A house divided : the Antelbellum Slavery Debates in America, 1776-1865

This anthology brings together under one cover the most important abolitionist and -- unique to this volume -- proslavery documents written in the United States between the American Revolution and the Civil War. It makes accessible to students, scholars, and general readers the breadth of the slavery debate. Including many previously inaccessible documents, A House Divided is a critical and welcome contribution to a literature that includes only a few volumes of antislavery writings and no volumes of proslavery documents in print. Mason Lowance's introduction is an excellent overview of the antebellum slavery debate and its key issues and participants. Lowance also introduces each selection, locating it historically, culturally, and thematically as well as linking it to other writings. The documents represent the full scope of the varied debates over slavery. They include examples of race theory, Bible-based arguments for and against slavery, constitutional analyses, writings by former slaves and women's rights activists, economic defenses and critiques of slavery, and writings on slavery by such major writers as William Lloyd Garrison, John Greenleaf Whittier, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Together they give readers a real sense of the complexity and heat of the vexed conversation that increasingly dominated American discourse as the country moved from early nationhood into its greatest trial. Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 CONTENTS 6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 14 PROLOGUE 16 PREFACE 22 INTRODUCTION 28 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 62 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 64 CHAPTER 1 The Historical Background for the Antebellum Slavery Debates, 1776-1865 76 Stroud's Compendium of the Laws of Slavery 80 Population Statistics from the U. S. Census for 1790-1860 81 Summary from The Atlantic Slave Trade Project 82 The European Origins of American Slavery 82 SAMUEL SEWALL (1632-1730) AND JOHN SAFFIN (1632-1710) 85 The Selling of Joseph: A Memorial 87 A Brief Candid Answer to a Late Printed Sheet, Entitled, The Selling of Joseph 89 JOHN WOOLMAN (1720-1772) 90 Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes 91 CHAPTER 2 Acts of Congress Relating to Slavery 95 The Declaration of Independence 96 The Ordinance of 1787 98 The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 98 The Missouri Compromise of 1820 100 The Wilmot Proviso, 1847 100 The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 101 The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 105 SLAVERY AND THE 1787 CONSTITUTION 106 FREDERICK DOUGLASS (c. 1818-1895) 108 What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? 113 JUSTICE JOSEPH STORY (1779-1845) 118 A Charge Delivered to the Grand Jury of the Circuit Court of the United States 120 CHAPTER 3 Biblical Proslavery Arguments 126 THORNTON STRINGFELLOW (1788-1869) 136 A Brief Examination if the Scripture Testimony on the Institution of Slavery 138 Slavery, Its Origin, Nature, and History Considered in the Light of Bible Teachings, Moral Justice, and Political Wisdom 142 ALEXANDER MCCAINE (1768-1856) 156 Slavery Defended from Scripture against the Attacks of the Abolitionists 157 CHAPTER 4 Biblical Antislavery Arguments 163 THEODORE DWIGHT WELD (1803-1895) 166 The Bible against Slavery 167 JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE (1810-1888) 172 Slavery in the United States 174 ALEXANDER MCLEOD (1774-1833) 179 Negro Slavery Unjustifiable 179 ROBERT DALE OWEN (1801-1877) 187 The Wrong of Slavery, the Right of Emancipation and the Future of the African Race in the United States 188 CHAPTER 5 The Economic Arguments Concerning Slavery 191 EDMUND RUFFIN (1794-1865) 196 The Political Economy of Slavery; or, The Institution Considered in Regard to Its Influence on Public Wealth and the General Welfare 198 GEORGE FITZHUGH (1806-1881) 201 GEORGE FITZHUGH AND THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF SLAVERY 203 Sociology for the South; or, the Failure of Free Society 207 Cannibals All! or, Slaves without Masters 211 DAVID CHRISTY (1802-N.D.) AND E. N. ELLIOTT (N.D.) 216 Introduction to Cotton Is King, and Proslavery Arguments 217 Cotton Is King 218 HINTON ROWAN HELPER (1829-1909) 221 The Impending Crisis of the South and How to Meet It 223 Impending Crisis Dissected 227 CHAPTER 6 Writers and Essayists in Conflict over Slavery 231 Color, Caste, Denomination by Emily Dickinson 237 PHILLIS WHEATLEY (1753-1784), "ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA" 237 JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (1807-1892) 239 The Slave Ships 240 Massachusetts to Virginia 244 Our Political Responsibility 246 Justice and Expediency; or, Slavery Considered with a View to Its Rightfol and Effectual Remedy, Abolition 248 JAMES KIRKE PAULDING (1778-1860) 252 Slavery in the United States 254 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (1819-1891) 261 The Abolitionists and Emancipation 264 Politics and the Pulpit 265 The Church and the Clergy 266 The Church and the Clergy Again 267 The Moral Argument against Slavery 267 Daniel Webster 268 WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892) 270 Slavery and the Slave Trade 271 New States: Shall They Be Slave or Free? 273 American Workingmen, Versus Slavery 274 Prohibition Colored Persons 276 The House Friends 277 EMERSON, THOREAU, AND ANTISLAVERY 278 HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862) 290 Slavery in Massachusetts 292 RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882) 300 Lecture on Slavery 302 HARRIET BEECHER STOWE (1811-1896) AND MARY EASTMAN (1818-1880) 309 Uncle Tom's Cabin 314 BLACK STEREOTYPES IN UNCLE TOM'S CABIN 316 Aunt Phillis's Cabin; or, Southern Life As It Is 319 CHAPTER 7 Science in Antebellum America 324 NOTES ON STEPHEN JAY GOULD'S CRITIQUE OF GEORGE MORTON'S RACE THEORIES 341 White Supremacy and Negro Subordination 343 THOMAS JEFFERSON (1743-1826) 343 Notes on the State Virginia 345 HENRI GREGOIRE (1750-1831) 348 On the Cultural Achievements of Negroes 348 The Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered 354 O. S. FOWLER (1809-1887) 358 O. S. FOWLER AND HEREDITARY DESCENT 359 Hereditary Descent 366 Ethnology 372 THEODORE PARKER (1810-1860) VS. JOHN S. ROCK (1825-1866) ON THE ANGLO-SAXON AND THE AFRICAN 374 Some Thoughts on the Progress of America, and the Influence of Her Diverse Institutions 377 The Present Aspect of Slavery in America 379 Speech to the Boston Massacre Commemorative Festival 380 Remarks to the Boston Massacre Commemorative Festival by Theodore Parker 308 383 JOSIAH NOTT AND THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF ETHNOLOGY 385 JOSIAH CLARK NOTT (1804-1873) 386 Types of Mankind; or, Ethnological Researches Based upon the Ancient Monuments, Paintings, Sculptures, and Crania of Races and upon Their Natural Geographical, Philological, and Biblical History 389 Indigenous Races of the Earth; or, New Chapters of Ethnological Inquiry 392 The Negro Race: Its Ethnology and History 395 CHAPTERS 8 The Abolitionist Crusade 402 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON AND THE ABOLITIONIST CRUSADE 402 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON (1805-1879) 410 An Address to the American Colonization Society 413 Truisms 418 The Constitution and the Union 420 American Colorp hobia 421 Speech to the Fourth Annual National Woman's Rights Convention 422 Editorial, The Liberator 423 No Compromise with Slavery 424 DAVID WALKER (1785-1830) 427 Appeal 431 LYDIA MARIA CHILD (1802-1880) 438 An Appeal in Favor That Class Americans Called Africans 443 WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING (1780-1842) 454 Slavery 455 JAMES MCCUNE SMITH (1813-1865) 466 The Destiny a People Color 467 ANGELINA EMILY GRIMKE (1805-1879) AND SARAH MOORE GRIMKE (1792-1873) 470 An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South 472 An Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States 476 CATHARINE E. BEECHER (1804-1878) 404 479 An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism, with Reftrence to the Duty of American Females 480 Letters to Catharine E. Beecher, in Reply to an Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism 490 American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses 492 