A History of Slavery and its Abolition/Section 2
SECT. II. — THE ORIGIN OF SLAVERY.
How did Slavery originate?
It is natural, when contemplating a practice of wide extent, and weighty influence, to inquire into its origin. There are some things in the constitution of society that are expressly appointed by God, or evidently and naturally arise out of the relations of human life. Such as the institution of marriage, and the duties of parental care and filial obedience. These things we can easily account for. They are fit and proper in themselves, according to the constitution of human nature, and the appointment of our wise and gracious Creator.
We can also account for the subjection of the brute creatures to man. God has endowed man with reason, which they do not possess, and which gives him a vast superiority over them. They appear, also, to have been (in a great measure) created for the service of man, and they have been expressly placed in subjection under him. In man's original state of innocency God blessed him, and gave him dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the face of the earth. Gen. i. 28. Again, after the fall of man, and after the flood, God renewed and extended the grant to Noah and his sons, giving them not only dominion over the brute creation in general, but also permission to use for food such as are suitable for that purpose, at the same time carefully restricting them from cruelty towards the meanest creatures. Gen. ix. 1—4.
We can understand how, as men multiplied on the face of the earth, many distinctions in society would naturally arise. Some men would possess greater abilities than others, and exercise greater industry; and, in consequence, would acquire greater possessions. Thus they would have the means of purchasing greater accommodations for themselves; and those who did not possess so much, would be glad to serve them for what they wanted and the others could spare. Thus, the distinctions of masters and servants, teachers and learners, employers and employed, would speedily arise; and, in all these relations, the end proposed would be the mutual benefit of both parties. But we cannot thus account for slavery. God never gave to any one human being this absolute authority over another: there is nothing in the nature and constitution of society to require or justify it, nor can it exist without setting at nought all just laws, human and divine.—" God has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell upon the face of the earth; and he has given to every man certain natural rights, which another man cannot have a right to take from him. These are, his right to his life, limbs, and liberty: his right, in common with others, to the use of light, air, and water, and his right to the produce of his personal labour. If a thousand persons, from a thousand different parts of the world, were cast together upon a previously uninhabited island, every one of them would, from the first, be entitled to these rights."[1] Nothing can forfeit them but an infringement on the rights of others. Thus, it may be necessary to deprive a madman, or a murderer, of his liberty, to prevent his depriving others of their lives. But the authority to do this is not given to any man as an individual, but to the whole community, or to the magistrate, as the representative of the whole. In this case, no man is benefited by the privation of another, any farther than all are seemed against injury. This, therefore, can never account for the origin of slavery, which is one man usurping dominion over another for his own advantage, and to the injury of the person he oppresses. No. The origin of slavery can be found no where but in human depravity: the selfishness, hardness, and cruelty of the human heart, which prompt a man to pursue his own interests, though he sacrifices the welfare and the rights of others; and to oppress, and trample on the weak, merely because he has the power to do so.
Before we pass on to another section, it may not be amiss to remind the young reader, that every instance of childish violence and oppression springs from the very same source as slavery. The stronger child who beats a weaker child, or snatches from him a toy or cake, discovers the dispositions that would lead him, in maturer years, if opportunity offered, to be the cruel tyrannical slave-master.
- ↑ Paley