The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

  verted by constant familiarity with such a system.

  We find him constructing an appeal to masters to have their

  slaves orally instructed in religion. In many passages he speaks

  of oral instruction as confessedly an imperfect species of in-

  struction, very much inferior to that which results from personal

  reading and examination of the world of God. He says in one

  place, that in order to do much good it must be begun very

  early in life; and intimates that people in advanced years can

  acquire very little from it; and yet he decidedly expresses his

  opinion that slavery is an institution with which no Christian has

  cause to interfere.

  The slaves, according to his own showing, are cut off from

  the best means for the salvation of their souls, and restricted to

  one of a very inferior nature. They are placed under restriction

  which makes their souls as dependent upon others for spiritual

  food as a man without hands is dependent upon others for bodily

  food. He recognises the fact, which his own experience must

  show him, that the slave is at all times liable to pass into the

  hands of those who will not take the trouble thus to feed his

  soul; nay, if we may judge from his urgent appeals to masters,

  he perceives around him many who, having spiritually cut off the

  slave's hands, refuse to feed him. He sees that, by the operation

  of this law as a matter of fact, thousands are placed in situations

  where the perdition of the soul is almost certain, and yet he

  declares that he does not feel called upon at all to interfere with

  their civil condition!

  But if the soul of every poor African is of that inestimable

  worth which Mr. Jones believes, does it not follow that he ought

  to have the very best means for getting to heaven which it is

  possible to give him? And is not he who can read the Bible

  for himself in a better condition than he who is dependent upon

  the reading of another? If it be said that such teaching cannot

  be afforded, because it makes them unsafe property, ought not

  a clergyman like Mr. Jones to meet this objection in his own

  expressive language?--

  Were it now revealed to us that the most extensive system of instruction which

  we could devise, requiring a vast amount of labour and protracted through ages,

  would result in the tender mercy of our God in the salvation of the soul of one

  poor African, we should feel warranted in cheerfully entering upon our work, with

  all its costs and sacrifices.

  Should not a clergyman like Mr. Jones tell masters that they

  should risk the loss of all things seen and temporal, rather than

  incur the hazard of bringing eternal ruin on these souls? All

  the arguments which Mr. Jones so eloquently used with masters

  to persuade them to give their slaves oral instruction, would

  apply with double force to show their obligation to give the slave

  the power of reading the Bible for himself.

  Again, we come to hear Mr. Jones telling masters of the

  power they have over the souls of their servants, and we hear

  him say--

  We may, according to the power lodged in our hands, forbid religious meetings

  and religious instruction on our own plantations; we may forbid our servants

  going to church at all, or only to such churches as we may select for them. We

  may literally shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, and suffer not them

  that are entering to go in.

  And when we hear Mr. Jones say all this, and then consider

  that he must see and know this awful power is often lodged in

  the hands of wholly irreligious men, in the hands of men of the

  most profligate character, we can account for his thinking such

  a system right only by attributing it to that blinding, deademing

  influence which the public sentiment of slavery exerts even over

  the best-constituted minds.

  Neither Mr. Jones nor any other Christian minister would

  feel it right that the eternal happiness of their own children

  should be thus placed in the power of any man who should have

  money to pay for them. How, then, can they think it right

  that this power be given in the case of their African brother?

  Does this not show that, even in the case of the most humane

  and Christian people, who theoretically believe in the equality of

  all souls before God, a constant familiarity with slavery works a

  practical infidelity on this point; and that they give their

  assent to laws which practically declare that the salvation of

  the servant's soul is of less consequence than the salvation of

  the property relation?

  Let us not be thought invidious or uncharitable in saying, that

  where slavery exists there are so many causes necessarily uniting

  to corrupt public sentiment with regard to the slave, that the

  best-constituted minds cannot trust themselves in it. In the

  Northern and free States public sentiment has been, and is to

  this day, fatally infected by the influence of a past and the

  proximity of a present system of slavery. Hence the injustice

  with which the negro in many of our States is treated. Hence,

  too, those apologies for slavery, and defences of it, which issue

  from Northern presses, and even Northern pulpits. If even at

  the North the remains of slavery can produce such baleful

  effects in corrupting public sentiment, how much more must this

  be the case where this institution is in full force!

  The whole American nation is, in some sense, under a paralysis

  of public sentiment on this subject. It was said by a heathen

  writer, that the gods gave us a fearful power when they gave

  us the faculty of becoming accustomed to things. This power

  has proved a fearful one indeed in America. We have got used

  to things which might stir the dead in their graves.

