Thoughts on African Colonization

It is said, by way of extenuation, that the present owners of slaves are not responsible for the origin of this system. I do not arraign them for the crimes of their ancestors, but for the constant perpetration and extension of similar crimes. The plea that the evil of slavery was entailed upon them, shall avail them nothing: in its length and breadth it means that the robberies of one generation justify the robberies of another! that the inheritance of stolen property converts it into an honest acquisition! that the atrocious conduct of their fathers exonerates them from all accountability, thus presenting the strange anomaly of a race of men incapable of incurring guilt, though daily practising the vilest deeds! Scarcely any one denies that blame attaches somewhere: the present generation throws it upon the past – the past, upon its predecessor – and thus it is cast, like a ball, from one to another, down to the first importers of the Africans! 'Can that be innocence in the temperate zone, which is the acme of all guilt near the equator? Can that be honesty in one meridian of longitude, which, at one hundred degrees east, is the climax of injustice?' Sixty thousand infants, the offspring of slave-parents, are annually born in this country, and doomed to remediless bondage. Is it not as atrocious a crime to kidnap these, as to kidnap a similar number on the coast of Africa?

It is said, moreover, that we ought to legislate prospectively, on this subject; that the fetters of the present generation of slaves cannot be broken; and that our single aim should be, to obtain the freedom of their offspring, by fixing a definite period after which none shall be born slaves. But this is inconsistent, inhuman and unjust. The following extracts from the speech of the Rev. Dr. Thomson are conclusive on this point:

'In the first place, it amounts to an indirect sanction of the continued slavery of all who are now alive, and of all who may be born before the period fixed upon. This is a renunciation of the great moral principles upon which the demand for abolition proceeds. It consigns more than 800,000 human beings to bondage and oppression, while their title to freedom is both indisputable and acknowledged. And it is not merely an inconsistency on the part of the petitioners, and a violation of the duty which they owe to such a multitude of their fellow-men, but it weakens or surrenders the great argument by which they enforce their application for the extinction of colonial slavery.

'Besides, it is vain to expect that the planters will acquiesce in such a prospective measure, any more than in the liberation of the existing slaves, for the progeny of the existing slaves must be considered by them as much a part of their property as these slaves themselves. And they would regard it equally unjust to deprive them of what is hereafter to be produced from their own slave stock, as it would be to deprive a farmer, by an anticipating law of all the foals and of all the calves that might be produced in his stable and in his cow-house, after a given specified date.

'We must be true to our own maxims, which are taken from the word of God; and ask for all that we are entitled to have on the ground of justice and humanity, and be contented with nothing less.

'In the second place, the plan objected to is not merely an acquiescence in the continuance of crime, it is a violation of the best feelings of our nature. For, let any man but reflect on the circumstance of children being born to slavery, merely because they came into the world the last hour of December 1830, instead of the first hour of January 1, 1831 – and of children in the same family, brothers and sisters – some of them destined to bondage for life, and others gifted with freedom, for no other reason than that the former were born before, and the latter after, a particular day of a particular year – and of parents being unjustly and inhumanly flogged in the very sight of their offspring arbitrarily made free, while they are as arbitrarily kept slaves – let any man but reflect on those things, and unless the sensibilities of his heart be paralysed even to deadness, he must surely revolt at such a cruel and cold blooded allotment in the fortune of those little ones, and be satisfied with nothing short of the emancipation of the whole community, without a single exception.

'In the third place, supposing all children born after January 1, 1831, were declared free, how are they to be educated? That they may be prepared for the enjoyment of that liberty with which you have invested them, they must undergo a particular and appropriate training. So say the gradualists. Very well; under whom are they to get this training? Are they to be separated from their parents? Is that dearest of natural ties to be broken asunder? Is this necessary for your plan? And are not you thus endeavoring to cure one species of wickedness by the instrumentality of another? But if they are to be left with their parents and brought up under their care, then either they will be imbued with the faults and degeneracies that are characteristic of slavery, and consequently be as unfit for freedom as those who have not been disenthralled: or they will be well nurtured and well instructed by their parents, and this implies a confession that their parents themselves are sufficiently prepared for liberty, and that there is no good reason for withholding from them, the boon that is bestowed upon their children.

