Table Of ContentA House Divided
DEDICATED TO
SUSAN COLTRANE LOWANCE
AND TO THE
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS STUDENTS
IN
"R ACE AND S L A V E R YIN AM E RIC AN C U L T U R En
A House Divided
THE ANTEBELLUM SLAVERY DEBATES
IN AMERICA, 1776-1865
• EDITED BY MASON LOWANCE, JR. •
I.
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright © 2003 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock,
Oxfordshire 0X20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A house divided: the antebellum slavery debates in America, 1776-1865 / edited by
Mason I. Lowance, Jr.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-691-00227-4 (cl : acid-free paper) - ISBN 0-691-00228-2 (pb : acid-free paper)
1. Slavery-Political aspects-United States-History-Sources. 2. Antislavery
movements-United States-History-Sources. 3. Slavery-United
States-Justification-History-Sources. 4. United States-Politics and
government-1775-1783-Sources. 5. United States-Politics and
government-1783-1865-Sources. 6. United States-Race relations-Political aspects-
History-Sources. 1. Lowance, Mason 1., 1938-
E441 .H86 2002
326' .0973'09033-dc21
2002072853
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Adobe Caslon
Printed on acid-free paper.
00
www.pupress.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
• CONTENTS •
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS X111
PROLOGUE xv
PREFACE XXI
INTRODUCTION XXVI1
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS lxi
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING lxiii
CHAPTER 1
The Historical Background for the Antebellum Slavery
Debates, 1776-1865 1
Stroud's Compendium of the Laws of Slavery 5
Population Statistics from the U. S. Census for 1790-1860 6
Summary from The Atlantic Slave Trade Project 7
The European Origins of American Slavery 7
by Arthur Kinney
SAMUEL SEWALL (1632-1730) AND JOHN SAFFIN (1632-1710) 10
The Selling ofJ oseph: A Memorial 12
by Samuel Sewall
A Brie] Candid Answer to a Late Printed Sheet, Entitled,
The Selling of Joseph 14
by John Saffin
JOHN WOOLMAN (1720-1772) 15
Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes 16
CHAPTER 2
Acts of Congress Relating to Slavery 20
The Declaration of Independence 21
The Ordinance of 1787 23
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 23
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 25
The Wilmot Proviso, 1847 25
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 26
The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 30
vi • CONTENTS
SLAVERY AND THE 1787 CONSTITUTION 31
FREDERICK DOUGLASS (c. 1818-1895) 33
What to the Slave Is the Fourth ifJ uly? 38
JUSTICE JOSEPH STORY (1779-1845) 43
A Charge Delivered to the Grand Jury if the Circuit Court if
the United States 45
CHAPTER 3
Biblical Proslavery Arguments 51
THORNTON STRINGFELLOW (1788-1869) 61
A BriefE xamination if the Scripture Testimony on the
Institution if Slavery 63
Slavery, Its Origin, Nature, and History Considered in the
Light if Bible Teachings, Moral Justice, and Political Wisdom 67
ALEXANDER MCCAINE (1768-1856) 81
Slavery Defended from Scripture against the Attacks if
the Abolitionists 82
CHAPTER 4
Biblical Antislavery Arguments 88
THEODORE DWIGHT WELD (1803-1895) 91
The Bible against Slavery 92
JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE (1810-1888) 97
Slavery in the United States 99
ALEXANDER MCLEOD (1774-1833) 104
Negro Slavery Unjustifiable 104
ROBERT DALE OWEN (1801-1877) 112
The Wrong if Slavery, the Right if Emancipation and the
Future if the African Race in the United States 113
CHAPTER 5
The Economic Arguments Concerning Slavery 116
EDMUND RUFFIN (1794-1865) 121
The Political Economy if Slavery; or, The Institution
Considered in Regard to Its Influence on Public Wealth and
the General Welfare 123
GEORGE FITZHUGH (1806-1881) 126
• CONTENTS· V1!
