

KXODCS OF COLORED PEOPLE. 





their present condition and future destiny, 

 may nut be ami-- in view of the interest this 

 exodus has awakened. 



The slavery of the African race upon the 

 American Continent had one feature which 

 distinguished it from any form of slavery that 

 had prevailed elsewhere. The slaves were 

 not captives of their masters, nor slaves be- 

 cause of crime nor of patriarchal authority, nor 

 because of debt and the power of the creditor. 

 The African slave-trade was conducted purely 

 for commercial profit. It was regarded as a 

 prime source of wealth and strength, and trea- 

 ties were made to secure a monopoly of its 

 advantages. It had been carried on for two 

 centuries before the conscience of the world 

 was fully aroused to its atrocity. The contest 

 for its abolition lasted for nearly half a century 

 before full success was attained. There was 

 an intimate relation between the origin of the 

 trade and the destination of its subjects. The 

 arguments for the suppression of the trade at 

 the place of its origin applied with much force 

 to its abolition at the place where the slaves 

 were employed. The abolition of the slave- 

 trade in 1808 in the United States was fol- 

 lowed in a few years by attempts to determine 

 the territorial bounds to which slavery should 

 be confined within the United States, and into 

 this discussion the distribution of political 

 power in the States and sectional aggrandize- 

 ment largely entered. A continuous agitation 

 for some half-century, commencing with the 

 altempt to delay the admission of Missouri 

 into the Union till slavery was prohibited,- the 

 fixing of the line of 36 30', and the territory 

 north as free territory ; the contests over the 

 territories acquired from Mexico, and upon 

 the admission of Oregon, California, and Kan- 

 sas to the Union; finally, the civil war and 

 the addition of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and 

 Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, 

 furnish chapters for the same history. During 

 the period from 1775, when the first motion 

 was submitted for the abolition of slavery (and 

 not then noticed or discussed), until the adop- 

 tion of the Thirteenth Amendment, in Decem- 

 ber, 1865, the African race had increased in 

 the United States from less than three hundred 

 thousand to the number of five million persons. 



The history of slavery on the eastern con- 

 tinent shows that the progression of the slave 

 population to a condition of freedom and 

 equality was gradual, and that the traces of 

 the progress were indistinct and scarcely dis- 

 cernible, and the fact accomplished without 

 any marked change of law or custom. The 

 abolition of African slavery on this continent 

 has obeyed impulses derived from external 

 forces, and not from the concessions of the 

 master or the demand of the slave. 



In 1832 the Ministry of England proposed 

 for inquiry : First, whether the slaves, if 

 emancipated, would maintain themselves, be 

 industrious, and disposed to acquire property 

 by labor ? Secondly, whether the dangers of 



convulsions are greater from freedom with- 

 held than from freedom granted ? Before an- 

 swers were made, Lord Stanley announced that 

 the Ministers had determined to make the 

 " frightful experiment " of emancipation, and 

 spoke of it as " an unreasoning necessity." 

 The Parliament adopted a measure of appren- 

 ticeship of the slaves of four and six years, and 

 voted to pay four ninths of their appraised 

 value, and appropriated 20,000,000 for com- 

 pensation. The Government of Louis Philippe 

 of France proposed a delay of ten years and 

 compensation; but before the measure pro- 

 posed was adopted the revolutionary govern- 

 ment of Lam ai tine, in a decree of a few lines, 

 terminated the discussion and abolished slave- 

 ry hi the French Antilles. In 1861 one branch 

 of the Congress of the United States assented 

 to an amendment of the Constitution to pro- 

 hibit the Federal Government from passing any 

 act of abolition without the consent of the 

 slaveholding States. In 1866, by an amend- 

 ment of the Constitution, slavery was for ever 

 prohibited in any place within the jurisdiction 

 of the United States. In none of these last 

 instances were there consultations with mas- 

 ters or with slaves. In none was there pro- 

 vision for any consequences to arise from the 

 abrupt termination of existing relations. There 

 was no thought taken for the support of the 

 inferiors in these relations in the performance 

 of the obligations and responsibilities of their 

 changed state. Under the law and custom of 

 slavery, the slave was in a great measure dis- 

 charged from these. His home in general was 

 upon the lands of the master. His daily life 

 was confined to this habitation. He could not 

 leave it but for a few hours or a few days, and 

 that only by permission. He did not select his 

 vocation or employment ; these were provided, 

 and all he did was under supervision. He did 

 not buy, sell, or barter. There were no asso- 

 ciations in life or business, nor did he bequeath 

 or inherit. He did not hold property nor per- 

 form contracts. The conditions in which he 

 was placed led him to habits of industry, ab- 

 stinence, and obedience. The gross vices of 

 the world did not have an opportunity to grasp 

 him. It is therefore observable that in all the 

 contentions, controversies, and woes resulting 

 from the existence of these relations, the slave 

 scarcely performed any part whatever in no 

 instance a conspicuous part. During the civil 

 war in the United States the slaves made no 

 quarrel, no insurrection, and while they re- 

 mained with their owners they were submis- 

 sive and obedient. The cessation of hostilities 

 in 1865, and the disruption of the ties which 

 had held the two races in connection, were fol- 

 lowed by anarchy and by the disorganization 

 of the economical and domestic relations of the 

 two races. The slaves left their habitations 

 and wandered wildly over the land. They de- 

 serted the plantations, their homes, and crowd- 

 ed to the towns and villages. There was no 

 definite aim nor apparent object. They con- 



