Facts For The People Of The Free States - free ebook by American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society

FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE FREE STATES.

NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM HARNED, FOR THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, 22 Spruce Street. $1 PER 100, $8 PER 1000....

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Murder of Slaves.

The Abbeville (S. C.) Banner states, that two of Gov. McDuffie’s slaves were killed on Friday, Feb. 13th, by two other slaves, acting in the capacity of drivers ! They were killed by what the law terms “moderate correction!”...

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A Slave Woman attempting Suicide at Baltimore.

In June, 1846, the Baltimore Sun gave an account of a woman who “jumped out of the window of the place in which her owner had confined her, and immediately took the nearest route to throw herself into the water.” She was rescued. But, says the Sun, “Upon being taken upon the deck of the vessel, she begged the by-standers to let her drown herself, stating, that she would 'sooner be dead, than go back again to be beaten as she had been !’”...

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A Slave Suicide effected at Richmond, Va.

A correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 25, 1846, wrote from Richmond, as follows:—“An unpleasant occurrence took place in this city yesterday. A man, who has a number of negroes in his employment, was proceeding, for a slight offence, to punish one of them by whipping, when the poor wretch, knowing his master’s unmerciful nature, implored that he might be hung at once, instead of whipped. This of course would not answer, and on tying the negro’s hands behind him in the usual manner,

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Slave Suicide and Slave Hunting in Louisiana.

In June, 1846, the New Orleans Commercial Times said—“We learn that a few days since a negro man, belonging to Captain Newport, of East Baton Rouge, while closely pursued by the dogs of Mr. Roark, of this Parish, ascended a tree and hung himself. Mr. Roark, with Captain Newport’s son-in-law and overseer, were in pursuit of a runaway slave. They did not know that this negro was out, and were surprised upon their arrival, a few minutes in the rear of the dogs, to find him suspended by his neck, wi

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More Murders of Slaves.

The Palmyra (Mo.) Courier, in August, 1846, says:—“We understand that a gentleman, living in Macon county, while out hunting with his rifle, last week, came suddenly upon two fugitive slaves, who gave him battle. He shot one, and split the other’s skull with the barrel of his gun. He then started for home, but before reaching it he met a man in the road, who inquired if he had seen or heard of two runaway negroes—describing them. The gentleman replied, that he had just killed two, and related th

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A Slave Hunter Killed.

The following is from the Washington (Pa.) Patriot of 1846: “We learn that a few days ago, a fugitive slave from Maryland was pursued and overtaken in Somerset county, in this State by a man named Holland, a wagoner from Ohio, who was tempted to the task by the reward offered, $150. When they reached McCarty’s tavern the slave attempted to escape, but was caught by Holland while in the act of climbing a fence. The slave drew a long knife, which he had concealed about his person, and plunged it i

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The Rights of the Fugitive.

The Hon. J. R. Giddings, in a speech in the House of Representatives, at Washington, Feb. 18, 1846, said—“In regard to arresting slaves, we [of the free States] owe no duties to the master; on the contrary, all our sympathies, our feelings, and our moral duties, beyond what I have stated, are with the slave. We will neither arrest him for the master, nor will we assist the master in making such arrest. I am aware that the third clause of the second section of the first article of the Constitutio

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PRESIDENTIAL TESTIMONIES.

George Washington. —“I never mean, unless some particular circumstance should compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase: it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law .”— Letter to John F. Mercer. “There is not a man living, who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it (Slavery); but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is, by the l

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The Presidency.

Of the fourteen presidential terms, now expired since the formation of the government, eleven have been filled by slaveholders, one by a “Northern man with Southern principles,” and only two by Northern men. The present incumbent is a slaveholder, sworn fully to do his utmost to uphold, and even extend the abomination; and most terribly he is fulfilling his vow, in the surrender of free territory in Oregon, and in a war of conquest for slavery in Mexico, at a cost of millions of dollars and thou

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The Vice Presidency.

The President exercises much of his power by and with the Senate. The Vice President is, ex-officio, President of the Senate. As such, he has the casting vote in all questions before that body. For the last twenty years, with one exception, he has been a slaveholder . From the adoption of the Constitution up to June 1842, there were 76 elections, in the Senate, of President pro. tem. Of these the slave States had 60 and the free States 16. Most of the 16 were in the earlier periods of the govern

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Senate.

For a long series of years the Senate has been equally divided between the free and the slave States. In this condition of it, it was a great point with the slaveholders to secure the casting vote of the Vice Presidency, and right carefully have they done it. This vote is of less importance now, since, by the admission of Texas, the balance of power is broken up, and “The Valley of Rascals,” on any tie vote, now rules the Senate and the nation....

