# An Essay on the Origin and Relative Status of the White and Colored Races of Mankind/An Essay

An Essay, on the origin and relative status of the
white and colored races of mankind.
Anciently, all the interior parts of Africa, lying south of Egypt, were called Ethiopia, and comprised those countries now called Nubia and Abyssinia. The black race who inhabited Ethiopia, were then called Ethiopeans; and every book we open, which treats of the Ethiopean or black Race; is involved in acknowledged obscurity. We find the great mass of the Race, in its own country, in a state of heathenism and barbarism; and, in some localities, they are cannibals to this day. They are divided into numerous Tribes, under Tribal despotisms; and have no general government, nor have they made any material advances towards civilization or Christianity; and, consequently, have no written or even reliable traditional history of their race.
When DuChaillu, the distinguished African explorer, inquired of them concerning their past history, they answered him with emotions of surprise and derisive laughter. There is in fact, no account of the black man, either in the Mosaical history of creation, or among those who were saved in the ark of the Deluge: and the only traces of his genealogy, beyond a limited period, are to be found in the dim mazes of inferential conjectures; and the various supposititious theories of his origin are irreconcileable with Revelation and the laws of Nature.
As the visage of the white Race (especially the feminine sex,) with its prominent outline of features—fair complexion; changeable rosy cheeks: delicate ruby lips; expressive ​gem-like eyes, of every shade of color; and its high intellectual forehead, surmounted by long straight flowing glossy hair, of various hues, is more attractive and fascinating than a monotonous sooty complexion, with a flat outline of features; eyes of opaque dark color; coarse dingy lips, and a low unintellectual forehead, overtopped with short dull black kinky wool; those who believe in the unity of the Races, with apologetic instinct, seem to think that black could not have been the original complexion of the black man; although its permanency was alluded to, in the early ages, by Jeremiah the Prophet, where he couples him with a wild carniverous animal of the brute creation, and emphatically asks the question—"Can the Ethiopean change his skin or the Leopard his spots?" If black was not his original complexion is it not rather strange that the Prophet should have referred to the permanency of his complexion, as illustrative of the unchangeabhness of the laws of Nature? and is it not equally strange, that, if such change had actually been made by miraculous power; as the only means by which a fixed law of Nature could be changed; that a Prophet endowed with Divine knowledge, such as Jeremiah was, should have been ignorant of it? or that no allusion, whatever, should have been made to it by any of the other inspired writers? We look, in vain, for the evidence of any such miracle.
It is, however, claimed by some that the black man originally descended from Ham, upon whose son, Canaan, Noah pronounced a curse, to punish Ham for his indecent behaviour to his Father, (Noah,) when asleep, and, by which curse, it is claimed that the descendents of Ham were doomed to perpetual servitude; their skin blackened; their features flattened: and their hair changed to wool, &c. The words of the curse were as follows:
​"And when Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him, and he said, cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant."
Here, then, the question arises: Was Noah endowed with miraculous power to change the fixed laws of Nature, so as to cause so great a transformation in Ham or in his descendents? It is said that he built the immense Ark of the Deluge, and filled it with animated beings: but immense as it was, its structure was simple and plain; and it was built under the immediate notice and specific directions of his Creator. We have no account of his endowment with any such miraculous transforming omnipotent power; and if he had been so endowed, it is very clear that by the terms of the curse, the servitude of Canaan was limited to Ham's two brethren, Shem and Japheth, and did not extend to their posterity. If the curse had been couched in terms of ambiguity, there might have been some grounds for construing the servitude to be perpetual, and that construction would, in that case, have been strengthened by his naturally servile character. For it is well known that he subordinates himself to whatever race he is associated with; whether in a state of slavery or of freedom; and would never attempt to rise to social or political equality, with the white race unless prompted to it by a portion of the superior race; as in this country; or aspire to political supremacy, unless incited to it by a vast superiority of numbers, as in St. Domingo. But to leave no doubt about the intended meaning of the curse, Noah specially named each of those brethren of Ham, to whom his son Canaan should be a servant of servants, viz: Shem and Japheth; who were to dwell ​together in the same tents, whereby Canaan could serve them the more conveniently. And, moreover, there is nothing in that curse, to indicate that either Ham, or his son Canaan, or the posterity of either of them, were to be made black by it. And the expression that Canaan should be "a servant of servants unto his brethren," evidently means that he was to be so humbled, in the sight of his Father, Ham, on whose account the curse was pronounced, as to give, even the servants of Shem and Japheth, authority over him as their subordinate; and hence, the idea of construing that curse, with its limited purpose, so plainly indicated on the face of it, so as to account for the origin and status of the black man, and consigning him thereby to perpetual slavery, is simply as absurd as it is untenable.
There are others who claim the descent of the Black man from Cain; who murdered Abel, his brother; and, for which God pronounced a curse on him, as is shown in the following Biblical account of the fratricidal crime and consequent curse:
"And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
"And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
"And he said. What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
"And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.
"When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
"And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear,
"Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid: and I shall be a ​fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
"And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him."
And this mark, intended solely for Cain's personal protection, and unaccompanied by any hereditary indication, they say was that which permanently changed his own and his posterity's skin, from a white, or some other undescribed complex ion, to an indelible black; together with other changes affecting his and their whole physical formation, equally conspicuous.
A part of the curse related to Cain's particular vocation, as a tiller of the ground, thus:—"When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield to thee her strength." The words "thou" and "thee" apply personally to Cain, alone, and not to his posterity; and so it is with the other part of the curse: "a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth," and which, allowing the widest latitude of inference, is not applicable to the black Race, who, in their own country, are not, with extremely limited exceptions, tillers of the ground; and, although they are an inferior and a degraded Race, it is questionable whether they can be said to be as vagabondish as the wandering Arabs or Gypsies: and they cannot fairly be said to be fugitives; because they have a country of their own, which is presumed to have been inhabited by them, for a period, coeval with the inhabitability of other countries, occupied by other Races: for no authentic history or tradition reaches back to the period when their country was first inhabited.
