Page:The Barbarism of Slavery - Sumner - 1863.pdf/18

 12 In presenting the Character of Slavery, there is little When for me to do, except to allow Slavery to paint itself. words. explanatory no this is done, the picture will need I.

(1.)

begin with the

I

Law

of Slavery and

its

own chosen

Origin,

and here

definition.

It is Barbarism divested of is God, of image the in created simply this Man, " is, that a chattel"— be a to declared and his human character, may statement this That property. of article thing or beast, a not seem to be put forward without precise authority, I quote

paints itself in its

this



the statutes of three different States, beginning with South-Carolina, whose voice for Slavery always has an unerring distinctive-

Here

ness.

is

the definition supplied

by

this State

"Slaves shall be deemed, held, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law, to be chatexecutors, adtels personal in the hands of their owners and possessors and their ministrators, and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever." 2 Brev. Big., 229.

And

here

is

the definition supplied

by

the Civil

Code of

Louisiana one who is in tne power of a master to whom he belongs. The mashim, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labor. He can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing, but what must belong to his masCivil Code, Art. 35. ter." "

ter

A

slave

may

is

sell

In similar

spirit,

the law of

Maryland thus

indirectly defines

a slave as an article: case the personal property of a ward shall consist of specific articles, such as beasts, animals of any kind, the court, if it deem it advantageous for Statutes of Mart/land. tin ward, may at any time pass an order for the sale thereof."

"In

slaves,

working

Not

to

occupy time unnecessarily, I present a summary of

the pretended law defining Slavery in all the Slave States, as made by a careful writer, Judge Stroud, in a work of juridical as well as philanthropic merit

—

that the slave is not to be ranked among cardinal principle of Slavery a chattel personal beings, but among things—is an article of property Stroud's Law of Slavery, obtakiB as undoubted law in all of these (Slave) States."

"The

senth

—

>it

p. 22.

Out of this definition,, as from a solitary germ, which in its pettiness might be crushed by the hand, towers our Upas Tree and all its gigantic poison. Study it, and you will comprehend the whole monstrous growth. Sir,

look at

tablishes.

whose

plain import,

its

The

slave

behests, his

life,

and

see the relation

which

it es-

held simply for the use of his master, to liberty, and happiness are devoted, and

is