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Department of State.

The Office of Secretary of State is the most important of any, perhaps, in the cabinet of the President. As it is the duty of this officer to direct the correspondence with foreign courts, instruct our foreign ministers, negotiate treaties, &amp;c.; his station is second only, in importance, to that of the Presidency itself. Of the 15, who had filled this office up to 1845, the slave States have had 10; the free States 5. The whole number of officers in this department at Washington, in 1846

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The War Department.

In 1846, there are, at Washington, 98 officers in this department. Of these, the District of Columbia has 49—exactly one half, and Virginia and Maryland have the balance. The free States generally have furnished the seamen and the soldiers; the men to do the fighting and endure the hard knocks, but slavery has taken care to furnish Southern men for officers . Thus, of 1054 naval officers, New England has only 172; of the 68 commanders, New England has only 11; of the 328 lieutenants, New England

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Post Office.

The greatest opposition to cheap postage is from the South. The reason is obvious. As multitudes of their Post-routes do not pay for themselves, they must be paid for, through a system of high postage, by the North, or be given up. Thus in 1842, the deficit in the Post Office department from the slave States was $571,000, while the excess over the expenditures in the free States was $600,000. This went of course to make up the deficiency of the South. So that in 1842 alone the North paid all its

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Civil, Diplomatic and Consular Agencies.

That most of the “spoils” of office, in these departments go to the slaveholders is well known. The following is the Diplomatic Agency of 1846. Full Ministers. To Great Britain , Louis McLane; France , William R. King; Spain , Romulus M. Saunders; Turkey , Dabney S. Carr; Mexico , John Slidell; Brazil , Henry A. Wise;—all from slave States; and Russia , R. I. Ingersoll from Connecticut. Charges. Austria , William A. Stiles; Holland , Auguste Davezac; Belgium , Thomas G. Glenson; The two Sicilies

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Presidential Electors.

During the twenty years, ending in 1832, there were six presidential elections. In these, the South cast 608 electoral votes, but only 41 of them for Northern candidates. During the twenty years, ending in 1835, there were five presidential elections, in which the South cast 515 electoral votes, only 11 of which were for Northern candidates. In the presidential election of 1844, thirteen free States had 161 electors, and gave 1,890,884 votes— one elector to 11,739 votes; while twelve slave State

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Federal Representation.

The present number of the House of Representatives, including Texas is 228. Of these 21 represent slave property. In fixing the ratio of representation, after the last census, the House adopted that of 50,179. This would have given a House of 306 members, and the free States a majority of 68. But a small majority is more easily managed than a large. The Senate rejected that ratio and sent back the bill with the ratio of 70,680. This reduced the House to 223 and brought down the majority of the f

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The House of Representatives.

The Speaker of the House has the appointment of all committees, and of course exerts an immense influence in this, as well as other ways, in the legislation of the country. During 31 of the 34 years, from 1811 to 1845, the speakers were all slaveholders....

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Judiciary.

The Supreme Court of the United States is the court of highest appeal in the nation. Its decision on all questions coming before it is final. Of the 30 judges of this court, the slave States have had 17; the free States 13. The circuits and salaries are still more unequal and unjust. Vermont, Connecticut, and New York, with 42 representatives in Congress, and a free population of over three millions , constitute but one circuit; while Alabama and Louisiana, with but 11 representatives and a free

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Surplus Revenue.

The Surplus Revenue, distributed by the Act of 1836, amounted to 37,468,859 dollars. The slaveholders managed to have it distributed, not, as it should have been, on the basis of free population, but that of federal representation. Thereby the South, with a free population of 3,823,289, received $16,058,082,85, while the North, with a free population of 7,008,451, received but $21,410,777,12. So that for each inhabitant of the free North, there was received but $3,06; while for each free person

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Revolutionary War.

In this war,—New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania,—seven States—furnished 172,436 troops and were paid for services, $61,971,167. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia—six States—furnished 59,335 troops, and received $52,438,130. In other terms, the Northern States furnished about three times the number of troops and received less than one fifth more pay. In particular States the inequality was far gre

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The War of 1812.

The Slaveholders envied the commercial prosperity of the North, and, to crush it, decreed the war of 1812, under the pretence of defending “free trade and sailor’s rights;” and one hundred and thirty-seven millions of dollars were wasted in its prosecution, and $200,000,000 more were lost on sea and land by Northern merchants and farmers, and then, leaving “free trade and sailor’s rights” where they were before, they made peace, and demanded a National Bank and Protective Tariff. And in the pros

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Florida, Florida War, Removal of the Indians.