Now is it not rather incredible to suppose that the Lord should, so indefinitely, indicate a change which was permanently to affect Cain's own and his posterity's whole complexion, ​and every feature of his and their bodies, internally and externally, as I shall show hereafter, by merely saying that he would set a mark upon him to warn others not to slay him?
But as it is palpably evident that that mark was only intended for Cain's personal protection, so there is no evidence, whatever, that it was intended to affect his posterity: for if it had been so intended, the Creator would undoubtedly have made it manifest, as he has in other cases. Such as the curse which was pronounced upon Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden—and that of visiting tho sins of the Parents upon their children, unto the third and fourth generation, &c, and, moreover, if it were merely an artificial mark, it would not, by the laws of Nature, necessarily be inherited by Cain's posterity; and hence the futility of ascribing the origin of his black complexion, &c, to that cause.
When the descent of the black man from Adam is questioned, then we are confronted, by those who advocate the unity of the races, with a quotation from St. Paul's sermon, when preaching to the Athenians on Mar's Hill, which they regard as proof from holy writ, of the Adamic lineality of his descent; viz: "He" (God,) "hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth; and hath determined the times before appointed: and the bounds of their habitation," &c, and which, by a perverted construction, it is gravely argued, establishes his geneology, as a lineal descendant from Adam: whereas, the only reasonable and consistent construction of that expression—"hath made of one blood, all nations of men," &c, is that it was intended to apply to the respective Nations, as individual Nations, and not to the whole number of the inhabitants of the Earth, in their popular or aggregate capacity—or, in other words; that each ​Nation was of one blood, although it might be of a different blood from that of other Nations.
St. Paul did not say that God made all men, of one blood; but "all Nations of men" of one blood, If it had been intended to apply indiscriminately to all men, merely as individuals, then the words "Nations of," would be mere surplusage; because, the simple expression, that God hath made of one blood, all men, or all mankind, would have fully expressed the idea of its general application to all men , irrespective of their nationalities.
In corroboration of this view, we find the expression—"all men"—without the qualifying words—"all nations of men"—twice used by St. Paul in the same chapter, containing the quoted expression, viz:—in the 30th verse—"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent," and in the 31st verse, he says—"Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, that he hath raised him from the dead."
Again, "The bounds of their habitation" evidently means the bounds of their habitations as Nations, as he was then speaking of Nations; because, if it had been intended to apply to them merely as individuals, it would necessarily apply to the bounds of their individual habitations; which, generally, have no permanency, even in civilized countries, where they are marked and defined by fixed bounderies; but are constantly changing. And some of those Nomadic tribes or Nations of the inferior Races, who subsist by hunting and fishing, have no defined individual habitations, but occupy their hunting and fishing grounds, in common, as Tribes or Nations.
The Fishes and Reptiles, being cold blooded, may be said to be of one blood. But it does not follow, that, because they ​are of the same cold blood, they all come from one common ancestor; when it is notoriously known that all the varieties of them are, and always have been, widely different, in form, size, color, &c, from each other. Some are covered with shells, some with smooth skins; some with small and otherg with large scales; some are short, broad and flat; others are long and round; and, moreover, some are viviperous and others are oviperous. And God has fixed the climatic bounds of their habitations and the habitations of other lower orders of the animal Kingdom, as definitely as Europe is fixed upon for Europeans; Asia for Asiatics; Africa for Africans, and America for Americans.
The frigid zone bounds the habitations of certain land animals—such as the Polar Bear, Reindeer and Arctic Fox. The arctic sea bounds the habitations of certain sea animals—such as the Northren Whale, Walrus and Seal; and the temperate and torrid zones, each bound, with equal definitiveness, the habitations of other sea, land and acquatic animals.
But, if viewed literally, on this point, a scientific chemical analysis of the blood of the black and white Races, has demonstrated the fact that they are not of one blood, because the blood of the Black man is essentially, and materially, different from the blood of the white man—it is thinner, darker, lower in temperature, different in its globules and in its coagulation; and is more venous and carbonaceous, than his. And, hence, in that view, the facts involved, forbid the interpretation claimed by the advocates of the unity of the Races.
If the expression is construed to apply to the two Races, as being the same, in disposition, in intellect, or in religion, it is, in either case, emphatically untrue; because the disposition of the white man is, comparatively, grave or sedate; while that of the black man is volatile. In the comparative strength of ​intellect, there is a universally admitted difference in favor of the white man. In regard to religion, the black man, in his own country, is a heathen; and so of other colored Races; and the white man, in his own country, is a christian; and, hence, it is clear that the Apostles' expression was only applicable to the Races as Nations. But, if it is construed to apply to a common destiny, my views thereon will be found farther on, in their appropriate connection.
The Descent of Both the White and Black Man, from Adam, impossible.
Assuming as a basis of argument, the fact, that when God created the world He stamped upon the face of creation His immutable laws, that every living thing should bring forth after its hind; I proceed to investigate the fact, according to that standard, whether both the Black and White man could possibly have lineally descended from Adam? and in doing so, the first inquiry that presents itself, is this:—Was the complexion of our First Parents white, yellow, copper colored, brown or black? As these, with their various shades, are the known complexions of the five different Races, or varieties into which the most eminent Naturalists have divided mankind, it is fair to presume that his complexion was like that of some one of their's.
But the learned Theologians say that Adam's name imports that he was a red man. For my part I propose to compromise with the Theologians, by calling him a white man with a reddish complexion—because that is really the natural complexion of white men, generally: but there are some of them who are naturally of such a reddish hue, that it would be no mistake to call them red men; and for aught we know, Adam might have been of that class.
​The Indians of this country are called red men; but their complexion is not a true red—they are copper colored—which is a pale brick red tinged with yellow.
The presumption is that Adam and Eve were of the same complexion; as Eve was made from a rib taken from Adam's side, while he was in a deep chloroformic sleep; and was made "bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh."
