cter, the laws, and
all the future prospects of the South. Slavery, as we shall afterwards
show, dishonors labor; it introduces idleness into society, and with
idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It enervates the
powers of the mind, and benumbs the activity of man. The influence of
slavery, united to the English character, explains the manners and the
social condition of the Southern States.

[Footnote a: The charter granted by the Crown of England in 1609
stipulated, amongst other conditions, that the adventurers should pay
to the Crown a fifth of the produce of all gold and silver mines. See
Marshall's "Life of Washington," vol. i. pp. 18-66.] [Footnote b: A
large portion of the adventurers, says Stith ("History of Virginia"),
were unprincipled young men of family, whom their parents were glad to
ship off, discharged servants, fraudulent bankrupts, or debauchees; and
others of the same class, people more apt to pillage and destroy than
to assist the settlement, were the seditious chiefs, who easily led this
band into every kind of extravagance and excess. See for the history of
Virginia the following works:--

"History of Virginia, from the First Settlements in the year 1624," by
Smith.

"History of Virginia," by William Stith.

"History of Virginia, from the Earliest Period," by Beverley.]

[Footnote c: It was not till some time later that a certain number of
rich English capitalists came to fix themselves in the colony.]

[Footnote d: Slavery was introduced about the year 1620 by a Dutch
vessel which landed twenty negroes on the banks of the river James. See
Chalmer.]

In the North, the same English foundation was modified by the most
opposite shades of character; and here I may be allowed to enter into
some details. The two or three main ideas which constitute the basis
of the social theory of the United States were first combined in the
Northern English colonies, more generally denominated the States of
New England. *e The principles of New England spread at first to the
neighboring states; they then passed successively to the more distant
ones; and at length they imbued the whole Confederation. They now extend
their influence beyond its limits over the whole American world. The
civilization of New England has been like a beacon lit upon a hill,
which, after it has diffused its warmth around, tinges the distant
horizon with its glow.

[Footnote e: The States of New England are those situa