GEORGE FITZHUGH AND THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
OF SLAVERY 128
edited and introduced by Melba Jensen
Sociology for the South; or, the Failure of Free Society 132
Cannibals All! or, Slaves without Masters 136
DAVID CHRISTY (1802-N.D.) AND E. N. ELLIOTT (N.D.) 141
Introduction to Cotton Is King, and Proslavery Arguments 142
by E. N. Elliot
Cotton Is King 143
by David Christy
HINTON ROWAN HELPER (1829-1909) 146
The Impending Crisis of the South and How to Meet It 148
by Hinton Rowan Helper
Impending Crisis Dissected 152
by Samuel M. Wolfe
CHAPTER 6
Writers and Essayists in Conflict over Slavery 156
Color, Caste, Denomination 162
by Emily Dickinson
PHILLIS WHEATLEY (1753-1784), "ON BEING BROUGHT
FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA" 162
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (1807-1892) 164
The Slave Ships 165
Massachusetts to Virginia 169
Our Political Responsibility 171
Justice and Expediency; or, Slavery Considered with a View
to Its Rightfol and Effectual Remedy, Abolition 173
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING (1778-1860) 177
Slavery in the United States 179
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (1819-1891) 186
The Abolitionists and Emancipation 189
Politics and the Pulpit 190
The Church and the Clergy 191
The Church and the Clergy Again 192
V111 • CONTENTS
The Moral Argument against Slavery 192
Daniel Webster 193
WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892) 195
edited and introduced by William Pannapacker
Slavery and the Slave Trade 196
New States: Shall They Be Slave or Free? 198
American Workingmen, Versus Slavery 199
Prohibition of Colored Persons 201
The House of Friends 202
EMERSON, THOREAU, AND ANTISLAVERY 203
by Len Gougeon
HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862) 215
Slavery in Massachusetts 217
RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882) 225
edited and introduced by William Pannapacker
Lecture on Slavery 227
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE (1811-1896) AND MARY
EASTMAN (1818-1880) 234
Uncle Tom's Cabin 239
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
BLACK STEREOTYPES IN UNCLE TOM'S CABIN 241
by Sandra C. Duvivier
Aunt Phillis's Cabin; or, Southern Life As It Is 244
by Mary Eastman
CHAPTER 7
Science in Antebellum America 249
NOTES ON STEPHEN JAY GOULD'S CRITIQUE OF GEORGE
MORTON'S RACE THEORIES 266
by Adam Linker
White Supremacy and Negro Subordination 268
by J. H. Van Evrie
THOMAS JEFFERSON (1743-1826) 268
Notes on the State of Virginia 270
HENRI GREGOIRE (1750-1831) 273
On the Cultural Achievements of Negroes 273
• CONTENTS ix
The Claims 0/ the Negro Ethnologically Considered 279
by Frederick Douglass
O. S. FOWLER (1809-1887) 283
O. S. FOWLER AND HEREDITARY DESCENT 284
edited and introduced by Christopher Hanlon
Hereditary Descent 291
Ethnology 297
by James Russell Lowell
THEODORE PARKER (1810-1860) VS. JOHN S. ROCK
(1825-1866) ON THE ANGLO-SAXON AND THE AFRICAN 299
edited and introduced by Dean Grodzins
0/
Some Thoughts on the Progress America, and the
Influence 0/ Her Diverse Institutions 302
by Theodore Parker
The Present Aspect 0/ Slavery in America 304
by Theodore Parker
Speech to the Boston Massacre Commemorative Festival 305
by John S. Rock
Remarks to the Boston Massacre Commemorative Festival 308
by Theodore Parker
JOSIAH NOTT AND THE AMERICAN SCHOOL
OF ETHNOLOGY 310
JOSIAH CLARK NOTT (1804-1873) 311
0/
Types Mankind; or, Ethnological Researches Based
upon the Ancient Monuments, Paintings, Sculptures,
0/
and Crania Races and upon Their Natural
Geographical, Philological, and Biblical History 314
by Josiah Clark Nott and George Gliddon
0/
Indigenous Races the Earth; or, New Chapters of
Ethnological Inquiry 317
by Josiah Clark Nott and George Gliddon
The Negro Race: Its Ethnology and History 320
by Josiah Nott
CHAPTERS
The Abolitionist Crusade 327
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON AND THE
ABOLITIONIST CRUSADE 327