The most eminent Naturalists agree that there are as many as five distinct varieties or Eaces of the human species or genus Homo, viz: The Caucasion or white Race; The Mongolian or yellow Race; The Indian or copper colored Race; The Malayan or brown Race; and the Etheopian, or black Race.
Now let us see, whehter, by the laws of Nature, either the white or black Race could have come from any combination with each other, or from any of the other Races of an intermediate complexion.
I take it for granted, that it is an admitted fact, that the offspring will follow the complexion of their Parents. If the Parents are white, the children will be white—if they are black, their children will be black: or if one of the Parents is white and the other black, then the complexion of their children will be midway between that of their Parents; and so it is, whatever the complexion of their Parents may be; and, therefore, according to the laws of Nature, the complexion of either the white or black man cannot possibly be derived from any crossing between his race and that of any other. For it is manifest that a cross of the Black man with any other race destroys his black complexion, and that likewise a cross of the white man with any other destroys his white complexion. Then how can the white man's complexion be accounted for, unless it be on the hypothesis that Adam and Eve were both white? Or how can the black man's complexion be accounted for, unlees they ​were both black? Or, how can either be occounted for, if Adam was white and Eve black? Or vice versa. A response to these questions must irresistibly force us to the conclusion that each of those races is sui generis and derived from separate creations.
It is true that the black race, in some instances, have white children, called "Albinos," who retain their white complexion during life; but they are exceptional cases of lusus naturce—being, probably, less than one to 100,000—and they are evidently freaks of nature—their organism seems to be imperfect; they cannot endure a strong light; because the pigmental membrane, back of the pupil of their eyes, is wanting; and the stratum of rete mucosom underlying the scarf skin, in others, is absent in them; and their complexion is, therefore, an unnatural sickly white; and, like "white black-birds," they do not increase or perpetuate their kind, by consecutive propogation.
Thus we see, that, if our first Parents were both white, it shuts out the black man's claim to lineage from them; If they were both black, it shuts out the white man's claim; and if they were of an intermediate complexion, it shuts out the claims of both the white end black man; and hence, the advocates of the unity of the black and white Races, in groping about for evidence, in support of their theory, have, in their blind zeal, attributed the various complexions of the Races to the effect and influence of climate; and, instinctively, presupposing the first man created to have been white, they alledge that a hot climate will change a white to a black complexion, and as proof of it they say that if a white man exposes himself to the sun, even in a cold climate, it will darken his complexion. I grant it. But. if he returns to the house again and remains there a short time he will resume his fair complexion; ​but they say that it requires a long time for a hot climate to make a white man black. The celebrated European Naturalist, [Mr. Boyle,] says that "a black complexion cannot be produced by the heat of the climate; for though the heat of the sun may darken the color of the skin, experience does not show that it is sufficient to produce a true blackness like that of the Negroes."
Now, white men—such as Bruce, Valliant, Park, Brown, Burton, Baker, Edwards, Speke, Grant, Du Chaillu, and Livingstone, visited Africa, as Explorers, and remained a long time in that hot climate, where, in some localities, the thermometer sometimes runs up as high as to 160 degrees, and when they returned home to their native land; their complexions, though slightly tanned by exposure, soon became the same as when they left it; and, at Capetown, on the southern coast of Africa, there is a dutch colony of white, who have been there, upwards of 200 years, without any change of complexion; and, moreover, there has been a settlement of Jews on the coast of Malabar, within 10 degrees of the Equator, for over 1500 years, and they still have the features and complexion of the white Caucasian Race. And, on the other hand, the black man, who belonged to that African hot climate, and was brought to this North American latitude, upwards of 200 years ago; his descendants—where thay are unmixed—are as black this day, as their ancestors were when they first landed on our shores. Therefore, if the coloring process of a hot climate, applied to the white man over 1500 years, has made no perceptible change in his complexion—and, as it is a poor rule that wont work both ways—I am curious to know how long the process will require to protuburate the features, straighten the wool, and bleach the black man white? or to flatten the features, and color the white man black? and, ​moreover, to change his hair to wool, &c.? And whether it would not follow as a natural consequence, that, if climate controls the complexion, then everybody, living in the same climate, would, necessarily, be of the same complexion.
I will now give the true cause of the white and black and intermediate complexions, based upon scientific investigation. There is a stratum of mucous matter, underneath, what is called, the scarf skin, called by anatomists—"rete mucosum," in which there is a pigmentary deposit, which gives to the skin its complexion; and which, in the Caucasian, is white; yellow, in the Mongolian; red or copper colored, in the Indian; brown, in the Malayan; and black in the Etheopian, or black man, and which can be seen, by simply raising a blister on the skin.
Thus the black man inherently carries with him, the natural elements of his own dark complexion; and his black and thick skin; his matted wool; his thick skull, and his strong odor, to repel the baneful effects of the sickening malaria of a hot climate were evidently intended to adapt him to it, and thus, also, the other colored races inherently carry with them the elements of their own native complexions.
In accounting for the darkening process, it is said that children of the black race are born nearly white, and that from the comparative smallness of their lungs, as compared with those of white children, they inhale a larger portion of carbon than of oxigen, and, that the excess of carbon, operating upon the pigmentary deposit, underlying the scarf skin, changes its color; and, consequently, the skin, in a few days, begins to darken, and continues to darken, until it attains its ultimate blackness.
The fatal effect of crossing the white and black races, proves the correctness of the theory of their separate natures and creation. For it is a well authenticated fact, that ​sometimes after the third and always after the fourth crossings further procreation ceases. We have an illustration of the fatal effect of this crossing in the history of the Island of San Domingo, where the African population was crossed by the Spaniards. In 1785, that Island, embracing Hayti and Dominica, contained an aggregate population of 676,443, and in 1824 it was decreased to 191,223, which was a falling off in 39 years, of 485,220, or over two thirds of its entire population.
While Nature refuses to let the white man and the adulterated projeny of the fourth crossing, have any issue, she permits the female issue of that crossing and a black man of the original type to breed, and to breed on in a retrograding direction, until, after successive projenies, the black race resumes, as nearly as possible, its original type.
