Title: Debate on Slavery. (in the Journal of the American Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention, Vol. 1, No. 3).
Description: Worcester, MA: Executive Committee of the Convention, July 1841. July 1841. Worcester, MA: Executive Committee of the Convention, July 1841. July 1841. Fair. - Octavo, completely disbound. Mild ex-library with several ink numerals & the remains of a stamp on the first page. There is a hole & a tear on the first page with the resulting loss of a few words on its verso. The loss is to part of the introductory matter. There is no loss to the text of the debate. Pages [73]-180. The pages are toned & lightly foxed. Good working copy.
Justin A. Smith in "Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D: with lectures, plans of sermons, etc". [Boston: Foxcroft, Jr. 1875] provides some background for this debate: "In the ministry and in the churches, that view of human slavery which chiefly commanded attention, was that which regarded it in the light of Scripture. Does the Bible sanction slavery? Are the references to this subject, whether in the Old Testament or the New, such as to suggest that the relationship of master and slave has a divine recognition and a divine approval, either express or implied? With this question was associated another: What is the moral character of that act in which one human being holds another in slavery, claims him as property, buys him, sells him, uses his labor without requital, and as a protection to himself in seeking to perpetuate that relation, shuts from the slave's mind, wholly or partially, the light of knowledge? Many were prepared to admit the evil of slavery --its mischievous tendencies, in every way--who would not acknowledge it to be a sin..One of [the] notable occasions on which the discussion of these subjects assumed a form specially characteristic and significant, was that of a session of the American Baptist Antislavery Society, held in Tremont Chapel, Boston, May 26-28, 1841."
Nathaniel Colver proposed the resolution on which the discussion was based: "Resolved. That the system of American slavery, in its essential principles, has no analogy in the servitude tolerated in the Bible; but that, in its origin and continuance, its is defined in the law of man-stealing, and, with whatever mitigating circumstances it may be attended, it is a sin against God." The President of the Convention, Rev. Elon Galusha, was in the Chair. Among those present was Colver's chief opponent, Rev. Jonathan Davis, the pro-slavery pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, Georgia.
The eloquence and acuity of the debate may be judged from the following extracts. Colver quoted from Exodus, xxi, 16: "And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." "The case stands thus," he argued, "God is the legitimate owner of every man. God has constituted every man the guardian of himself, as a moral being, subject to his laws, with guardian responsibilities as deathless as his being. As a guardian over himself, it is not among his functions to relinquish his charge to the absolute will of another. Whoever, therefore, takes him from himself and subjects him to the will of another,steals him from the guardian with whom God has entrusted him, and he that does that, steals him from God, and, need I add, involves himself in the sin specified in the law under consideration. This, then, Sir, is the sin of man-stealing; and this, Sir, is precisely the work of American slavery.
Mr. Davis replied at length, maintaining the view held by Southern Christians that the relation as it existed amongst them did not differ radically from the relation of master and servant as sanctioned in the Bible, and claiming that those then holding slaves, having received them by inheritance, with all the responsibilities attached, should not be made accountable for the circumstances under which the black man was first brought to American shores. In reply, Colver referred to the law in Leviticus XXV, 46: "First, that law made no distinction of color. The slave law is predicated upon color. Now, if that law ordained slavery, and the brother will have it for his warrant, let him take it as it is. Let the whites, as well as the blacks, come in for a share of its kind provisions. If you are warranted by that law to buy, hold and sell black slaves, you have in it an equal warrant to treat whites in the same manner. I put it to the Brother if, according to his interpretation of that law, he would not be warranted to buy and hold as slaves any foreign white persons who might be brought to the shores of Georgia by a pirate vessel which had captured them? By what Jesuitism is that law by Southern application restricted to colored men?
At a later point in the debate Davis said:"Elder Colver has said that he will relieve me of my troubles about his property so that I may not continue in my guilt. Now I ask Elder Colver if, in addition to that, he will pay me for my slaves, and provide for them. I ask him if he will take them away to New England and raise them from their condition of slavery, and carry out this matter as he should." Colver replied: "I will answer the brother's inquiry by saying that I will relieve him of all his slaves if he will pay them back their hard-earned wages." Davis answered: "I admire the shrewdness of the reply; but honesty requires that I should be paid the full price for having kept them so long. Perhaps, after all, this keeping is not so profitable as is supposed. If you take them, you must take them as they are." "I will take them on those terms," said Mr. Colver, "If you will deduct the extravagant expenses you have obliged them to meet while supporting you and themselves."
Countering an objection that if blacks were emancipated, the two races could not live together, Colver said: "Sir, I am reminded of an anecdote which presents the justice of the matter. A man had two horses, a grey one and a black one. His son said, 'Father, the grey horse kicks the black one and won't stand peaceably with him in the stable. Shall I turn Black out?' 'No' said the old man, 'if Grey won't let Black alone, turn Grey out into the storm;' and justice says, amen." Colver also used Santa Domingo as an example, showing that "under all and any circumstances, Emancipation is safe" [i.e. the slaves would not turn on their masters].
Nathaniel Colver [1794-1870] was a United States Baptist clergyman. In 1839 he was called to Boston where he cooperated in organizing the church later known as Tremont Temple. His ministry was remarkable for its bold, uncompromising and effective warfare upon slavery and intemperance, as well as for its directly spiritual results. Colver was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Baptist Antislavery Convention. The American Baptist Antislavery Convention was formed in April 1840 in New York City. In addition to organizing this 1841 debate, the Convention opened correspondence with their brethren in the South and published the letters in a bi-monthly periodical, "Baptist Antislavery Correspondent."
Rare. WorldCat locates 10 copies. Fair .
Keywords: AMERICANA; SLAVERY; ABOLITIONISM; DEBATE ON SLAVERY; NATHANIEL COLVER; JONATHAN DAVIS; AMERICAN BAPTIST ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION; ELON GALUSHA; SANTA DOMINGO; EMANCIPATION; LEVITICUS; EXODUS.
- Book number: 34948
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