While Florida was in possession of Spain it furnished an asylum for slaves escaping from the contiguous States. It was therefore bought, at the dictation of the slaveholders, at an expense of $5,000,000. For the same purpose, and at the same dictation the late Florida War was waged, and the native Indian exiled. Of this, the Hon. J. R. Giddings , 1845, said,—“They (the army) captured 460 negroes, who were adjudged slaves by staff officers of the army, to whom the duty was assigned, and who deliv

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Texas and the Mexican War.

Everybody knows that Texas was annexed and that the war is waged to extend and strengthen Slavery. The cost of these measures is yet to be ascertained. There is little doubt that it will exceed rather than fall short of one hundred millions....

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Bank, Tariff, Southern Bankruptcy, &c.

The South originated the Bank and the Tariff. When they ceased to work for its interests, the South abolished both. The sums filched from the North by these changes of national polity and by Southern bankrupts, seem almost incredible. $27,000,000, of the capital of the United States Bank was sunk at the South. $500,000,000, it is estimated, would not more than meet the losses of the North, in sixty years, from Southern bankruptcy. In fine, there is no end to these burdens—this side-wise plunder

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Maintaining Theological Seminaries.

The following is the conclusion of an advertisement in the Savannah Republican of March 23, 1845:— “Also, at the same time and place, the following negro slaves, to wit: Charles, Peggy, Antonet, Davy, September, Maria, Jenny, and Isaac, levied as the property of Henry T. Hall , to satisfy a mortgage fi. fa. , issued out of the Supreme Court, in favor of the Board of Directors of the Theological Seminary of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia , vs. said Henry T. Hall. Conditions, Cash. C. O’N

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Buying Church Furniture.

A runaway slave, in 1841, assigned the following as his reason for not communing with the church to which he belonged at the South. “The church,” said he, “had silver furniture for the administration of the Lord’s Supper, to procure which, they sold my brother ! and I could not bear the feelings it produced, to go forward and receive the sacrament from the vessels which were the purchase of my brother’s blood.”...

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Supporting Churches by Slave Jobbing.

The Rev. J. Cable, of Indiana, May 20, 1846, in a letter to the Mercer Luminary, says:—“I have lived eight years in a slave State, (Va.)—received my Theological education at the Union Theological Seminary, near Hampden Sydney College. Those who know anything about slavery, know the worst kind is jobbing slavery—that is, the hiring out of slaves from year to year, while the master is not present to protect them. It is the interest of the one who hires them, to get the worth of his money of them,

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Selling Ministers as Slaves.

At the great Convention, at Cincinnati, in June 1845, Mr. Needham of Louisville, Ky., said:—“Sir, in 1844, a Methodist preacher, with regular license and certificate, was placed in the Louisville jail, as a slave on sale. He preached in the jail sermons which would have done credit to any white preacher of the town. He kept a little memorandum in his pocket, in which he marked the number of persons hopefully converted under his preaching. I represented his case to leading Methodists in Louisvill

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A Slaveholding D. D. whipping his “b—h” on Sabbath morning preparatory to preaching.

March 28, 1843, in a public address at Cincinnati, the Rev. Edward Smith, True Wesleyan, of Pittsburgh, stated that he had lived in slave states thirty-two years; and, speaking of a certain D. D. of his acquaintance, he adds:—“He was a slaveholder, and a severe one, too, and often, with his own hands, he applied the cowhide to the naked backs of his slaves. On one occasion, a woman that served in the house, committed, on Sabbath morning, an offence of too great magnitude to go unpunished until M

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The Greatest Impediment.

“We are about to make an announcement,” says the True American, “which must sound very strange to those whose field of observation is unlike our own: The greatest impediment to the success of the Anti-Slavery movement in the slave States is, the opposition to it of those men who profess to have been commissioned by high Heaven to go abroad and use their efforts for the mitigation of human misery and the extirpation of human wrong! This assertion, which appears so monstrous, will not surprise any

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RELIGIOUS TESTIMONIES.

Archbishop Potter. Some of our wise ones will have it that doulos means slave. Archbishop Potter, than whom no man was more learned in Grecian antiquities, in his work on them, published years ago, says, chap. 10, “Slaves, as long as they were under the government of a master, were called oiketdi ; but after their freedom was granted them, they were douloi , not being like the former, a part of their master’s estate, but only obliged to some grateful acknowledgments and small services, such as w

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