Thus showing how fastidious Nature is in preserving the separate identity of each of the Races; and how the great Author of Nature has put his irrevocable seal of condemnation upon this new and unnatural doctrine of mis-cegenation—a process, by which the intellectual standard of the inferior race would be partially elevated at the lamentable sacrifice of dragging down that of the superior race to an intermediate and degrading level of a spurious race; and, if its distinguished advocate [Mr. Wendell Phillips,] wishes to transmit his name to posterity, as its founder, he will have to seek some other channel, than that of mis-cegenation, to carry it beyond the fourth generation; where, according to the laws of Nature and of Nature's God, it would be buried in the total extinction of both the white and black Races—a calamity not devoutly to be wished for, by either of them. And, they not only cease to breed after the third and fourth crossing; but after the ​second and third crossing, the projeny becomes sickly and consumptive; and very often, death prematurely ensues before they reach the third or fourth crossing. The same natural law that inhibits an increase of the varieties of the human species also prohibits an increase of the varieties of the several animal species, below that of the human species. For example: After the first crossing between the Horse and the Ass, whose projeny are Mules, further procreation ceases; and so, also, in the crossings between different varieties of the same species of other animals. And the only difference between them, and the crossings between the white and black races of mankind, is that the crossing between those Races does not cease until the third or fourth generation; while that, between the lower animals, generally, ceases after the first crossing. And it is a singular and significant fact that the crossings between all nations of the white Race, continue without interruption, and with improved and healthy projeny, through all ages.
I would here remind our christian friends that this miscegenation doctrine is in direct violation of the mandate of our Creator, given to us in the Biblical History of creation, to "be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth," because, if carried out to its full extent, instead of increasing our species by fruitfulness, it would, ex necessitati, result in eventual barrenness and extinction.
Professor Blumenbach, a German Naturalist of some note, who, himself, recognized the five Races into which mankind is divided, in pandering to preconceived opinions through popular credulity, endeavored to prove their unity of descent from Adam, by showing, by way of illustration, a physical resemblance between man and the Hog; after which, he says there are different varieties of the Hog; which he alleges came from a common ancestor, as well as of man; and asserts that, in ​Piedmont, the Hogs are all black; in Bavaria, they are ail reddish brown; and in Normandy, they are all white; and that, corresponding with these varieties, the native inhabitants of Guinea, Madagascar, New Holland, New Guinea, &c., are black; many of the American Tribes arc reddish brown; and the Europeans are white. He then claims that all the varieties of the Hog came from one common ancestor—the wild Boar of those great Forests of Poland and Germany. But Mr. Blumenbach seems not to be aware that, by a fixed law of Nature, the color of wild animals is as unchangeable, through all generations, as the skin of the Ethiopian, or the spots of the Leopard; or that crosses between the wild and domestic Hog, like that between the Horse and the Ass and other wild and domestic animals, would probably cease after the first generation; and, moreover, that a resemblance to the primitive ancestor will show itself, occasionally, even in remote generations of domestic animals, liable to changes of color; but, according to Professor B's theory, the Hogs in each of those different countries, named by him, are uniformly of one color, and those in each country vary in color from those of each other country, and all of them, from the color of the wild Boar, claimed by him as their putative ancestor, which is a blackish or chestnut brown mixed with grey.
In fact the wild Boar bears about the same relation to the domestic Hog, that the wild cat, which never changes its color, bears to the domestic cat of various colors. And if it be true that a different variety of the domestie Hog exists in each of those countries, and that in each of them, they are uniform in color, and none of them ever have projeny resembling their alleged putative ancestor (the wild Boar,) the inference and parallel is conclusive that, like the varieties of the human race, also peculiar to the respective countries which ​they originally inhabited, they are evidently excluded from the probability of a common descent from one and the same primitive ancestor, and the plain inference is, therefore, that they are of separate and distinct creations.
And again. In order to have made the wild Boar the common ancestor of all those local varieties of the domestic Hog, it would have been necessary to have caught him; imported and domesticated him, and then to have subjected his descendants, in violation of the known laws of Nature, to an entire change of color and habit, different from that of their alleged ancestor.
There is, in short, no more probability or reason, in the assumption of Professor Blumenbach's swinish unity of descent, than there is in the silly idea that all the domestic apples originally came from the little wild sour crab apple. And his illustration having failed, his assumption fails with it; and, instead of proving a unity of swinish descent he forcibly illustrates the fact of separate swinish creations; and, also, by analogy, strengthens the inference of the separate creations of the white and colored Races of man.
Different species of animals have their varieties; and some of those varieties are indigenous to certain latitudes; and the habitat of some of them is limited to certain specific localities; and, they are as distinct and uniform in their identity, as varieties, as the genus, species or family are, to which they are related, in their classification. For example: The Horse, Zebra and Ass are varieties of the Equus species; The Elephant, Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus, of the Pachydermous species; The Dog, Wolf and Hyena of the Canine species; The Lion, Leopard and cat, of the feline species; The Baboon, Monkey and Ourang Outang, are of the Simia family, and I would ask, then, whether there is any one so blind to the laws of Nature, ​that govern the propogation of animals, as to believe that the Dog, Wolf and Hyena; or the Lion, Leopard and Cat; or the Horse, Zebra and Ass; or the Elephant, Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus; or the Baboon, Monkey and OurangOutang, came from one common ancestor? And is not the human species, physically, as much a pari of the animal Kingdom, and subject to the same laws of Nature, that govern it, as the animals of the other departments of it arc? And why should there not be a similar diversity of black, white and intermediate races of man, as there is in the varieties of the genus, species or families of animals of the brute creation? And, are not the races of man as well known from each other, by their different features and complexions, as the lower animals are? Is it at all probable that a White man could be mistaken for a China man? or a China man for an Indian? or an Indian for a Malayan? or a Malayan for an Ethiopian or black man? any more than a Jackass could be mistaken for a Horse? or a Rhinoceros for an Elephant? or a Leopard for a Lion? or a Baboon for an Ourang Outang? and, in the absence of any assumed genealogical account of the unity of the Races, I would ask, would any one doubt, from their marked difference in appearance, that the white and colored man, were the result of separate and distinct creations?