  When but a small portion of the things daily done in America

  has been told in England, and France, and Italy, and Germany,

  there has been a perfect shriek and outery of horror. America

  alone remains cool, and asks, “What is the matter?”

  Europe answers back, “Why, we have heard that men are

  sold like cattle in your country.”

  “Of course they are,” says America; “but what then?”

  “We have heard,” says Europe, “that millions of men are

  forbidden to read and write in your country.”

  “We know that,” says America; “but what is this outcry

  about?”

  “We have heard,” says Europe, “that Christian girls are

  sold to shame in your markets!”

  “That isn't quite as it should be,” says America; “but still

  what is this excitement about?”

  “We hear that three millions of your people can have no

  legal marriage-ties,” says Europe.

  “Certainly, that is true,” returns America; “but you made such

  an outcry, we thought you saw some great cruelty going on.”

  “And you profess to be a free country!” says indignant

  Europe.

  “Certainly, we are the freest and most enlightened country in

  the world! What are you talking about?” says America.
/>   “You send your missionaries to Christianise us,” says Turkey;

  “and our religion has abolished this horrible system.”

  “You! you are all heathen over there--what business have

  you to talk?” answers America.

  Many people seem really to have thought that nothing but

  horrible exaggerations of the system of slavery could have pro-

  duced the sensation which has recently been felt in all modern

  Europe. They do not know that the thing they have become

  accustomed to, and handled so freely in every discussion, seems

  to all other nations the sum and essence of villany. Modern

  Europe, opening her eyes and looking on the legal theory of the

  slave system, on the laws and interpretations of law which

  define it, says to America, in the language of the indignant

  Othello, If thou wilt justify a thing like this--

  Never pray more; abandon all remorse;

  On Horror's head horrors accumulate;

  Do deeds to make Heaven weep, all earth amazed;

  For nothing canst thou to damnation add

  Greater than this.

  There is an awful state of familiarity with evil which the

  apostle calls being “dead in trespasses and sins,” where truth

  has been resisted, and evil perseveringly defended, and the con-

  victions of conscience stifled, and the voice of God's Holy

  Spirit bidden to depart. There is an awful paralysis of the

  moral sense, when deeds unholiest and crimes most fearful

  cease any longer to affect the nerve. That paralysis, always a

  fearful indication of the death and dissolution of nations, is a

  doubly-dangerous disease in a republic whose only power is in

  intelligence, justice, and virtue.

  CHAPTER II.

  PUBLIC OPINION FORMED BY EDUCATION.

  Rev. Charles C. Jones, in his interesting work on the

  “Religious Instruction of Negroes,” has a passage which so

  peculiarly describes that influence of public opinion which we

  have been endeavouring to illustrate, that we shall copy it:--

  Habits of feeling and prejudices in relation to any subject are wont to take

  their rise out of our education or circumstances. Every man knows their influence

  to be great in shaping opinions and conduct, and oft-times how unwittingly they

  are formed; that while we may be unconscious of their existence, they may grow

  with our growth and strengthen with our strength. Familiarity converts defor-

  mity into comeliness. Hence we are not always the best judges of our condition.

  Another may remark inconveniences, and, indeed, real evils, in it, of which we

  may be said to have been all our lives scarcely conscious. So, also, evils which,

  upon first acquaintance, revolted our whole nature, and appeared intolerable, cus-

  tom almost makes us forget even to see. Men passing out of one state of society

  into another encounter a thousand things to which they feel that they can never

  be reconciled; yet, shortly after, their sensibilities become dulled, a change passes

  over them, they scarcely know how. They have accommodated themselves to

  their new circumstances and relations--they are Romans in Rome.

  Let us now inquire what are the educational influences which

  bear upon the mind educated in constant familiarity with the

  slave system.

  Take any child of ingenuous mind and of generous heart, and

  educate him under the influences of slavery, and what are the

  things which go to form his character? An anecdote which a

  lady related to the writer may be in point in this place. In

  giving an account of some of the things which induced her to

  remove her family from under the influence of slavery, she related

  the following incident:--Looking out of her nursery window one

  day, she saw her daughter, about three years of age, seated in

  her little carriage, with six or eight young negro children

  harnessed into it for horses. Two or three of the older slaves

  were standing around their little mistress, and one of them,

  putting a whip into her hand, said, “There Misse, whip 'em

  well; make 'em go! They're all your niggers.”

  What a moral and religious lesson was this for that young

  soul! The mother was a judicious woman, who never would

  herself have taught such a thing; but the whole influence of

  slave society had burnt it into the soul of every negro, and

  through them it was communicated to the child.

