A History of Slavery and its Abolition/Section 4
SECT. IV. — THE MORAL EFFECTS OF SLAVERY.
"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit, therefore, by their fruits, ye shall know them:" and what are the natural fruits of slavery?
As to the master, the exercise of uncontrolled power can scarcely fail to render a man overbearing and tyrannical. The very sight of a number of beings wholly subservient to his will and pleasure, will foster the pride and selfishness of the human heart. The man will imagine himself a very elevated being, and forget the claims of his fellow-creatures upon him. His will being law, he will, in all probability, acquire a habit of governing them by force, and will cease to deal with them by moral means. He will forget their responsibility and his own, when either would come in competition with his interest or his gratification. By the habitual sight of human beings in a state of degradation and misery, (and such must be a state of slavery at the best,) his heart will insensibly become hardened, and he will cease to feel compassion for the sufferings of his fellow man: his temper will become irritable and turbulent, and his passions will rage without controul. It is impossible to exercise an improper dominion over a fellow-creature, without sustaining a correspondent reaction of evil,—a weakening of moral principle, and a strengthening every corrupt passion and propensity. These results have been strikingly seen in individuals, who before their connexion with slavery, were manly, generous, and humane; but who, under the influence of that wretched system, have gradually sunk into callousness and cruelty, of which, if a few years before, the horrid picture had been presented to them, they would have indignantly exclaimed, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do these things?"
As to the slave, the natural tendency of the oppression he endures, is to degrade and debase him below his natural level. He is treated as a machine, to be worked by force; this represses his energies, and promotes indolence, stupidity, and craft. He does nothing but what he is compelled to do: his ingenuity is employed, not in improving himself, or benefiting his master, but in contriving to evade the imposition of labour, or the infliction of punishment. He does nothing from moral motives. Freedom, hope, and domestic love, are the great springs of virtuous action and enjoyment. But the slave is deprived of them all. He is not allowed to act as a free agent, and he ceases to consider himself responsible. The law of his master is often set against the laws of nature, and of God: thus, the sense of right and wrong is confounded in the mind of the slave. He has nothing to hope for as the reward of exertion; for, whatever he acquires, is the property of another. Domestic life loses its endearing ties, for he must not regard even his wife and children as his own: he may, in a moment, be separated from them by the will of a tyrant. In such a condition, the human mind, as it is more strongly or more feebly constituted, sinks into listless apathy, sullen indifference, retaliative cunning, or fierce revenge—
"Yes, to deep sadness sullenly resign'd,
He feels his body's bondage in his mind,
Puts off his generous nature; and to suit
His manners with his fate, puts on the brute.
Oh, most degrading of all ills that wait
On man, a mourner in his best estate!
All other sorrows virtue may endure,
And find submission more than half a cure.
But slavery! Virtue dreads it as her grave,
Patience itself is meanness in a slave:
Or, if the will and sovereignty of God,
Bids suffer it awhile, and kiss the rod.
Wait for the dawning of a brighter day.
And snap the chain the moment when you may."