The whole arcana of Nature shows that the Creator delighted in varieties. In the animal Kingdom, we have varieties of the Horse, Cow, Hog, Dog, Wolf, Fox, Deer. &c. In the vegetable Kingdom we have varieties of the different kinds of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers, &c, and, in the mineral Kingdom, we have varieties of the different kinds of Earths, Ores, Crystals, &c., and the varieties of mankind are therefore in perfect unison with the vast system of creation.
The disparity in the Races is so palpably evident that even ​the untutored savage, guided by the light of natural reason and the instincts of nature, believes in their separate creations, as is aptly illustrated by the following curious tradition.
When Governor Duval of Florida, at an early day, proposed to send teachers among the Seminole Indians, to educate them, as a means of civilizing them; after deliberating, in council, on the subject, their Chief returned the following unsophisticated answer:
"My brother, we have been thinking over the proposition of our Great Father at Washington, to send teachers and set up schools among us. We are very thankful for the interest he takes in our welfare; but after much deliberation, have concluded to decline his offer. What will do very well for white men, will not do for red men.
I know you white men say we all come from the same Father and Mother, but you are mistaken. We have a tradition handed down from our Forefathers, and we believe it, that the Great Spirit, when he undertook to make men, made the black man; it was his first attempt, and pretty well for a beginning; but He soon saw that He had bungled; so He determined to try his hand again. He did so, and made the red man. He liked him much better than the black man, but still he was not exactly what He wanted. So He tried once more, and made the white man, and then He was satisfied. You see, therefore, that you were made last, and that is the reason I call you my youngest brother.
When the Great Spirit had made the three men, He called them together and showed them three boxes. The first was filled with books, and maps and papers; the second with bows and arrows, knives and tomahawks; the third with spades, axes, hoes and hammers. These, my sons; said he 'are the means ​by which you are to live; choose among them according to your fancy.'
The white man, being the favorite, had the first choice. He passed by the box of working tools without notice; but when he came to the weapons of war and hunting, he stopped and looked hard at them. The red man trembled, for he had set his heart upon that box. The white man, however, after looking upon it for a moment, passed on, and chose the books and papers. The red man's turn came next; and you may be sure he seized, with joy, upon the bows, and arrows and tomahawks. As to the black man he had no choice left, but to put up with the box of tools.
From this it is clear that the Great Spirit intended the white man should learn to read and write; to understand all about the moon and stars; and to make everything, even Rum and whisky That the red man should be a first rate hunter, and a mighty warrior; but he was not to learn any thing from books, as the Great Spirit had not given him any; nor was he to make Rum and Whisky, lest he should kill himself with drinking. As to the black man, as he had nothing but working tools, it was clear he was to work for the white and red man, which he has continued to do. We must go according to the wishes of the Great Spirit, or we shall get into trouble. To know how to read and write, is very good for white men, but very bad for red men. It makes white men better, but red men worse. Some of the Creeks and Cherokes learned to read and write, and they are the greatest rascals among all the indians. They went to Washington, and said they were going to see their Great Father to talk about the good of the nation. And when they got there, they all wrote upon a little piece of paper, without the nation at home knowing any thing about it. And the first thing the nation at home knew of the ​matter, they were called together by the Indian Agent, who showed them a little piece of paper, which he told them was a treaty, which their brethren had made in their name, with their Great Father at Washington. And as they knew not what a treaty was, he held up the little piece of paper, and they looked under it, and lo! it covered a great extent of country, and they found that their brethren, by knowing how to read and write, had sold their lands, and the graves of their Fathers; and that the white man, by knowing how to read and write, had gained them. Tell our Great Father at Washington, therefore, that we are very sorry we can not receive teachers among us; for reading and writing, though very good for white men, is very bad for indians."
Another evidence of the opposite natures of the two Races is to be found in the natural and general repugnance of the white man, to an intimate personal association with the black man, in his instinctive aversion to eat at the same Table; to drink from the same cup; to sleep in the same bed; to sit next to him in the same Church Pew or Railroad Car; or, in short, to be in any close proximity to him, in any place whatever. And this aversion is not based entirely on the peculiar odor emitted from his body; so inoffensive to himself and yet so offensive to the white man; but it is general and instinctive; and is based on a stern law of Nature, similar to that which governs our intercourse with the lower Animals or Reptiles; and is coeval with our existence. As early as 2700 years ago the fair widowed Queen, Dido, of Carthage, committed suicide rather than comply with the unnatural and selfish importunities of her principal subjects, to marry Iarbus, the swarthy Monarch of Mauritania, in Africa. And as a further illustration of its existence, the white man is quicker and fiercer to ​resent an insult from a black man than from one of his own race. We find the existence of this repugnance betraying itself, in various ways, even in those who, from political policy and sinister motives, necessarily fraternize, to some extent, with the black race: who, by their natural credulity, are blinded to the flattering deceptions of professed equality,
The sexual amours of the black man are not chastened by those gentle, refined and tender sensibilities of Divine inspiration, like those of the white man. And, as proof that their sexual passions are grossly animal; during the massacre of St. Domingo, they violated the persons of white females, and immediately after satiating their brutal lusts, they murdered them, by deliberately cutting their throats. The intensity of their affections never impels them to commit suicide at the shrine of unrequited love.
There are a very few instances where white women, who, are abandoned to all respect for the popular sense of propriety of their own sex and race, that have cohabited with black men; and also where giddy white girls have been decoyed into matrimonial alliances with them, through the illusion of a delusive feeling of romance; like the fair Desdemona, in Shakespear's delineations of the fatal consequences of unnatural alliances, was allured by the sable Othello, who afterwards murdered her, from a naturally predisposed jealousy, excited by the artful Iago.