'Whatever view, in short, we take of the question, the prospective plan is full of difficulty or contradictions, and we are made more sensible than ever that there is nothing left for us, but to take the consistent, honest, uncompromising course of demanding the abolition of slavery with respect to the present, as well as to every future generation of the negroes in our colonies.'

We are told that 'it is not right that men should be free, when their freedom will prove injurious to themselves and others.' This has been the plea of tyrants in all ages. If the immediate emancipation of the slaves would prove a curse, it follows that slavery is a blessing; and that it cannot be unjust, but benevolent, to defraud the laborer of his hire, to rank him as a beast, and to deprive him of his liberty. But this, every one must see, is at war with common sense, and avowedly doing evil that good may come. This plea must mean, either that a state of slavery is more favorable to the growth of virtue and the dispensation of knowledge than a state of freedom – (a glaring absurdity) – or that an immediate compliance with the demands of justice would be most unjust – (a gross contradiction.)

It is boldly asserted by some colonizationists, that 'the negroes are happier when kept in bondage,' and that 'the condition of the great mass of emancipated Africans is one in comparison with which the condition of the slaves is enviable.' What is the inference? Why, either that slavery is not oppression – (another paradox) – or that real benevolence demands the return of the free people of color to their former state of servitude. Every kidnapper, therefore, is a true philanthropist! Our legislature should immediately offer a bounty for the body of every free colored person! The colored population of Massachusetts, at $200 for each man, woman and child, would bring at least one million three hundred thousand dollars. This sum would seasonably replenish our exhausted treasury. The whole free colored population of the United States, at the same price, (which is a low estimate,) would be worth sixty-five millions of dollars!! Think how many churches this would build, schools and colleges establish, beneficiaries educate, missionaries support, bibles and tracts circulate, railroads and canals complete, &c. &c. &c.!!!

The Secretary of the Colonization Society assures us, (vide the African Repository, vol. v. p. 330,) that 'were the very spirit of angelic charity to pervade and fill the hearts of all the slaveholders in our land, it would by no means require that all the slaves should be instantaneously liberated'!! – i. e. should the slaveholders become instantaneously metamorphosed into angels, they would still hold the rational creatures of God as their property, and yet commit no sin! Think, for one moment, of an angel in the capacity of a man-stealer – feeding his victims upon a peck of corn per week, or three bushels of corn and a few herrings every 'quarter-day,' as a compensation for their severe labor – flourishing a cowskin over their heads, and applying it frequently to their naked bodies! Think of him selling parents from children, and children from parents, at private sale or public auction!

Many slaveholders are giving up their slaves from conscientious motives; they cannot, they dare not longer keep them in servitude; they believe that the law of God has a higher claim upon their obedience than the laws of their native State. Now suppose all the owners of slaves in our land should be suddenly and simultaneously convicted of sin, and moved to repentance in a similar manner, and should say to their slaves, 'God forbid that we should longer call you our property, or place you on a level with our cattle, or defraud you of your just dues, or sell you or your wives or children to others, or deny you the means of instruction, or lacerate your bodies! henceforth you are free – but you want employment, and we need laborers – go and work as freemen, and be paid as freemen!' – suppose, I say, a case like this should happen, and a troop of gradualists should surround these penitent oppressors, and cry, 'Were the very spirit of angelic charity to pervade and fill your hearts, it would by no means require that all your slaves should be instantaneously liberated – your throats will be cut, your houses pillaged, and desolation will stalk through the land, if you carry your mad purpose into effect – emancipate by a slow, imperceptible process!' – how would this advice sound? What should be their reply? Clearly this: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto men more than unto God, judge ye.' Here would be presented a strange spectacle indeed – one party confessing and resolving to forsake their sins, and another urging them to disregard the admonitions of conscience, and to leave off sinning by degrees! To be sure, a few, a very few, would be generously allowed to reform instanter!

