Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1844-01-20
Jan. L, 1874. Tract No. 4,
THE SLAVE POW ER.
FROM AN ADDRESS TO THE VoTERs OF THE SECOND Con-
GREssIoEAL DIsTRIcT OF ONO.

oSAVN DA9AhiNA VT UNIV
We have frequently declared before you that a single interest,
represented by Il comparatively small body of men, rules and
has ruled for many years in the State and Federal Governments
This is the slavehoiding interest, and its political influence we
have usually termed the "Slovc Power" We cannot insult
your patriotism by an argument to show that a small BODY of
men should not control Il Government founded for and by the
people; our object will he simply to demonstrate the fact.
As WI assert that sin veholdnr%s govern II lot us 6rt i,nrir,
into their numbers. Its a vulgar error to suppose that every
white man in the Southern States is the owner Of slaves.
The number of owners is very small, compared with the free
ndNlt population OF those States, and insignificant compared
with that Of the whole union. No statistics give the number
precisely; but as the census returns state the number of slaves,
we may, aided by our knowledge of Southern Society and agri-
culture, ontaln' WIN CONVENIENT certainty, the number OF mas
tiers. The great staples Of the South are cultivated on large
So 80 NJ w." "f "tS' e"c VI 'rn' " 's'Su S"us VI nGslo Ia
oorers' Many OF you have seen gangs OF more than a thousand
on single plantations. Gen. Wade Hampton ssad to have had
ippi Mr.. Pollock, Of North Carolina, died recently. leaving,
according to the newspapers, fifteen hundred. DR.. Mercer, Of
Adams county, Mississippi, has an immense number; and being
religiously inclined, he has erected for their use, if we may rely
on the Gospel Messenger of August, 1912, a plantation church,
costing over $4,000; and keeps an Episcopal Minister employ
States" many of the propretors own large numbers. Mr.. Car
roll, of Baltimore, Il late President of the Colonization Society,
has been repeatedly referred to by the papers of that Society as
the owner of a thousand.
In the fertile farming Districts of the South, the slaves are
gathered in large numbers, and each proprietor owns a large
'gang;' while in the billy or barren districts, slave labor being
Improbable, there are very few. In the adjoining State of Ken
lucky, there are scarcely any slaves in the hill county of Grant;
while the fertile Fayettc is crowded with them. In South Car
olina, what arc called the 'sand hill counties,' covering nearly
half of the State, are comparatively unproductYe and contain
''J iN" cI"'No' "iN 'N' ~ N0""N" O' ~ N"' "
interior, the "Sea-iand cotton" counties among them, contain
but few whites in comparison with the slaves. In Georgetown
district in that state, there are more than thirty slaves to one
grown white male; 80 that, if we take the proportion of masters
to the whole number of grown white males as one to five, each
master would own mere than one hundred and fifty slaves. In
billy Western Virginia, and Eastern Tennessee, there are few
negroes: they are owned in other parts of those states. In
brook county, v'rgml9, the proportion OF whites TO- t SaveS to to
one; in Union, Georgia, as %thirty-fve TO one; in DeKaln, , Aa-
harm, as sixteen to one; in Fentress, Tennessee as IN IN } iT
to one; in Morgan, kentuekysas seventytonr 10 o -" three m Sn91.
"a anJ oIoyon to haM. #hNnA5n other counties of the same
- opor-ANAftN# the slaves are numerous ant
the whites few:
With these facts befprSaiaNNassh6nld be sustained by most o.
you in founding OUT NA4 On the basis of twenty slaves tt
each owner; whichs V&#er of slaves is 2,487l l woult
make the numbera IL little over one hundred ant
t~wenty-tour thousand. But as we wish to avoid the charge
from any opponent however enbittered, Of exaggeration, "
Will reduce this average number of twenty to less than thirteen
80 as to make in round numbers, Two Hundred Thousant
Shareholders.
These are not all voters, many of them are minors, aliens o
women. The savehoIdng voters, then, constitute but a small
portion OF the four millions and a half of free persons in thu
slave States, and are not as numerous by some fifty thousand a
the voters of the State of Ohio.
, But the shareholders control The policy of their own States
? A glance at Southern Society and institutions will make thu
manner of cffecting this perfectly plain.
They have all the influence which every where attaches itscl
TO wealth: for the wealth of their States is concentrated in thei
hands.
ucating their own children at the Colleges of the North, tn
Academies and High Schools of the South, or by private tutor
at their own mansions; they establish no common schools 70
their poor %neighbors, the laboring whites. Chancellor Harper
OF south Carolina, advocates slavery in the Literary Messenger
VI OCtotSI3 Ioooj On II ground tnat II eXempIS ShVenOiueI
from bodily labor, and therefore he says they ''have leisure 70
intellectual pursuits, and the means of obtaining liberal educa
ton" But among the poor nonslaveholders there reigns tn
most depIorabIe ignorance. In 1887, Gov. Clarke, in his mes
sage to the Kentucky Legislature, says, "By the computation
those most familiar with the subject, Onethlrd of the adult poT
ulation of the State are unabe to oUrite their names" GovernO
Campbell makes a confession equally extraordinary, in a repo
to the Virginia Legislature. He states that it appeared frol
the returns of 50 clerks, that of 4614 applications for marrIae
licenses in 1887, l047 were made by men unable to write the
names. by the last census, there are fewer scholars at the put
lie charge in the thirteen slave states than in Ohio alone! The
have $3.50, Ohio has 81 ,812. Kentucky, just across the rive
from us, has 400! The Richmond Compiler contains an interer
ting summary from the census returns. From this, it appear
that the persons who cannot read and write are in C0nnectlct
one to five hundred and sixty Eight; in Vermont, one to four hui
dred and seventy-three; in New Hampshire, one to three huI
dred and ten; while in Louisiana, the most intelligent siav
State, it's one to thirty-eight and a half, and IN North Caroln
1t runs up to one to seven! No wonder then that an unlt'
and educated arlstocracy rule the masses OF the o0uth' WHO a
kept in ignorance by its political and social influence. 7
wonder that, in the South, the politicians lead the people II
the people the politicians, as in the North. .
A third element of the political power OF sla'e-houoIs Is .
cast constitutional privileges they enjoy, procured by their u!
ted action, wealth and intelligence In all the save ooLesi w.
but one exception, slave property is represented, IN theLeS
latures. This rule may give a District composed OF one hu
dred voters with their slaves as many representatives as anoth
of five thousand free voters. 1t enables Eastern virgin
with a miserable numerical minority OF voters, to control we
ern Virginia with her large free voting population.
In addition to this, some of the States grant the privilege
a STAKEHOLDER of voting in every District in which he may o'
land. Some of the large proprietors, therefore, may have
dozen votes,
In all Of Them tits difficult for a non-sloveholder to obtain
fee, but in some, he is made incompetent by the fundame
al law. For instance, in South Carolina, he is excluded fir
the Legislature by the Constitution. The qualification of a II
resentative is made, the ownership of slaves or else, to use
Language of that instrument, "Of a settled freehold estate OF
hundred acres ofIand and ten negroes" by TINS, II is made
possible for any other interest than that of the planters to
represented in the State Councils. The fabric OF South Z
olina aristocracy is as compact and as well protected by Ia"
the English nobility.
The enormous political privileges we have mentioned
rendered overwhelming engines against the non-slavehold