Again. It is a fact, as curious as it is interesting; and which, with other corroborating facts; proves the close proximity of the Black man to the order of animals next below the human Race, which is, that each variety of the wild animals has but one color of hair and eyes, peculiar to itself; and the Black man, like the wild animals, has the same uniform color ​of hair and eyes peculiar to himself; and so also the other colored races. Whereas the white man and the domestic animals generally—such as the Horse, Cow, Goat, Hog, Dog, Rabbit, Goose, Chicken, &c, have eyes and hair or plumage of different and various colors.
And it is also a curious and corroborating fact that, in the vegetable Kingdom, the wild fruits, like the wild animals, in the animal Kingdom, are each invariably of the same color and form; and do not cross or intermix like the domestic fruits. You may plant the seed of the wild crab apple where you please and it will invariably produce the same kind of Tree and Fruit—and so it is of other wild Fruits—but the seed of domestic Fruits—such as the Apple, Peach, Plum, Apricot, Cherry, Grape, kc, often produce new varieties of Tree, Vine and Fruit, different from that borne by the original Parent Tree or Vine. Therefore, reasoning by analogy, we may infer that the Black man bears the same relation to the animal kingdom that the wild animals and, Fruits bear to the animal and vegetable Kingdoms; and as lie partakes of the semblance of the wild animals, in the uniform color of his eyes and hair or wool, and approximates nearer to them in his physical formation than any of the other Races, as I shall show hereafter, it is evident that he is the connecting link, in the great chain of animal creation, between the lowest variety of the genus Homo or man; and the highest order of the Simia genus or Monkey Tribe.
And again: In the history of creation, we are told that "there was not a man to till the Earth," "and the Lord God took the man [Adam] and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." And after his violation of the command of God, in eating the forbidden Fruit, it further says—"and therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground."
​Now the Black man, in his native country, with rare exceptions, is not a tiller of the ground; nor was he in this country, until he was compelled to till it by the coercion and teachings of the white man.
I will now present a statement of the average facial angle of each of the five varieties, into which the Human Species is divided, and also that of the Ourang Outang, or Black Ape, in order to show, in the graduated scale of creation, the close physical approximation of the form of the head and face of the black man, to that animal, as one of the higher order of the brute creation. The facial angle or angle of the face, refers to the elevation or depression of the forehead; and the data is obtained by taking the average measurement of a certain number of skulls. The higher the number of degrees, the nearer the forehead approaches to a perpendicular line, which is called 90 degrees. I am thus particular, in regard to this facial angle, because it also indicates the general standard of intellect.
| The facial angle of the Caucasian or white man is | 85 degrees |
| The facial“ angle of the“ Mongolian or yellow man is“ | 75 degrees“ |
| The facial“ angle of the“ American or copper colored man is | 73 degrees“ |
| The facial“ angle of the“ Malayan or brown man is | 73 degrees“ |
| The facial“ angle of the“ Ethiopean or black man is“ | 70 degrees“ |
| The facial“ angle of the“ Ourang Outang or black ape is | 60 degrees“ |
It will thus be seen, by this statement, that the average facial angle of the white man is only 5 degrees below a perpendicular line, while that of the Black man is 20 degrees below it; and only 10 degrees above the Ourang Outang, or black Ape; and is supposed to be still less above that of the Chimpanse and Gorilla; and that being the case, he approximates more nearly to the Monkey tribe, in his craniological formation, than he does to the higher order of the human species, with which he is identified as a variety.
​As the facial angle is an index to the comparative strength of the intellectual faculties, the statement also shows the curious fact, that the lighter the complexion of the Race the higher and more intellectual the forehead; and vice versa, the darker the complexion of it the lower the forehead and the weaker the intellect.
For, in accordance with the science of Phrenology, the reasoning faculties are located in the front, and the animal passions in the back part of the cranium. And, consequently, the white man having more frontal brain than the Black man, it necessarily follows, that it gives him an intellectual superiority over him.
In those cases, where the white man's forehead is low, its depression is generally compensated for, by an increase of its capacity in width; but as a general rule the forehead of the Black man is both low in its facial angle, and narrow in width.
Having demonstrated, from organic causes, the mental superiority of the white man over the black man, I now propose to institute a physiological comparison to show that there is not a single feature, in the whole physical formation of the black man, external or internal, that is identical with the corresponding features of the white man; and, in every case of dissimilarity, it will be perceived that the features of the black man except, perhaps, his lips and cheeks, approximate toward the features of those animals which rank next, in order, to the human species.
The black man's forehead is lower than the white man's. His skull is thicker than the white man's—so thich that they can carry great burthens on their heads, and can butt their heads together, like Rams or Bulls, when fighting.
His brain is smaller, in bulk, than the white man's. (Accord​ing to Professor Morton, of Philadelphia, it is over nine cubic inches smaller.)
The bulk of the white man's brain is located in the front, and of the black man's in the back of his head,
The white man's eyes are clear and of various colors—the black man's eyes are invariably opaquely dark.
The eyes of the Black man stand out further than the white man's.
The white of the white man's eyes is a clear white—in the Black man it is yellowish and dingy, and often blood-shot.
The skin of the Black man is thicker than the white man's.
The complexion of the Black man is black—the white man's is white.
The nose of the white man is high and thin—the black man's is low and broad.
The nostrils of the white man enter his nose perpendicularly —the black man's enter his obliquely.
The lips of the white man are red—the black man's are reddish brown.
The teeth of the white man meet together perpendicularly—the black man's meet at an obtuse angle, projecting forward.
The jaws of the black man project farther forward;
His ears are smaller and stand further back;
His neck is shorter;
His arms are longer;
His fingers are flatter;
His feet are broader, flatter and his insteps lower;
His toes are longer;
His toe and finger nails are thicker and narrower;
His legs are thinner and more bowing than the white man's.
​He has an odor that is inoffensive to himself, but is personally offensive to the white man.