Those who prophesy evil, and only evil, concerning immediate abolition, absolutely disregard the nature and constitution of man, as also his inalienable rights, and annihilate or reverse the causes and effects of human action. They are continually fearful lest the slaves, in consequence of their grievous wrongs and intolerable sufferings, should attempt to gain their freedom by revolution; and yet they affect to be equally fearful lest a general emancipation should produce the same disastrous consequences. How absurd! They know that oppression must cause rebellion; and yet they pretend that a removal of the cause will produce a bloody effect! This is to suppose an effect without a cause, and, of course, is a contradiction in terms. Bestow upon the slaves personal freedom, and all motives for insurrection are destroyed. Treat them like rational beings, and you may surely expect rational treatment in return: treat them like beasts, and they will behave in a beastly manner.

Besides, precedent and experience make the ground of abolitionists invulnerable. In no single instance where their principles have been adopted, has the result been disastrous or violent, but beneficial and peaceful even beyond their most sanguine expectations. The immediate abolition of slavery in Mexico, in Colombia, and in St. Domingo,16 was eminently preservative and useful in its effects. The manumitted slaves (numbering more than two thousand,) who were settled in Nova Scotia, at the close of our revolutionary war, by the British government, 'led a harmless life,' says Clarkson, 'and gained the character of an industrious and honest people from their white neighbors.' A large number who were located at Trinidad, as free laborers, at the close of our last war, 'are now,' according to the same authority, 'earning their own livelihood, and with so much industry and good conduct, that the calumnies originally spread against them have entirely died away.' According to the Anti-Slavery Reporter for January, 1832, three thousand prize negroes at the Cape of Good Hope had received their freedom – four hundred in one day; 'but not the least difficulty or disorder occurred: servants found masters, masters hired servants – all gained homes, and at night scarcely an idler was to be seen.'

These and many other similar facts show conclusively the safety of immediate abolition. Gradualists can present, in abatement of them, nothing but groundless apprehensions and criminal distrust. The argument is irresistible.

SECTION VI

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS NOURISHED BY FEAR AND SELFISHNESS

The reader will find on the fifth page of my introductory remarks, the phrase 'naked terrors;' by which I mean, that, throughout all the speeches, addresses and reports in behalf of the Society, it is confessed, in language strong and explicit, that an irrepressible and agonizing fear of the influence of the free people of color over the slave population is the primary, essential and prevalent motive for colonizing them on the coast of Africa – and not, as we are frequently urged to believe, a desire simply to meliorate their condition and civilize that continent. On this point, the evidence is abundant.

'In reflecting on the utility of a plan for colonizing the free people of color, with whom our country abounds, it is natural that we should be first struck by its tendency to confer a benefit on ourselves, by ridding us of a population for the most part idle and useless, and too often vicious and mischievous.' * * * 'Such a class must evidently be a burden and a nuisance to the community; and every scheme which affords a prospect of removing so great an evil must deserve to be most favorably considered.

'But it is not in themselves merely that the free people of color are a nuisance and burthen. They contribute greatly to the corruption of the slaves, and to aggravate the evils of their condition, by rendering them idle, discontented and disobedient. This also arises from the necessity under which the free blacks are, of remaining incorporated with the slaves, of associating habitually with them, and forming part of the same class in society. The slave seeing his free companion live in idleness, or subsist however scantily or precariously by occasional and desultory employment, is apt to grow discontented with his own condition, and to regard as tyranny and injustice the authority which compels him to labor.17

'Great, however, as the benefits are, which we may thus promise ourselves, from the colonization of the free people of color, by its tendency to prevent the discontent and corruption of our slaves,' &c. * * 'The considerations stated in the first part of this letter, have long since produced a thorough conviction in my mind, that the existence of a class of free people of color in this country is highly injurious to the whites, the slaves and the free people of color themselves: consequently that all emancipation, to however small an extent, which permits the persons emancipated to remain in this country, is an evil, which must increase with the increase of the operation, and would become altogether intolerable, if extended to the whole, or even to a very large part of the black population. I am therefore strongly opposed to emancipation, in every shape and degree, unless accompanied by colonization.' – [General Harper's Letter – First Annual Report, pp. 29, 31, 32, 33, 36.]

