would; and when a fewawoke, and saw the nation thus hastening to the precipice of ruin, to bedashed in the abyss below—what less could they do, than to crySTOP—and that too, even at a pitch of remonstrance, which shouldsubject them to the imputation of fanaticism or madness.
It is not unlikely that some of my readers, may regard the languagewhich I shall