FAMILY, but were made by our creator to be an inheritance to them and
theirs forever? How can the slave-holders but say that they can bribe
the best coloured person in the country, to sell his brethren for a
trifling sum of money, and take that atrocity to confirm them in their
avaricious opinion, that we were made to be slaves to them and their
children? How could Mr. Jefferson but say,[11]
"I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the
blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct
by time and circumstances, are _inferior_ to the whites in
the endowments both of body and mind?" "It," says he, "is
not against experience to suppose, that different species of
the same genus, or varieties of the same species, may
possess different qualifications."
[Here, my brethren listen to him.]
[Hand->] "Will not a lover of natural history then, one who
views the gradations in all the races of _animals_ with the
eye of philosophy, excuse an effort to keep those in the
department of MAN as _distinct_ as nature has formed them?"
I hope you will try to find out the meaning of this verse--its widest
sense and all its bearings: whether you do or not, remember the whites
do. This very verse, brethren, having emanated from Mr. Jefferson, a
much greater philosopher the world never afforded, has in truth
injured us more, and has been as great a barrier to our emancipation
as any thing that has ever been advanced against us. I hope you will
not let it pass unnoticed. He goes on further, and says:
"This _unfortunate_ difference of colour, and _perhaps_ of
_faculty_, is a powerful obstacle to the emancipation of
these people. Many of their advocates, while they wish to
vindicate the liberty of human nature are anxious also to
preserve its _dignity_ and _beauty_. Some of these,
embarrassed by the question, 'What further is to be done
with them? join themselves in opposition with those who are
actuated by sordid avarice only."
Now I ask you candidly, my suffering brethren in time, who are
candidates for the eternal worlds, how could Mr. Jefferson but have
given the world these remarks respecting us, when we are so submissive
to them, and so much servile deceit prevails among ourselves--when we
so _meanly_ submit to their murderous lashes, to which neither the
Indians or any other people under heaven would submit? No, th
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