Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-05-07
PROTEST.

Locus r. PAIGE,
EDWIN II, CHApIN,
PROTEST.
1t is not from an idle curiosity, but from al
deep interest in the signs and promises of better
days, that we desire to know how stands the
ministry Of the UniyersaIis Church in reference
to the great question Of American Slavery
The measure hereby adopted is one that prom
ses such a result, as the request is preferred to
to every minister of the Uniyersaist denolnina-
ton in the United States, with brotherly alfec-
ton and true respect. We wish, moreover, to
know from whom we can expect hearty fellow
ship and cooperation in our prayers, our pleas,
and our labors to advance the cause of Human
Freedom and to whom we may look for sympa-
thy in our adherence and detestation Of that
system which destroys, as far as man has the
power to Destroy the grand distinction between
man and brutes, and which holds in perpetual
bondage TWO and half millions Of our fellow
creatures We believe that by presenting uni
ted front we can add something to the moral
power that is creating deep horror at the mon
strous wrongs Of Slavery and that shall gather
strength and greatness till human nature can
not withstand the majesty oftbe demand to let
the oppressed go free, but shall glorify God by
loyalty to Right and Duty With this desire,
hope, and trust, we offer our Protest against
American Slavery, in the following reasons.
|. Because it denies the eternal distinction
between man and property, ranking human
being with material thing. The attributes of
the soul forbid such classification for that a.
lone can be recognized as property which is not
wronged by the act of being owned by another
70 man was originally given dominion over the
lower orders of animals, that he might have them
as property; but he has no right nor grant to
to own his fellow-being
2. Because Slavery does not award to the la.
borer the fruit of his toll, in any higher sense
than to the cattle All the claim tie any prop
erty--even to the fruits of the tillage of the
smallest plat of ground-depends on the will
of him who claims by the same tenure both the
soil and the laborer Man was created to own,
and not to be owned; the claim of another upon
the fruits of his toll, as upon the product Of the
service of mere animal overooks the higher
nature and the absolute rights of a human
being.
3. Because Slavery trammels the intellectual
powers and prevents their expansion. The ex-
FEASIBILITY of the human mind is one of its chief
gories, and endless means are appropriated to
it by its Creator TO labor Systematically to
dwarf the intellect is to prevent the opening to
full vision, of the eye that God made, where
with man should see him in the manifestations
of himself through his laws This, Slavery
does 1t denies to the slave even the alphabet
of knowledge, the simplest clements of intellect
ual progress The very enactment of laws
which forbid under severe penalties any one
to teach the slave to read and write, implies all
that we claim for his intellectual capacity, and
manifesty declares that the maintenance of
the system depends upon dwarfing the intel
lect.
A. Because Slavery checks the deyclopement
of the moral nature of the slave 1t denies
him rights, and thereby denies him responsible
ity. With the denial of his manhood, necessa-
rily goes his accountability for where the dis
tinction between persons and things is lost, the
duties and responsibilities of the person are
merged and lost in the thing. The slave is, to
all ntents and purposes of property, deprived of
his moral nature, and thereby ofhis participation
in common humanity.
5. Because slavery involves practical denial
Of the religious nature of the slave The su-
preme will to the slave, is the will of his mas
ter; and that which dwarls the intellect. and
checks the development of the moral nature
must be opposed to religious growth 1t takes
from the victim the means which God has fur
nished to beget and foster true and flia rev.
erence towards Himself, and gives hin no rel-
gion but creduluy, 1t shuts up the Bible from
the slave as eaectuay as ever Popery did from
the people in the days of its most terrific pow
er
w. Because Slavery presents an insurmounta-
bic barrier to the PRONUNCIATION Of the great
truth of Universal Brotherhood, and thereby
most effectually prevents the progress of true
Christianity. Under its broad shadow Uuyer-
salsm cannot grow, The seed is at best, sown
among thorns that choke its vegetation. Under
the legitimate influences of such system. the
soul cannot regard with favor the religion which
has the same voice and tone, the same commands
and warnings the same hopes and promises,
for HIM who is regarded as athing and classed
with cattle, as for the most elevated and gifted
of the human race. And inasnuch as slavery
denies the equality that exists, by the attributes
OF human nature, between man and man. il
cannot but frown on the religion of Christ