American Slave Trade Part 3

"Article II.--The object to which its attention is to be exclusively directed, is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with their consent) the free people of colour residing in our country, in Africa, or such other places as Congress shall deem most expedient."

In pursuance of this object, a Board of Managers have been organized; of which Bushrod Was.h.i.+ngton, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, has been appointed president. This body have submitted their views to the Congress, by a Memorial.--And as this Memorial embraces subjects which concern, more or less, every description of population in the United States, its circulation cannot, perhaps, be too widely extended.

_In the House of Representatives, Jan. 14._

Read, and ordered to lie on the Table.

To the honourable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress a.s.sembled:

The Memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the "American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States,"

Respectfully shews--

THAT your Memorialists are delegated by a numerous and highly respectable a.s.sociation of their fellow citizens, recently organized at the seat of government, to solicit Congress to aid, with the power, the patronage, and the resources of the country, the great and beneficial object of their inst.i.tution; an object deemed worthy of the earnest attention, and of the strenuous and persevering exertions, as well of every patriot, in whatever condition of life, as of every enlightened, philanthropic, and practical statesman.

It is now reduced to be a maxim, equally approved in philosophy and politics, that the existence of distinct and separate casts or cla.s.ses, forming exceptions to the general system of polity adapted to the community, is an inherent vice in the composition of society; pregnant with baneful consequences, both moral and political, and demanding the utmost exertions of human energy and foresight to remedy or remove it. If this maxim be true in the general, it applies with peculiar force to the relative condition of the free people of colour in the United States; between whom and the rest of the community, a combination of causes, political, physical and moral, has created distinctions, unavoidable in their origin, and most unfortunate in their consequences. The actual and prospective condition of that cla.s.s of people; their anomalous and indefinite relations to the political inst.i.tutions and social ties of the community; their deprivation of most of those independent, political, and social rights, so indispensable to the progressive melioration of our nature, rendered, by systematic exclusion from all the higher rewards of excellence, dead to all the elevating hopes that might prompt a generous ambition to excel; all these considerations demonstrate, that it equally imports the public good, as the individual and social happiness of the persons more immediately concerned, that it is equally a debt of patriotism and of humanity, to provide some adequate and effectual remedy. The evil has become so apparent, and the necessity for a remedy so palpable, that some of the most considerable of the slave-holding states have been induced to impose restraints upon the practice of emanc.i.p.ation, by annexing conditions, which have the effect to transfer the evil from one state to another; or, by inducing other states to adopt countervailing regulations, and in the total abrogation of a right, which benevolent or conscientious proprietors had long enjoyed under all the sanctions of positive law and of ancient usage. Your Memorialists beg leave, with all deference, to suggest, that the fairest and most inviting opportunities are now presented to the general government, for repairing a great evil in our social and political inst.i.tutions, and at the same time for elevating, from a low and hopeless condition, a numerous and rapidly increasing race of men, who want nothing but a proper theatre, to enter upon the pursuit of happiness and independence, in the ordinary paths which a benign Providence has left open to the human race. Those great ends, it is conceived, may be accomplished by making adequate provision for planting, in some salubrious and fertile region, a colony, to be composed of such of the above description of persons as may choose to emigrate; and for extending to it the authority and protection of the United States, until it shall have attained sufficient strength and consistency to be left in a state of independence.

Independently of the motives derived from political foresight and civil prudence on the one hand, and from moral justice and philanthropy on the other; there are additional considerations, and more expanded views to engage the sympathies and excite the ardour of a liberal and enlightened people. It may be resolved for our government (the first to denounce an inhuman and abominable traffic, in the guilt and disgrace of which most of the civilized nations of the world were partakers) to become the honourable instrument, under Divine Providence, of conferring a still higher blessing upon the large and interesting portion of mankind, benefited by that deed of justice; by demonstrating that a race of men, composing numerous tribes, spread over a continent of vast and unexplored extent, fertility and riches; known to the enlightened nations of antiquity; and who had yet made no progress in the refinements of civilization; for whom history has preserved no monuments of arts or arms; that even this. .h.i.therto ill-fated face may cherish the hope of beholding, at last, the orient star revealing the best and highest aims and attributes of man. Out of such materials, to rear the glorious edifices of well ordered and polished society, upon the deep and sure foundations of equal laws and diffusive education, would give a sufficient t.i.tle to be enrolled among the ill.u.s.trious benefactors of mankind; whilst it afforded a precious and consolatory evidence of the all-prevailing power of liberty, enlightened by knowledge and corrected by religion. If the experiment, in its remote consequences, should ultimately tend to the diffusion of similar blessings through those vast regions and unnumbered tribes yet obscured in primeval darkness; reclaim the rude wanderer, from a life of wretchedness, to civilization and humanity; and convert the blind idolater, from gross and abject superst.i.tions, to the holy charities, the sublime morality and humanizing discipline of the gospel; the nation, or the individual, that shall have taken the most conspicuous lead in achieving the benignant enterprise, will have raised a monument of that true and imperishable glory, founded in the approbation and grat.i.tude of the human race; unapproachable to all but the elected instruments of divine beneficence: a glory with which the most splendid achievements of human force or power must sink in the compet.i.tion, and appear insignificant and vulgar in the comparison.

