cation would be general intelligence; that the result of intelligence would be a knowledge of personal rights; and that an inquiry into the doctrine of personal rights would be fatal to the system. It has been foreseen, also, that the example of disinterestedness and generosity, in emancipation, might carry with it a generous contagion, until it should become universal; that the example of educated and emancipated slaves would prove a dangerous excitement to those still in bondage.
For this reason, the American slave-code, which, as we have already seen, embraces, substantially, all the barbarities of that of ancient Rome, has had added to it a set of laws more cruel than any which ancient and heathen Rome ever knew,—laws designed to shut against the slave his last refuge,—the humanity of his master. The master, in ancient Rome, might give his slave whatever advantages of education he chose, or at any time emancipate him, and the state did not interfere to prevent.[1]
But in America the laws, throughout all the slave states, most rigorously forbid, in the first place, the education of the slave. We do not profess to give all these laws, but a few striking specimens may be presented. Our authority is Judge Stroud's "Sketch of the Laws of Slavery."
The legislature of South Carolina, in
1740, enounced the following preamble:—"Whereas,
Shroud's Sketch,
p. 88.
the having of slaves
taught to write, or suffering
them to be employed in writing, may be
attended with great inconveniences;" and
enacted that the crime of teaching a slave to
write, or of employing a slave as a scribe,
should be punished by a fine of one hundred pounds,
current money. If the reader will
turn now to the infamous "protective"
statute, enacted by the same legislature, in
the same year, he will find that the same
penalty has been appointed for the cutting
out of the tongue, putting out of the eye,.
cruel scalding, &c., of any slave, as for the
offence of teaching him to write! That is
to say, that to teach him to write, and to put
out his eyes, are to be regarded as equally
reprehensible.
That there might be no doubt of the
"great and fundamental policy" of the
state, and that there might be full security
against the "great inconveniences" of
"having of slaves taught to write," it was
enacted, in 1800, "That assemblies of slaves,
free negroes, &c., * * * * for the
purpose of mental instruction, in a
confined or secret place, &c. &c., is [are]
declared to be an unlawful meeting;" and the
officers are required to enter such confined
places, and disperse the "unlawful assemblage,"
inflicting, at their discretion,
Shroud's Sketch,
p. 80. 2 Brevard's
Digest, pp. 254-5.
such corporal punishment, not exceeding twenty
lashes, upon such slaves, free
negroes,. &c., as they may judge
necessary for deterring them from the like unlawful assemblage in future."
The statute-book of Virginia is adorned with a law similar to the one last quoted.
The offence of teaching a slave to write
was early punished, in Georgia, as in South
Carolina, by a pecuniary fine. But the
city of Savannah seems to have found this
penalty insufficient to protect it from
great inconveniences," and we learn, by a
quotation in the work of Judge Stroud from
a number of "The Portfolio," that "the
city has passed an ordinance, by which any
person that teaches any person of color,
slave or free, to read or write, or causes
such person to be so taught, is
subjected to a fine of thirty dollars
Shroud's Sketch,
pp. 89, 90.
for each offence; and every person of
color who shall keep a school, to teach
reading or writing, is subject to a fine of
thirty dollars, or to be imprisoned ten days,
and whipped thirty-nine lashes."
Secondly. In regard to religious privileges:
The State of Georgia has enacted a law, "To protect religious societies in the exercise of their religious duties." This law, after appointing rigorous penalties for the offence of interrupting or disturbing a congregation of white persons, concludes in the following words:
Shroud, p. 92.
Prince's Digest
p. 342.
No congregation, or company of negroes,
shall, under pretence of divine worship,
assemble themselves, contrary to the
act regulating patrols."
"The act regulating patrols," as quoted
by the editor of Prince's Digest, empowers
every justice of the peace to disperse any
assembly or meeting of slaves
Shroud, p. 93.
Prince's Digest
p. 447.
which may disturb the peace,
&c., of his majesty's subjects,
and permits that every slave found at such
a meeting shall "immediately be corrected,
without trial, by receiving on the bare back twenty-five stripes with a whip, switch, or cowskin."
- ↑ In and after the reign of Augustus, certain restrictive regulations were passed, designed to prevent an increase of unworthy citizens by emancipation. They had, however, nothing like the stringent force of American laws.