'The slaves would be greatly benefitted by the removal of the free blacks, who now corrupt them and render them discontented.' – [Second An. Rep.]

'What are these objects? They are in the first place to aid ourselves, by relieving us from a species of population pregnant with future danger and present inconvenience.' – [Seventh Report.]

'They are dangerous to the community, and this danger ought to be removed. Their wretchedness arises not only from their bondage, but from their political and moral degradation. The danger is not so much that we have a million and a half of slaves, as that we have in our borders nearly two millions of men who are necessarily any thing rather than loyal citizens – nearly two millions of ignorant and miserable beings who are banded together by the very same circumstances, by which they are so widely separated in character and in interest from all the citizens of our great republic.' – [Seventh Annual Report.]

'It may be safely assumed, that there is not an individual in the community, who has given to the subject a moment's consideration, who does not regard the existence of the free people of color in the bosom of the country, as an evil of immense magnitude, and of a dangerous and alarming tendency. Their abject and miserable condition is too obvious to be pointed out. All must perceive it, and perceiving it, cannot but lament it. But their deplorable condition is not more obvious to the most superficial observer, than is (what is far worse, and still more to be dreaded,) the powerful and resistless influence which they exert over the slave population. While their character remains what it now is, (and the laws and structure of the country in which they reside, prevent its permanent improvement,) this influence must of necessity be baneful and contaminating. Corrupt themselves, like the deadly Upas, they impart corruption to all around them. Their numbers too, are constantly and rapidly augmenting. Their annual increase is truly astonishing, certainly unexampled. The dangerous ascendency which they have already acquired over the slaves, is consequently increasing with every addition to their numbers; and every addition to their numbers is a subtraction from the wealth and strength, and character, and happiness, and safety of the country. And if this be true, as it unquestionably is, the converse is also true; the danger of their undue influence will lessen with every diminution of their numbers; and every diminution of their numbers must add, and add greatly, to the prosperity of the country.' – [Twelfth Annual Report.]

'Another reason is, the pressing and vital importance of relieving ourselves, as soon as practicable, from this most dangerous element in our population.' * * 'We all know the effects produced on our slaves by the fascinating, but delusive appearance of happiness, exhibited in some persons of their own complexion, roaming in idleness and vice among them. By removing the most fruitful source of discontent from among our slaves, we should render them more industrious and attentive to our commands.' – [Fourteenth Annual Report.]

'What is the free black to the slave? A standing perpetual incitement to discontent. Though the condition of the slave be a thousand times the best – supplied, protected, instead of destitute and desolate – yet, the folly of the condition, held to involuntary labor, finds, always, allurement, in the spectacle of exemption from it, without consideration of the adjuncts of destitution and misery. The slave would have then, little excitement to discontent but for the free black.' – [Fifteenth Annual Report.]

'The evils which arise from the communication of the free people of color with our slaves, must be obvious to every reflecting mind; and the consequences which may result from this communication at some future day, when circumstances are more favorable to their views, are of a more alarming character. Sir, circumstances must have brought us to the conclusion, if our observation had not enabled us to make the remark, that it is natural for our slaves, so closely allied to the free black population by national peculiarities, and by relationship, to make a comparison between their respective conditions, and to repine at the difference which exists between them. This is a serious evil, and can only be removed by preventing the possibility of a comparison.

'By removing these people, we rid ourselves of a large party who will always be ready to assist our slaves in any mischievous design which they may conceive; and who are better able, by their intelligence, and the facilities of their communication, to bring those designs to a successful termination.' – [African Repository, vol. i. p. 176.]

