Slave Holders / Owners Quotes
Jefferson was one of the early observers that the the institution of slavery corrupted and depraved the whites.
The Southern propaganda regarding slavery of the Day was that the Negro prefers his state of slavery to which he is naturally inclined—that the responsibility and uncertainty of freedom are not suited to the Negro temperament. As we look back upon that time, it is hard for us to believe that any sane person would for a moment believe such nonsense, but the reality is that not only did Southerners convince themselves of this, but there were many in the North who accepted the argument.
This letter was signed by a local white Priest and two other leading planters. This quotation gives us a marvelous feeling for what occurred when parts of the South was occupied by the Union Army shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Minor and his fellows just did not “get it.” The concept of freedom of the slaves was intellectually so foreign to them, that they wanted the Union Army to “compel” the freed slaves to work. They were horrified that slaves went wherever they wanted, and they were most outraged when former slaves who had enlisted in the Army, would “visit” their old plantation setting such a terrible example. The letter gives us a perspective on how difficult it was to change the mental set of Southern Whites and why Reconstruction was so difficult. The year of the letter is somewhat uncertain as the original letter appears to be dated 1862 but the writing is not clear and that date does not comport with the history of the era and we believe 1863 was the correct year. The photograph is of the first official colored troops mustered into the Union Army. They were called the Louisiana Native Guards and contained the ex slaves who went over to the Union side just before the time this slave owner complained. These ex slaves, in uniform, and with arms would sometimes visit the plantations where they and been enslaved, thrilling the remaining slaves and infuriating owners like Minor.
This Biblical Quotation was one of the main reasons that Christian religious abolitionists were so active in the Underground Railroad and other efforts to assist and harbor fugitive slaves. It was also a motivating force for those states which passed laws making a slave free the second he set foot in the state. It was cited by many of those Northerners refusing to follow the Federal Fugitive Slave Act even after the Supreme Court upheld it in the Dred Scott decision. The act required them to return a fugitive slave to his master. This clearly violated this passage of the Bible. and the concept of States Rights. The Southern States which pushed the Fugitive Slave Act through Congress and complained bitterly when it was ignored by many Northern States were never able to provide any refute to the argument that because of this passage, following the act would be violating the law of God. The South which viewed itself as a bastion of Christianity, never were troubled by this passage when they passed state laws requiring the return of fugitive slaves. It illustrates the hypocrisy that slavery forced upon its advocates.
The political conflict between the right of the slave to liberty and the right of the slave owner to his property made the immediate abolition of slavery very difficult after the Spanish had been overthrown in South America.
The sexual exploitation of female slaves by the slave owner and/or his relatives was a phenomenon about which most Southerners were in denial. Light skinned and even white babies, born to Negro slaves was fairly common. The gross immorality was so great that it was too painful for most Southerners – especially white females to even contemplate much less discuss. At the same time, the abolitionists had to be very careful that to raise this problem as delicately as possible lest the lost their audience with such gross and indelicate behavior. This quotation was particularly artfully phrased.
She was referring to the political leaders of the South who were patriots and slave owners.
There was little thought of emancipating slaves or their value to the South by the senior officers of the Union Army at the beginning of the war. The Secretary of War changed that. See {629183}for a typical Union General’s view at the beginning of the war.
This newspaper editorial has historical importance for two reasons. First, it is yet another proof that the sole reason for southern secession was slavery. Second, note the implication that Lincoln had Negro ancestry. As that could be the only reason that he would hold his views on slavery. This disreputable tactic of slandering opponents who hold different views have extended to German ancestry in WWI, Catholic religion, communist affiliation, and in one of the more recent examples, the accusation—believed by a number of Americans, that President Obama was a secret Muslim.
Slaves could not own property in most of Southern America. The Greeks, the Romans, the ancient Germans, the Poles, the Portuguese, the Spanish and the French had provided, both by law and by custom, for the possession of property by the slave, which could, not be seized by his master. This is another sense in which American slavery was even worse than most slavery had been.
Parker and other escaped slaves in Christiana fought off slave catchers and killed the slave owner leading them. Charged with treason, he escaped to Canada with his family and lived there the rest of his life. While not a polished writer, after he himself had escaped and went to Christiana and leaned to read and write. He wrote this narrative of his life as a slave—one of the few written works we have from slaves.
What was particularly interesting about this quotation is that Pinkney was a political leader of Maryland, a slave state. See {632259} and {632257} for more on this point.
This was surprising for a man who owned slaves all his life.
When Kansas was a territory and being considered for statehood, slavery was paramount politically in the nation and in Kansas in particular. There was terrible violence against “immigrants: from the East who would vote to make Kansas a free state and retaliation against the southerners and pro-slavery sympathizers. A constitutional convention was called in the town of Lecompton of the then Kansas Territory. The convention was dominated and controlled by slavery advocates and free soilers boycotted rather than give legitimacy to a constitution where they would lose. The quotation would settle the issue of slavery for Kansas the conferees thought. President Buchanan tried to steer the Lecompton Constitution through Congress, but there was enough opposition to block it. Congress decreed a Kansas referendum. The slavery forces lost and Kansas entered as a free state; there were 3 additional constitutional conventions which passed 3 different constitutions before one was settled upon.
To justify slaveholding in one’s own mind, religion, culture, values, concepts of write & wrong all have to be twisted and when a substantial group of people do that for a number of decades, the do not form a different race but they certainly do become a different cultural subgroup. The hypocrisy of slavery and a free society is the ultimate twist of logic. Also, many modern psychologists have analyzed the extremely cruel and inhuman tortures and punishment that slave owners meted out and observed as strongly suggested abnormally sadistic perversions present in so many.
