but a faint view of the cruel oppression to which the slaves are subject, but a strong one enough, it is thought, to fill every honest heart with a deep abhorrence of the atrocious system. Most of the important provisions here cited, though placed under the name of only one state, prevail in nearly all the states, with slight variations in language, and some diversity in the penalties. The extracts have been made in part from Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws, but chiefly from authorized editions of the statute books referred to, found in the Philadelphia Law Library. As the compiler has not had access to many of the later enactments of the several states, nearly all he has cited are acts of an earlier date than that of the present anti-slavery movement, so that their severity cannot be ascribed to its influence.
The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be ranked among sentient beings, but among things—is an article of property, a chattel personal—obtains as undoubted law in all the slave states.[1] —Stroud's Sketch, p. 22.
The dominion of the master is as unlimited as is that which is tolerated by the laws of any civilized country in relation to brute animals—to quadrupeds; to use the words of the civil law.—Ib. 24.
Slaves cannot even contract matrimony.[2] — Ib. 61.
LOUISIANA.— A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor: he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to his master.—Civil Code, Art. 35.
- ↑ In accordance with this doctrine, an act of Maryland, 1795, enumerates among articles of property, "slaves, working beasts, animals of any kind, stock, furniture, plats, and so forth"—Ib. 23.
- ↑ A slave is not admonished for incontinence, punished for adultery, nor prosecuted for bigamy.—Attorney General of Maryland, Md. Rep. Vol I. 661.