And above all, should it be considered, that the nation or the individual, whose energies have been faithfully given to this august work, will have secured, by this exalted beneficence the favour of that Being, "whose compa.s.sion is over all his works," and whose unspeakable rewards will never fail to bless the humblest effort to do good to his creatures.

Your Memorialists do not presume to determine that the views of Congress will be necessarily directed to the country to which they have just alluded. They hope to be excused for intimating some of the reasons which would bring that portion of the world before us, when engaged in discovering a place the most proper to be selected, leaving it with confidence, to the better information and better judgment of your honourable body to make the choice.

Your Memorialists, without presuming to mark out, in detail, the measures which it may be proper to adopt in furtherance of the object in view; but implicitly relying upon the wisdom of Congress to devise the most effectual measures; will only pray, that the subject may be recommended to their serious consideration, and that, as an humble auxiliary in this great work, the a.s.sociation, represented by your Memorialists, may be permitted to aspire to the hope of contributing its labours and resources.

BUSH. WAs.h.i.+NGTON, _President_.

With respect to the most eligible situation for the establishment of the proposed colony, I shall probably more certainly avoid the imputation of unbecoming a.s.surance, by omitting, for the present, to add any thing more specific to what I had already expressed (Par. 38, 39, 40) before the least intimation of the design of forming this a.s.sociation had come to my knowledge.

I cannot forbear, however, to remark, that although it would give me inexpressible pleasure to see the banners of knowledge and rational religion triumphing over ignorance and superst.i.tion, in Africa, as well as in the many other vast regions of the earth, yet it impresses me that it will absorb all the benevolence, all the delegated authority, and all the resources, for a century to come, of both our national and state legislatures, to reclaim from the awful abyss of ignorance, vice, and consequential misery, in which thousands and hundreds of thousands of human beings, of all colours and all extractions, are involved on our own continent:--That moral contamination on this continent cannot produce religion and moral purification by a transfer to the continent of Africa:--And that the great moral debt which this continent has incurred, is due more specifically to the immense population of the sons of Africa, who still remain in the shackles of slavery, than to those who are now enjoying personal liberty, or to the continent of Africa.

I have been a.s.sured by citizens of Philadelphia, who were active in aiding Capt. Cuffee in collecting emigrants for Sierra Leone, that the injunctions of the British authorities were very positive not to admit any without testimonials of an irreproachable moral character from respectable magistrates. After a proper system of African education has become matured in this country, the seeds of much future good might be gradually disseminated in Africa, by frequent exportations to that country of well instructed virtuous school-masters, artisans and farmers; as the Society of Friends have done, with encouraging prospects of success, amongst the aboriginal natives of this country.

I will conclude for the present, with a transcript of the Proceedings of a Meeting of the free Coloured People at Richmond, (Virg.) which have come to hand (through the "Freeman's Journal,") just in time for insertion, before this Work is dismissed from the press.--They are similar to those of a similar Meeting at Georgetown several weeks ago.

RICHMOND, JAN. 28.

_Meeting of Free People of Colour_.

At a Meeting of a respectable portion of the Free People of Colour, of the City of Richmond, on

Friday the 24th of January 1817, William Bowler was appointed Chairman, Ephraim Speed, Moderator, and Lantey Crow, Secretary.

The following Preamble and Resolution was read, unanimously adopted, and ordered to be printed:

Whereas a Society has been formed at the seat of Government, for the purpose of "colonizing (with their own consent) the Free People of Colour of the United States;" Therefore, we the Free People of Colour of the city of Richmond, have thought it adviseable to a.s.semble together, under the sanction of authority, for the purpose of making a public expression of our sentiments on a question in which we are so deeply interested. We perfectly agree with the Society, that it is not only proper, but would ultimately tend to the benefit and advantage of a great portion of our suffering fellow-creatures, to be colonized: but while we thus express our entire approbation of a measure, laudable in its purposes and beneficent in its designs, it may not be improper in us to say, we prefer being colonized in the most remote corner of the land of our nativity, to being exiled to a foreign country.[36]

And whereas the President and Board of Managers of the said Society, have been pleased to leave it to the entire discretion of Congress to provide a suitable place for carrying their laudable intentions into effect;--Be it therefore resolved, That we respectfully submit to the wisdom of Congress, whether it would not be an act of charity to grant us a small portion of their territory, either on the Missouri river, or any place that may seem to them most conducive to the public good, and our future welfare: subject, however, to such rules and regulations as the Government of the United States may think proper to adopt.

W. BOWLER, Chairman.

_Ephraim Speed_, Moderator.

_Lantey Crow_, Secretary.

The following article from the New York Columbian, may, perhaps, throw a little additional light on this subject:--

"NECESSITY OF A COLONY OF FREE BLACKS--SUPERSEDED.