Cat-hawling 495 GERRIT SMITH (1797-1874), ARTHUR TAPPAN (1786-1865), AND LEWIS TAPPAN (1788-1873) 495 THE NEW YORK ABOLITIONISTS 497 Speech in the Meeting of the New-York Anti-Slavery Society, Held in Peterboro, October 22, 1835 505 Letter to Rev. James Smylie, of the State of Mississippi, 1837 509 Address of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society 510 Speech on the Nebraska Bill, April 6, 1854 512 WENDELL PHILLIPS (1811-1884) 516 The Constitution, a Pro-Slavery Compact 518 LYSANDER SPOONER (1808-1887) 521 The Unconstitutionality of Slavery 522 HORACE MANN (1796-1859) 524 Speech Delivered in the US. House of Representatives on the Subject of Slavery in the Territories, and the Consequences of Dissolution of the Union 526 ALEXANDER CRUMMELL (1819-1898) 530 An Address to the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society 532 ROGER BROOKE TANEY (1777-1864) 533 Opinion of the Court in Dred Scott, Plaintiff in Error, v John F. A. San4ford 534 HORACE BUSHNELL (1802-1876) 537 A Discourse on the Slavery Question, Delivered in the North Church, Hartford 539 CHARLES SUMNER (1811-1874) 542 The Barbarism of Slavery 543 CHAPTER 9 Concluding Remarks and Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) 549 Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville 553 INDEX 560

This anthology brings together under one cover the most important abolitionist and-unique to this volume-proslavery documents written in the United States between the American Revolution and the Civil War. It makes accessible to students, scholars, and general readers the breadth of the slavery debate. Including many previously inaccessible documents, A House Divided is a critical and welcome contribution to a literature that includes only a few volumes of antislavery writings and no volumes of proslavery documents in print.

Mason Lowance's introduction is an excellent overview of the antebellum slavery debate and its key issues and participants. Lowance also introduces each selection, locating it historically, culturally, and thematically as well as linking it to other writings. The documents represent the full scope of the varied debates over slavery. They include examples of race theory, Bible-based arguments for and against slavery, constitutional analyses, writings by former slaves and women's rights activists, economic defenses and critiques of slavery, and writings on slavery by such major writers as William Lloyd Garrison, John Greenleaf Whittier, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Together they give readers a real sense of the complexity and heat of the vexed conversation that increasingly dominated American discourse as the country moved from early nationhood into its greatest trial.

Ch. 1. The Historical Background For The Antebellum Slavery Debates, 1776-1865 -- Stroud's Compendium Of The Laws Of Slavery -- Population Statistics From The U.s. Census For 1790-1860 -- Summary From The Atlantic Slave Trade Project -- The European Origins Of American Slavery / Arthur Kinney -- Samuel Sewall (1632-1730) And John Saffin (1632-1710) -- The Selling Of Joseph: A Memorial / Samuel Sewall -- A Brief, Candid Answer To A Late Printed Sheet, Entitled, The Selling Of Joseph / John Saffin -- John Woolman (1720-1772) -- Some Considerations On The Keeping Of Negroes -- Ch. 2. Acts Of Congress Relating To Slavery -- The Declaration Of Independence -- The Ordinance Of 1787 -- The Fugitive Slave Law Of 1793 -- The Missouri Compromise Of 1820. Edited By Mason I. Lowance, Jr. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The introduction to this volume has shown how the abolitionist crusade of 1830-65 grew out of an earlier antislavery movement that was largely religious in origin and character, and lacked the aggressive, demanding resolve of William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child, Frederick Douglass, and Wendell Phillips. This is a collection of primary documents that illuminate the proslavery and antislavery positions articulated by Americans between the American Revolution and the end of the Civil War. Each selection is contextualised historically, culturally, and thematically to show its connection to similar arguments