  As soon as a child is old enough to read the newspapers, he

  sees in every column such notices as the following from a late

  Richmond Whig, and other papers:--

  The subscriber, under a decree of the Circuit Superior Court for Fluvanna

  County, will proceed to sell, by public auction, at the late residence of William

  Galt, deceased, on Tuesday, the 30th day of November, and Wednesday, the

  1st day of December next, beginning at eleven o'clock, the negroes, stock, &c., of

  all kinds, belonging to the estate, consisting of 175 negroes, amongst whom are

  some Carpenters and Blacksmiths--10 horses, 33 mules, 100 head of cattle,

  100 sheep, 200 hogs, 1500 barrels corn, oats, fodder, &c., the plantation and shop

  tools of all kinds.

  The Negroes will be sold for cash; the other property on a credit of nine

  months, the purchaser giving bond, with approved security.

  James Galt, Administrator of

  William Galt, deceased.

  Oct. 19.

  From the “Nashville Gazette,” November 23, 1852:--

  On Tuesday, the 21st day of December next, at the Plantation of the late

  N. A. McNairy, on the Franklin Turnpike, on account of Mrs. C. B. McNairy,

  Executrix, we will offer at Public Sale

  fifty valuable negroes.

  These Negroes are good Plantation Negroes, and will be sold in families.

  Those wishing to purchase will do well to see them before the day of sale.

  Also Ten Fine Work Mules, two Jacks and one Jennet, Milch Cows,

  and Calves, Cattle, Stock Hogs, 1200 barrels Corn, Oats, Hay, Fodder, &c.

  Two Wagons, one Cart, Farming Utensils, &c.

  From the Newberry Sentinel:--

  The subscriber will sell at Auction, on the 15th of this month, at the Planta-

  tion on which he resides, distant eleven miles from the Town of Newberry, and

  near the Laurens Railroad,

  twenty-two young and likely negroes;

  comprising able-bodied field hands, good cooks, house servants, and an excellent

  blacksmith. About 1500 bushels of corn, a quantity of fodder, hogs, mules,

  sheep, neat cattle, household and kitchen furniture, and other property. Terms

  made public on day of sale.

  Dec. 1. M. C. Gary.

  *“Laurensville Herald” copy till day of sale.

  From the South Carolinian, October 21, 1852:--

  The undersigned, as Administrator of the Estate of Col. T. Randell, deceased,

  will sell, on Monday, the 20th December next, all the personal property belong-

  ing to said estate, consisting of 56 Negroes, Stock, Corn, Fodder, &c. &c. The

  sale will take place at the residence of the deceased, on Sandy River, 10 miles

  west of Chesterville.

  Terms of sale: The negroes on a credit of 12 months, with interest from day of

  sale, and two good sureties. The other property will be sold f
or cash.

  Sept. 2. Samuel J. Randell.

  See also New Orleans Bee, October 28. After advertising the

  landed estate of Madeline Lanoux, deceased, comes the follow-

  ing enumeration of chattels:--

  Twelve siaves, men and women; a small, quite new schooner; a ferrying flat

  boat; some cows, calves, heifers, and sheep; a lot of household furniture; the

  contents of a store, consisting of hard-ware, crockery-ware, groceries, dry

  goods, &c.

  Now, suppose all parents to be as pious and bencvolent as

  Mr. Jones--a thing not at all to be hoped for, as things

  are--and suppose them to try their very best to impress on the

  child a conviction that all souls are of equal value in the sight of

  God; that the negro soul is as truly beloved of Christ, and ran-

  somed with his blood, as the master's; and is there any such

  thing as making him believe or realise it? Will he believe that

  that which he sees every week advertised with hogs, and horses,

  and fodder, and cotton-seed, and refuse furniture--bedsteads,

  tables, and chairs--is indeed so divine a thing? We will suppose

  that the little child knows some pious slave; that he sees him at

  the communion-table, partaking, in a far-off, solitary manner, of

  the sacramental bread and wine. He sees his pious father and

  mother recognise the slave as a Christian brother; they tell him

  that he is an “heir of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ;” and

  the next week he sees him advertised in the paper, in company

  with a lot of hogs, stock, and fodder. Can the child possibly

  believe in what his Christian parents have told him when he sees

  this? We have spoken now of only the common advertisements

  of the paper; but suppose the child to live in some districts of

  the country, and advertisements of a still more degrading character

  meet his eye. In the State of Alabama, a newspaper devoted to

  politics, literature, and EDUCATION, has a standing weekly ad-

  vertisement, of which this is a copy:--

  [title]NOTICE.

  The undersigned having an excellent pack of Hounds, for trailing and catching

  runaway slaves, informs the public that his prices in future will be as follows for