Week 8

How does it become a man to behave toward this American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave's government also”. I chose this Henry Thoreau quote because I think it sums up his feeling that as long as the government of the United States practiced and condoned slavery everything else they say and stand for is hypocritical. Our government professes that all men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. With one exception, they did not extend these rights to slaves. It was a matter of greed over ruling morality. Thoreau considers civil disobedience a moral and social duty of American citizens.. The churches with the exception of the Puritans and Quakers did not oppose slavery. I admire Thoreau for voicing his objection to the wrongs he saw in our government. In his “civil disobedience” instead to advocating violence he simply believed in non-participation. He refused to pay his taxes and therefore refused to fund or be a part of a government he found to be morally wrong. His philosophy of “civil disobedience was later a model for future leaders Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. Benjamin Lay, a Quaker who saw slavery as a "notorious sin," addresses this 1737 volume to those who "pretend to lay claim to the pure and holy Christian religion." Although some Quakers held slaves, no religious group was more outspoken against slavery from the seventeenth century until slavery's demise. Quaker petitions on behalf of the emancipation of African Americans flowed into colonial legislatures and later to the United States Congress. Benjamin Lay. All Slave Keepers that Keep the Innocent in Bondage . . . . Philadelphia: Printed for the Author, 1737. Franklin Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. (3-22) I have always wondered how the churches in the United States could call themselves Christian and condone slavery. I am happy to find that there was a church who was outspoken against slavery. The Roman Catholic and the protestant churches were a part of the system. They had a higher moral duty to stand up for their fellow man. They were very hypocritical. Slavery is against everything God and Jesus Christ stood for. I knew very little about the Quaker religion except for the fact that they oppose war. At this time in history they were very courageous people and it is good to hear that all men did not turn a blind eye to the horrors experienced by these innocent people. The Quakers, Benjamin Law and Henry Thoreau share a belief in non-violent protest and civil disobedience. Plea for the Suppression of the Slave Trade Anthony Benezet. Observations on the Inslaving, Importing and Purchasing of Negroes. Germantown, Pennsylvania: Christopher Sower, 1760. American Imprints Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. (3-1) In this plea for the abolition of the slave trade, Anthony Benezet, a Quaker of French Huguenot descent, pointed out that if buyers did not demand slaves, the supply would end. "Without purchasers," he argued, "there would be no trade; and consequently every purchaser as he encourages the trade, becomes partaker in the guilt of it." He contended that guilt existed on both sides of the Atlantic. There are Africans, he alleged, "who will sell their own children, kindred, or neighbors." Benezet also used the biblical maxim, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," to justify ending slavery. Insisting that emancipation alone would not solve the problems of people of color, Benezet opened schools to prepare them for more productive lives.