Page images
PDF
EPUB

truth to say, self-conceited. For in what sense is it true, that any people, however free, are self-governed? If they have in fact no government, but such as comports with their ever varying and often inordinate desires, then it is anarchy; if it counteracts those desires, it is compulsory. The individual who is left to act according to his own humour is not governed at all; and if any considerable number, and especially any combination of individuals, find or can place themselves in this situation, then the society is no longer free. For liberty obviously consists in the salutary restraint, and not in the uncontrolled indulgence of such humours.

The republick is a creature of fiction, it is everybody in fancy, but nobody in heart. Love, to be anything, must be select and exclusive.

A state consisting of a million citizens has a million sovereigns, each of whom detests all other sovereigns but his own.

Are not the wandering Tartars or Indian hunters at least as susceptible of patriotism as these stragglers in our Western forests, and infinitely fonder of glory? It is difficult to conceive of a country which, from the manner of its settlement or the manifest tendencies of its politicks, is more destitute or more incapable of being inspired with political virtue.

Its nature ordains that its next change shall be into a military despotism, of all known governments, perhaps, the most prone to shift its head, and the slowest to mend its vices. The reason is that the tyranny of what is called the people, and that by the sword, both operate alike to debase and corrupt, till there are neither men left with the spirit to desire liberty, nor morals with the power to sustain justice. Like the burning pestilence that destroys the human body, nothing can subsist by its dissolution but vermine.Fisher Ames, Works, pp. 382-419.

Jefferson speaks as follows:

"The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesi tate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean

[ocr errors]

that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them. . . . Among [such societies] public opinion is in the place of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as law ever did anywhere. Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but restrain them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves."-To Edw. Carrington, Jan. 17, 1787. Works, vol. IV (1853 ed.).

"I bold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."-To Madison, Jan. 30, 1787. Works, vol. IV (1853 ed.).

QUESTIONS.

1. How does Ames regard the people? 2. What does he expect to become of democracies? 3. How would you explain his feeling? 4. Compare his ideas with those of Jefferson. 5. Did Jefferson fear little insurrections? 6. Why not? 7. Which expressed the best doctrines?

SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES

I.

Begins 1619. Introduced into all the Colonies.
Quakers begin to oppose, 1696. Both Negroes
and Indians slaves. Contends with indented
white servants to about 1675. Rapid increase
after 100. Not profitable on farms of North.
First active ethical movement against, about
1770-80. Massachusetts free, 1780; New Hamp-
shire, 1784. Gradual emancipation provided for
in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania by 1802. Leading men of Virginia
its strongest opponents.

CHAPTER VI

SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES

I.

some respects this has been the most interesting, as, for a time, it was the most important, question in all American history. The great tragedy of the civil war came from it. For years before that event the people of the north and those of the south were unable to understand one another. It may be that they did not try as hard as they might, yet the environments had become so different from the existence of sectional slavery that it was very difficult for the people to see things from the same standpoints.

It will not do to suppose the civil war was wholly due to slavery, yet that it furnished the main causes I believe history will affirm. Neither must we suppose that the contest was the outcome of momentary hatred, nor that one section can be held wholly responsible for its terrible devastation. The factors had been in process of formation for more than two hundred years, The whole history of the white race on this continent must be studied to understand the problem thoroughly. The soil, climate, and resulting industries played an important part. Perhaps the most important thought for the youth of to-day to grasp is that the two sections were equally honest in their views. History, I believe, will affirm, nay, has affirmed, that those who fought for the southern view were wrong, and that the north, in this case, stood for progress and an advancing civilization. However, we should recognize that conditions and cir

cumstances to a great degree determined belief; we should do justice to the devotion, the sacrifices, the courage, and the brilliancy with which they fought for a mistaken view. It is now time to cement the bond of union, to look to the future, to study the past for its lessons, but not to taunt nor to condemn.

In a general way we may note, as it seems to me, about four general periods in this history. From 1619 to 1774, the period of planting. During these years the question was little thought about. Very few saw the dangers. It was not a political question at all. It can hardly be said to have come into the field of ethics, although a few here and there began to question its morality.

From 1774 to 1808 there was a marked movement to put an end to the system. This force was strongest under the immediate influence of the Revolution, and had almost entirely passed away in the south by the end of the period. During these years the northern states freed themselves, and thus laid the foundation for the sectional contest. The almost, if not quite, unanimous expression of opinion during the earlier, at least, of these years was that slavery was an evil which it was hoped might pass

away.

The third period extended from 1808 to 1844, and was marked by a gradual recognition of the fact that there was no chance for the system to die out of itself. Gradually there came to be a recognition that the supposed interests of the two sections, socially, politically, and industrially were opposed. The north was coming to the view more positively that the whole system was an evil, and many came to believe it a sin for which all must answer, On the other hand, the south ceased to be apologists for its existence, and finally came to believe almost as one man that it was "a good-a positive good."

« PreviousContinue »