The hair of the white man is straight and cylindrical, and of various colors—the black man's is curly and oval, and uniformly black.
The Mongolian and the Indian's is also black, but straight.
The Malayan's is black, bushy and frizzly.
The leg bones of the black man are longer and flatter;
His shin bone stands more central in the muscles of his leg:
His thighs are thinner, longer, and flatter;
His head and heels project further back;
The sides of his chest are flatter;
The expansibility of his lungs is much less than the white man's.
His blood is thinner, darker, more venous and carbonaceous; lower in temperature, by two degrees; and different in its globules and its coagulation, from the white man's.
The skull of a black infant is undivided, like a gourd; whereas the skull of a white infant has six plates and a corresponding number of sutures.
The liquid in his gall is darker than it is in the white man's.
(Dr. Barriere, of England, in his Work, of an early period, says "it is black, and being mixed with their blood, is deposited between their skin and scarf skin; and that the cause of this remarkable difference from the rest of the human species, has much perplexed the Naturalists.")
His lungs and the orifices in them, are much smaller;
His liver is much larger;
The fibres of his muscles are courser, and the muscles themselves are more grossly developed;
His skin is courser, thicker and tougher than the white man's.
​The transverse serrations or sutures in the white man's skull; and his bones, cartileges, ligaments, &c., all differ from those of the Black man's. Colored infants, in their approximation towards the physical precocity of the lower animals, can walk and run at a much earlier age than white infants; and, in their native country, after the birth of their first child, the breasts of the women hang down below their navals; and their children, born afterwards, when only two months old, without assistance, cling to their mothers' back and draw their nourishment from her breasts, thrown to them over her shoulders.
The advocates of the mental equality of the black and white races are obliged to go outside of the ranks of the. black man, with very rare exceptions, and claim for his race the talents of a Fred. Douglas, a Selma Martin, a John M. Langston, a Solomon Cooper, and others of a mixed race, who have inherited their talents from their white ancestry; and it is as untrue to call those men black men, or negroes, as it would be to call them white men—they are neither. From his peculiar organism, the black man can never be pre-eminent in the higher or more useful and intricate branches of mathematics, which are the true test of the strength of the mind; and he is behind all the other races in mechanical inventiveness. In fact the faculty of inventiveness seems to be graded according to race. The anglo saxon, of the Caucasian race, possesses it in the highest degree; the Chinese and Japanese, of the Mongolian race, with their oblique almond-shaped eyes, and small features, come next, as is shewn by their art of building, polishing minerals, manufacture of Japan wares, silks and other fibrous fabrics; but they have attained no pre-eminence with the white Race, in the cultivation of the fine arts of Painting, Sculpture, Music, &c, although they are the oldest ​semi-civilized race in the world, and have a general civil government, and a somewhat enlightened jurisprudence derived 2300 years ago from their venerated Law-giver and Philosopher, Confucius, alias Kong-Fu-Tse; which is rigidly enforced by severe and cruel punishments. Next in rank to them are the American Indians, with their high cheek bones, and straight black hair, as is indicated by their manufacture of calumets, or steatitic Pipes, Stone Hatchets, Head dresses, Leggins, Mocosins, Reticules and Purses, from tanned deer skins ornamented with beads, &c. Next to the Indian, ranks the brown Malayan, with his bushy hair; and lastly the black man, with his curly wool, who ranks the lowest in his claim to this wonderful and useful faculty; but neither of the colored races have risen to the ability of the white man, in the invention of intricate machinery—such as watches, clocks and steam engines; or of musical instruments—such as the Organ, Piano, &c., or of scientific instruments—such as the Compass, Chronometor, &c. In short, none of them have ever given to the world a Harrison to invent Time pieces—a Guttenburg to invent Types—a Fulton and a Stephenson to apply the power of steam to ships and machinery—a Franklin to draw the lightening from the clouds—a Morse to give to electricity the power of winging thoughts with the speed of lightening—or a Daguerre to invent the camera to paint true imitations of animate and inanimate objects with geometrical exactness.
It is said, however, that some years ago a black man, in Baltimore, made an Almanac. If he was of unmixed blood and made it without white assistance, he was a very rare exception, and the only one of his race who ever did; and this exceptional case does not make black men a race of Astronomers.
The wonderful musical talents of "Blind Tom," as a ​performer on the Piano, are also referred to as evidence of the Black man's great capacity for acquiring the art of Music. Tom's knowledge of Music was not acquired by scientific study, but, solely, by ear: and his retentive memory, intense passion and exquisite taste for music, were extraordinary gifts, and sportive freaks of nature, at the expense of his other faculties; for he is an awkward ignoramus, and almost an idiot in every other respect.
As evidence of the Black man s architectural talents, it has been claimed that he built the Pyramids of Egypt and other ancient structures: but that has been entirely refuted by modern discoveries; and ancient sculpture and paintings, all exhibit him in subordinate attitudes.
It has also been alleged that Hannibal, the great Carthagenian General, was a black man: but this allegation is based upon geographical and historical ignorance; by confounding the white inhabitants of the city of Carthage—which was founded in African territory, purchased, from the Africans, by Queen Dido of Tyre—with the original natives of Africa. The preserved outlines of Hannibal's prominent features and straight hair show that he had no identity with the Black man.
It has also been claimed that, Solomon, King of the Israelites, who were known as a white race, and whose descendants at this day, are known to be white, was a black man, because it is written in the Book of Canticles, that on a certain occasion, he said, "I am black but comely," but that alleged blackness was undoubtedly a figurative allusion to his fallen state, after his apostacy—a term which was commonly used to denote degeneracy. However, the Book of Canticles, containing the alleged declaration, has been discarded from the Bible as uncanonical and consequently as unreliable.
​It has also been claimed that Euclid, the great mathematician, was a black man. His biographers do not say so; and they acknowledge, moreover, that the place of his nativity is unknown; but having taught mathematics and compiled his books in Alexandria, in Egypt, and the Egyptian King, (Ptolomy,) having been one of his sudents, I think it is most probable that he was born in or near Alexandria.
