|
Chancellor William Harper of South Carolina
Comments on the Education of Slaves, 1852
Odium has been cast upon our legislation, on account of its
forbidding the elements of education to be communicated to
slaves. But, in truth, what injury is done to them by this? He
who works during the day with his hands, does not read in
intervals of leisure for his amusement, or the improvement of
his mind--or the exceptions are so very rare, as scarcely to
need the being provided for. Of the many slaves whom I have
known capable of reading, I have never known one to read
anything but the Bible, and this task they impose on themselves
as matter of duty.
Of all methods of religious instruction, however, this, of
reading for themselves, would be the most inefficient--their
comprehension is defective, and the employment is to them an
unusual and laborious one. There are but very few who do not
enjoy other means more effectual for religious instruction.
There is no place of worship opened for the white population,
from which they are excluded. I believe it a mistake, to say
that the instructions there given are not adapted to their
comprehension, or calculated to improve them. If they are given
as they ought to be--practically, and without pretension, and
are such as are generally intelligible to the free part of the
audience, comprehending all grades of intellectual
capacity,--they will not be unintelligible to slaves.
I doubt whether this be not better than instruction,
addressed specially to themselves--which they might look upon as
a device of the master's, to make them more obedient and
profitable to himself.. Their minds, generally, show a strong
religious tendency, and they are fond of assuming the office of
religious instructors to each other; and perhaps their religious
notions are not much more extravagant than those of a large
portion of the free population of our country. I am not sure
that there is a much smaller proportion of them, than of the
free population, who make some sort of religious profession. It
is certainly the master's interest that they should have proper
religious sentiments, and if he fails in his duty towards them,
we may be sure that the consequences will be visited not upon
them, but upon him.
If there were any chance of their elevating their rank and
condition in society, it might be matter of hardship, that they
should be debarred those rudiments of knowledge which open the
way to further attainments. But this they know cannot be, and
that further attainments would be useless to them. Of the evil
of this, I shall speak hereafter. A knowledge of reading,
writing, and the elements of arithmetic, is convenient and
important to the free laborer, who is the transactor of his own
affairs, and the guardian of his own interests--but of what use
would they he to the slave? These alone do not elevate the mind
of character, if such elevation were desirable
Pro-Slavery Arguments; As Maintained by the
Most Distinguished Writers of the Southern States, Containing
the Several Essays, on the Subject, of Chancellor Harper,
Governor Hammond, Sr. Simms, and professor Dew (Charleston:
Walker, Richards and Company, 1852), pp.36-38.
* * * *
*
|
|
William Harper Bio (1790-1847) |
William Harper (1790-1847, Class of 1808), first a lawyer, went on to
become a noted South Carolina judge and U.S. Senator. He was elected to
the lower house of the state legislature in 1828. That same year he was
elected a chancellor of the state and served until 1830, when he was
elected judge of the circuit court of appeals. He later resigned and
again became a chancellor, which he remained until his death.
Harper also served on the Board of Trustees of South Carolina
College.
The articulation of pro-slavery literature probably rests with South
Carolina Chancellor (or Chief Judge) William Harper, whose many
orations, legal decisions, and articles contributed immensely to the
legality of slavery in Southern culture.
* * * *
*
|
William
Harper's Apology (1837) |
|
Slavery was forced upon us by the most extremist
exigency of circumstances in a struggle for very existence. Without it,
it is doubtful whether a white man would now be existing on this
continent--certain that, if there were, they would be in a states of the
utmost destitution, weakness, and misery. I neither deprecate nor resent
the gift of slavery.
The Africans brought to us had been slaves in their
own country and only underwent a change of masters...that there are
great evils in a society where slavery exists, and that the institution
is liable to great abuse, I have already said. But the whole of human
life is a system of evils and compensations. The free laborer has few
real guarantees from society, while security is one of the compensations
of the slave's humble position. There have been fewer murders of slaves
than of parents, children, and apprentices in society where slavery does
not exist. The slave offers no temptation to the murderer, nor does he
really suffer injury from his master. Who but a driveling fanatic has
thought of the necessity of protecting domestic animals from the cruelty
of their owners?
...It is true that the slaved is driven to labor by
stripes (lashes); and if the object of punishment be to produce
obedience or reformation with the lest permanent inure, it is the best
method of punishment. Men claim that this intolerable. It is not
degrading to a slave, nor is tit felt to be so. Is it degrading to a
child?
Odium (hatred) has been cast upon our legislation on
account of its forbidding the elements of education to be communicated
to slaves. But in truth what injury has been done them by this? He who
works during the day with his hands does not read in intervals of
leisure for is amusement or the improvement of his mind--or the
exception is so rare as scarcely to need the being provided for. If
there were any chance of elevating their rank, the denial of the
rudiments of education might be a matter of hardship. But this they know
cannot be and that further attainments would be useless to them.
...Supposing finally that the abolitionists should
effect their purpose. What would be the result? The first and most
obvious effect would be to put an end to the cultivation of our great
Southern staple (cotton)...the cultivation of the great staple drops
cannot be carried on in any portion of our own country where there are
not slaves...Even if it were possible to procure laborers at all, what
planter would venture to carry on his operations? Imagine an extensive
rice or cotton plantation cultivated by free laborers who might perhaps
strike for an increase of wages at a season when the neglect of a few
days would insure the destruction of the whole crop. I need hardly say
that these staples cannot be produced to any extent where the proprietor
of the soil cultivates it with his own hands.
And what would be the effect of putting an end to the
cultivation of these staples and thus annihilating, at a blow,
two-thirds or three-fourths of our foreign commerce? Can any same mind
contemplate such a result without terror? Our slavery has not only given
existence to millions of slaves within our own territories; it has given
the means of subsistence, and therefore of existence to millions of free
men in our Confederate States, enabling them to send forth their swarms
to overspread the plains and forests of the West and appear as the
harbingers of civilization. Not only on our continent, but on the other
it has given existence (in textile mills) to hundreds of thousands and
the means of comfortable subsistence to millions. A distinguished
citizen of our state has lately stated that our great staple, cotton,
has contributed more than anything else of later times to the progress
of civilization. By enabling the poor to obtain cheap, and becoming
clothing, it has inspired a taste for comfort, the first stimulus to
civilization.
* *
* * *
update 22 July 2008 |