We gave an abstract of the Const.i.tution of Hayti some weeks ago; and out of compa.s.sion, &c. we again publish the 44th clause, which shows a land of promise nearer our doors than Sierra Leone.

"44. Every African, Indian, and their descendants, born in the colonies of foreign countries, who shall come to reside in the Republic, shall be recognized as Haytians, but shall not enjoy the rights of citizens.h.i.+p until after a year's residence."

The same const.i.tution that excludes the white man, invites the black; and, gentlemen from Port au Prince have a.s.sured us, that President Petion gives a marked welcome to the Free Blacks from the United States who settle in Hayti."

THE END.

_Printed by C. Clement._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The liberty of the black population in but a single state, is estimated at about thirty millions of dollars.

[2] Governor Miller's message to the legislature of North Carolina in 1815.

[3] The Capitol at Was.h.i.+ngton.

[4] "Political subordination, however hateful to a liberal mind, is as bright as day when compared with the dark and hopeless bondage of the Negro."

[5] Since writing the above, I have been favoured with the perusal of a letter from the brother of the late Governor of the State of Delaware, to his friend in Philadelphia, dated Lewes, November 27, 1816, in which, after mentioning the arrest of a banditti of kidnappers, &c. he relates the following narrative:--

"A melancholy catastrophe has recently occurred here. A pilot, who owned a young black man, last Thursday morning, when in the bay off here, for some small offence, struck him three or four times with a rope's end; his man observed, 'Master, you have promised whenever I am unwilling to serve you, that I might choose another master; I now want to leave you.'

'Very well, (replied the master) but I will settle with you first, pull off your s.h.i.+rt,' and signified or said he would beat him until sun-set.

His man replied, 'I will die first,' and immediately jumped overboard and drowned himself."

[6] The aboriginal Americans have offered their civilized brethren a most beautiful and instructive lesson on this subject. The author of "The Star in the West," Elias Boudinot, LL. D. relates the following fact. From page 232:--

"The writer of these sheets, many years ago, was one of the corresponding members of a society in Scotland for promoting the gospel among the Indians. To further the great work, they educated two young men, of very serious and religious dispositions, and who were desirous of undertaking the mission for this purpose. When they were ordained and ready to depart, we wrote a letter in the Indian style, to the Delaware nation, then residing on the northwest of the Ohio, informing them that we had, by the goodness of the Great Spirit, been favoured with a knowledge of his will, as to the wors.h.i.+p he required of his creatures, and the means he would bless to promote the happiness of men, both in this life and that which is to come. That thus enjoying so much happiness ourselves, we could not but think of our red brethren in the wilderness, and wish to communicate the glad tidings to them, that they might be partakers with us. We had therefore sent them two ministers of the gospel, who would teach them these great things, and earnestly recommended them to their careful attention. With proper pa.s.sports the missionaries set off, and arrived in safety at one of their princ.i.p.al towns.

"The chiefs of the nation were called together, who answered them, that they would take it into consideration, but in the mean time they might instruct their women, but they should not speak to the men. They spent fourteen days in council, and then dismissed them very courteously, with an answer to us. This answer made great acknowledgments for the favor we had done them: They rejoiced exceedingly at our happiness in thus being favored by the Great Spirit, and felt very grateful that we had condescended to remember our red brethren in the wilderness: But they could not help recollecting that we had a people among us, who, because they differed from us in colour, we had made slaves of, and made them suffer great hards.h.i.+ps and lead miserable lives. Now, they could not see any reason, if a people being black, ent.i.tled us thus to deal with them, why a red colour should not equally justify the same treatment: They therefore had determined to wait, to see whether all the black people amongst us were made thus happy and joyful, before they could put confidence in our promises; for they thought a people who had suffered so much and so long by our means, should be ent.i.tled to our first attention; that therefore, they had sent back the two missionaries, with many thanks, promising that when they saw the black people among us restored to freedom and happiness, they would gladly receive our missionaries. This is what in any other case, would be called close reasoning, and is too mortifying a fact to make further observations upon."

[7] An inn-keeper, in the south part of Virginia, who hires his stand, complains that his landlord _does_ him _much_ harm, by inviting nearly all his respectable company to the festivities of his own dwelling house.

[8] The ingenious and benevolent Mr. J. M'Leod, teacher of a respectable seminary in the city of Was.h.i.+ngton, has a.s.sured the author, that he has extended the science of encouraging prompt.i.tude in duty to such a degree, that, (by his permission) his pupils have often flocked to his lodgings, in crowds, before the dawn of day, emulating each other, who should first rouse him from his bed, in order to proceed upon their studies. At the same time, he did not permit his rules to be violated with impunity. He pursued the same policy with soldiers, while an officer a short time formerly, in the United States' army, and with the same success. While a private teacher in a family in which slaves were kept, his sympathy was so deeply wounded by the severity of their punishments for misconduct, that he frequently gave them a quarter of a dollar out of his own pocket, as an inducement for doing their duty so as not to incur the displeasure of their masters. Might not such a system of _genuine_ and _generous republican government_ as this be adopted with mutual benefit to both _the people and their rulers_, on the slave plantations universally?