Slavery

Abstract

Slavery Frederick Douglass In view of the recent1 existence of slavery in the United States and its recent voluminous discussion by the ablest scholars and statesmen of our country, it may hardly seem necessary at first sight that much should be said in this volume upon that subject. But this impression will in some measure disappear when the object of this book is considered and when it is remembered that while slavery is a thing of only a few years ago and that even the descendants of those who suffered its evils and now know little or noth-ing about it either in theory or in practice,2 and further, that the American people from their prepossessions are more likely to for-get too soon than to remember either slavery or its discussions too long, no apology will be needed for giving the subject a somewhat thorough discussion here and now. On general principles too, it seems proper to make this subject a permanent (prominent) starting point in this volume. Events crowd upon each other so rapidly and the flight of time wings its way so swiftly, and memory is generally so defective that the deepest impression made upon it by passing events are soon (def)faced and forgotten; besides this book is to illustrate the progress of the negro in the United States, and there can be no proper sense of such progress which does not take into account the nature of the conditions from which the negro started in the race of civilized life. Plainly enough he is not to be measured from the heights attained by others, but from the depths from which he has risen and is still rising. The reader will, therefore, see at a glance, the fitness of the prominence here given of (to) the subject of slavery. They will also see, perhaps, the wisdom of the publishers in committing to my hands this feature of their contemplated volume, I having experienced slavery in my own person. To deal intelligently and philosophically3 with the origin existence and history of slavery, and with its decline and fall in the United States, [End Page 371] it is necessary that a word should be said of its origin and decline in the world generally. For it is important to notice that the enslavement of the negro on this continent and in the adjacent islands is not an isolated fact but one connected with the whole volume of human history. Like other ideas and systems, evil as well as good, (Which have come down to us) slavery was evolved from pre-existing conditions. It is the testimony of scholars and historians that a system of servitude in one form or another, each form involving principles (more or less) analogous to those of American slavery, has existed in the world from the earliest ages of mankind. So that is age, custom and universality of endorsement and (practical) adoption could confer a valid title to respect and veneration, these exalted sentiments might be properly claimed for the institution of slavery not only in the United States, but (for slavery) everywhere else. It has certainly come down to us with all the prestige and authority of antiquity and (of) ancient greatness. It certainly (is known to have) existed and flourished amid the regal and architectural splendors of Egypt; it was a part of Hebrew, Grecian and Roman Civilization, and was recognized as a legitimate institution in all the countries of Western Europe. It could and did exist as safely in a Republic as in a Monarchy. It is older by a thousand years than the Christian Era. We have the authority of the eminent Doctor Paley4 for saying that slavery was a part of the civil constitution of most countries when Christianity appeared.5 The same learned authority informs us that no passage is found in the Christian Scriptures in which slavery is condemned or prohibited. In the argument for slavery the antiquity of the system has often been employed and has played an important part(.) as a means of (It was used to) dulling the (sharp) edge of the reproofs of (a reproving) conscience and (to...