At the time of the Deluge, there were only four pair of human beings who went into Noah's Ark, to wit: Noah and his wife, and his three sons—Shem, Ham and Japhet—and their wives; and, as there are at least five distinct varieties or Races of the human species in existence, it follows as a necessary consequence, that the head of one of the five Races had no place in the list of Noah's family who went into the Ark: and the black man, being of the lowest type of the human races, it is not probable that he was taken into it, to the exclusion of a Race of a higher type; and hence we can only account for his existence, by a separate and distinct creation of another Race, in accordance with the opinions of the most learned and scientific Naturalists of the present age.
In support of the inequality and incongruity of the two extreme Races, as bearing upon their disunity, I quote the views and opinions of some of our most eminent statesmen of all political parties and sections of our country, from the administration of the elder Adam's down to that of Abraham Lincoln.
The elder Adams said, "I have never read reasoning more absurd; sophistry more gross, * * * * * * than the subtle labors of Helvetius and Rosseau, to demonstrate the natural equality of mankind."
Thomas Jefferson said, "Nothing is more certainly written in the Book of Fate, than that these people are to be free, nor is it less certain that the two Races, equally free, cannot live under the same government."
​Henry Clay said, "Of the utility of a total separation of the two incongruous Races of our population (supposing it to be practicable,) none have ever doubted. The mode of accomplishing that desirable object has alone divided public opinion."
Daniel Webster said, "If any gentleman from the South, shall propose a scheme, to be carried on by this government, upon a large scale, for the transportation of the colored people to any country, or any place in the world, I should be quite disposed to incur almost any degree of expense to accomplish that object."
Stephen A. Douglass said, "I believe this government was made by white men. for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever; and I am in favor of confining citizenship to white men—men of European birth and descent, instead of conferring it upon Negroes, Indians and other inferior Races."
Abraham Lincoln said, "I am not and never have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes; nor of qualifying them to hold office; nor to intermarry with whites; and I will say further, in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and blade Races, which I believe will forever forbid the tivo Races living together on terms of social and political equality."
The existing white and colored counter secret organizations, consequent upon colored enfranchisement, fraudently obtained, through technical forms, without a fair and direct expression or sanction of the popular will; and an attempt, by the government, to enforce it, at the point of the bayonet, has entailed upon our country constantly recurring scenes of horror and feverish excitement; alike detrimental to its peace and dignity, at home, and its high character abroad; and thus, we ​have a literal fulfilment of the ominous predictions of those eminent statesmen, above quoted.
But some Theologians say that if the Black man is not a lineal descendant from Adam, he is, consequently, left without a Savior; because, they say, that it was through the fall of Adam, that created the necessity of a Savior. In answer to that, I would say, that if he belongs to the human family—as I believe he and all others do, who have the faculties of speech and of reason—however limited in degree; and, was in existence, prior to the advent of the Savior, as he undoubtedly was; and as the Savior died for the salvation of all mankind; He must have died for his salvation also, as a part of mankind; and, therefore, I can see no danger of his being left outside of the pale of redemption, on account of his separate creation. But if he should not be embraced in it, God, who created him, will, in his infinite wisdom, justly provide for his ultimate destiny, whatever it may be, and is accountable to Himself, alone, for whatever disposition may be made of him.
The relative status of the inferiority of the black man is no fault of his, nor the fault of his Creator, whose indisputable sovereign pleasure it was to fix it at whatever standard he chose, as he did that of Man below the Angels. But nevertheless, barring his political and social equality, the superior Race ought to extend to him, in a magnanimous christian spirit, equal protection of the law, while he remains here, and a full opportunity to improve his mental faculties according to his capacity; so as to qualify him to intelligently seek his own salvation, and to carry the tidings of the gospel to the land of his forefathers; and there to spread them, so as to civilize and evangelize benighted Africa. For, in my opinion he was permitted to be brought in contact with the white race, here, in the capacity of a slave, and by association with a ​christian people, to ultimately qualify him for that mission; and in furtherance of that view, the government ought to send cargoes of the most intelligent of the Race, to the interior of Africa, supplied with Mechanical Tools and Agricultural implements, where they could institute a civil and a christian government, like ours, with ungrudged social and political equality, and, in the course of time, they would repay their debt of gratitude to us, in a preferred legitimate commerce in the tropical productions of that fertile land, the interior of which, they, alone, can inhabit, with impunity; and thus the blessed Savoir will be obtaining "the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his possession."
In conclusion, I would say, without any undue prejudice towards any Race, or any class of the human family, that my reason and researches have brought me to the irresistable conclusions and belief:—
That Adam was not the primitive ancestor of the Black man; nor is the Black man a lineal descendant from Ham; or his degraded son, Canaan; or from that fratricidal murderer, Cain; nor was he made black from the effect of climate, but that he was a separate, distinct and independent creation, specially adapted, by his nature and complexion, to a hot climate, for which he was evidently designed, and in which he was first discovered, in close proximity to other orders of the animal Kingdom, next below him, also indiginous to a hot climate: ​and, however homogeneous he may claim only of colored races to be—in his coveted affiliation—the white man, with his fair complexion, his ruddy cheek, his ruby lip, his expressive eye, his intellectual forehead, his superior aptitude, his great powers of conception, comprehension, calculation, and invention, was the favored and crowning work of creation, as he proudly stalked forth in the mental image of Divinity, fresh from the illimitable conceptions of infinite wisdom, and the omnipotent hands of creative power.
* ↑ Genesis, chapter 9:21 to 27 inclusive
* ↑ Genesis, chapter 1:8 to 15 inclusive.
* ↑ Acts, chapter 7; 26, 30 and 31.
* ↑ See Keim's sketches of San Domingo.
* ↑ Seminole tradition by Washington Irving.
* ↑ See Browns Zoologist's Text Book, published in Glascow, Scotland.
* ↑ Goldsmiths Animated Nature.
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