'The labors of the Colonization Society appear to us highly deserving of praise. The blacks, whom they carry from the country, belong to a class far more noxious than the slaves themselves. They are free without any sense of character to restrain them, or regular means of obtaining an honest livelihood. Most of the criminal offences committed in the southern States are chargeable to them, and their influence over the slaves is pernicious and alarming.' * * * 'What is the true nature of the evil of the existence of a portion of the African race in our population? It is not that there are some, but that there are so many among us of a different caste, of a different physical, if not moral, constitution, who never can amalgamate with the great body of our population. In every country, persons are to be found varying in their color, origin and character, from the native mass. But this anomaly creates no inquietude or apprehension, because the exotics, from the smallness of their number, are known to be utterly incapable of disturbing the general tranquillity. Here, on the contrary, the African part of our population bears so large a proportion to the residue of European origin, as to create the most lively apprehension, especially in some quarters of the Union. Any project, therefore, by which, in a material degree, the dangerous element in the general mass, can be diminished or rendered stationary, deserves deliberate consideration.' – [African Repository, vol. ii. pp. 27, 338.]

'Made up, for the most part, either of slaves or of their immediate descendants; elevated above the class from which it has sprung, only by its exemption from domestic restraint; and effectually debarred by the law, from every prospect of equality with the actual freemen of the country; it is a source of perpetual uneasiness to the master, and of envy and corruption to the slave.' * * 'To remove these persons from among us, will increase the usefulness, and improve the moral character of those who remain in servitude, and with whose labors the country is unable to dispense. That instances are to be found of colored free persons, upright and industrious, is not to be denied. But the greater portion, as is well known, are a source of malignant depravity to the slaves on the one hand, and of corrupt habits to many of our white population on the other. The arts of subsistence with many of them, are incompatible with the security of property.' * * * 'I am a Virginian – I dread for her the corroding evil of this numerous caste, and I tremble for the danger of a disaffection spreading through their seductions, among our servants.' * * * 'Are they vipers, who are sucking our blood? we will hurl them from us. It is not sympathy alone, – not sickly sympathy, no, nor manly sympathy either, – which is to act on us; but vital policy, self-interest, are also enlisting themselves on the humane side in our breasts.' – [African Repository, vol. iii. pp. 10, 67, 197, 201.]

'All must concur in regarding the present condition of the free colored race in America as inconsistent with its future social and political advancement, and, where slavery exists at all, as calculated to aggravate its evils without any atoning good. Among those evils, the most obvious is the restraint imposed upon emancipation by the laws of so many of the slaveholding States: laws, deriving their recent origin from the obvious manifestation which the increase of the free colored population has furnished, of the inconvenience and danger of multiplying their number where slavery exists at all.' * * * 'By the success of this scheme, our country will be enriched. The free blacks constitute a material spoke in that wheel which is crushing down the wealth of our land. The moment we carry this plan into vigorous prosecution, we shall call many of our countrymen to a state of comparative wealth. The removal of the annual increase of our colored population, would give to our mariners a considerable scope of employment, whilst the trade of the Colony would be a source of profit.' * * 'It places the attainment of the grand object in view, that is, to withdraw from the United States annually, so many of the colored population, and provide them a comfortable home and all the advantages of civilization in Africa, as will make the number here remain stationary.' * * * 'Let us recur to the principle abovementioned – that every black family occupies the room of a white family. On this principle we are lost, if we suffer the colored population to multiply, unchecked, upon our hands; because they will increase faster than the whites, and will crowd them out of all the Southern country. But on the same principle we are saved, if by any means of colonization, we can retard the increase of the blacks, and gain ground on them in the South. That we can do with ease, if our people will unite in prosecuting the scheme. Every family taken from the blacks, will add also a family to the whites, and make an actual difference of two families in our favor. This exchange will leave fewer blacks to remove, while it will increase our ability to remove them. Self-interest and self-preservation furnish motives enough to excite our exertions.' * * 'By thus repressing the rapid increase of blacks, the white population would be enabled to reach and soon overtop them. The consequence would be security.' – [African Repository, vol. iv. pp. 53, 141, 271, 276, 344.]