Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1853-07-14
Hebrew ~Servitude, and
American Slavery.

A vast majority OF Inc American PeoPie
turn, as yet, to the Bible as the ultimate
authority in every question of morals. The
public sentiment Of the country cannot be
arrayed. as yet, in opposition to an undis.
puted injunction Of the Word OF God; nor
can any immoral practice be successfully
resisted. until it can be clearly shown that
i. stands condemned by the Holy Script
ures.
Hence the u%ntiring efforts which are made
BY the friends and supporters of American
slavery to find in the Bible a warrant for
the system, or, at the very least, to prove
that God has not there expressly condemned
such ant easlaving of man. 1t is therefore
Of the utmost importance that the actual
teachiAsx. Of the Bibleupon human servi-
tuie shoaid be c~andidly examined by all,
for this fearful question Of American sIav-
cry will in the end be determined by the
verdicl of Gods own Word. If Southern
slaveholding is condemned as a sin, when
Judged by the authority Of the Bible, the
pnblic sentiment Of this nation will demand
and certainly obtain its removal. If, on the
"t'Ci Huhu, u hiuJ 'dHIJ Cidihl VIC SdtlCtlOl
of the Bible, or, if it can even escape con.
domination by a candid exposition of its
teachings, then we think this system of
bondage is im~pregnable, except to be over
thrown by revolution aud the shedding of
blood, or, unles s The authority of such a BIZ
bic should be utterly rejected and the
churches thus expoundingr revelation from
God, should be forsaken as false.
|, The chief and only e~ifectual support of
slavery, in this country, is found in the be-
lief Of the masses of the people that it is
either sanctioned by, or at least not con.
demned by the Scriptures and this con-
%viction has been produced, and is most
%watchfulIy strengthened and guarded, by
nearly the whole religions influence of the
land.
To rescue the Word OF God from the
hands of those who have compelled it into
a defense of oppression. and TO show that
its authority demands freedom for all men,
and allows property in none, Is the first work
Of the friends of the slave. If successful
in this, the triumph is sure, but failing in
this, i, will be found impossible by any 9th
er method to arouse the public conscience.
If in the Word of God there can be
found any warrant, defense. or apology for
the American STAKEHOLDER, it must be in
the laws and practice of the Hebrews, I'M
der the Mosaic dispensation. If in that
commonwealth where God Himself wasthe
law-giyer and ruler, He established, ap.
proved, or permitted such system of servi.
tude as prevails in a portion of our own
Icountry, il will be found very difficult TO
convince The people Gifts wrongfpIness ROW.
by any arguments drawn from a considera.
ton Of tis remoteness of that period, the
different character Of the Jewish people, or
the progress which society has since made,
or the additional light aud knowledge which
we enjoy. If God, at any time, and to any
people, permitted such a system, with his
special sanction, the masses Of the people,
we may we'll fear, will he slow to believe
that it is positively forbiddenin this age, and
to the American people.
In the hope of being instrumental in
shed ling some light upon the teachings of
the Bible, this tract has been prepared, in
order that the reader may see at a glance
the points Of resemblance, or contrast. be-
tween the servitude allowed by Jehovah
among the Hebrews, and the slaveholding
system OF the United States.
1t will be seen first Of all that American
slavery rests for its basis and starting point,
upon a principle or assumption entirely
different from the radical idea of the He.
brew servitude, and springing from two
germs or ideas, thus distinct in nature they
could no more become similar systems than
a kernel of wheat could produce a bramble,
or the thistle.see an oak.
If we can once fix clearly in our minds,
this essential difference of nature between
these two forms of servitu'le, we shall per.
ceive that each is the natural outgrowth
from its own root, that there are really few
points of resemblance between them, that
they presen, almost nothing in common.
The whole str Il of the Hebrew serv.
itude, is reared upon the single idea that
the servant is man, simply owing labor
for a limited period to his fellow-man The
whole Hebrew code is constructed upon
this idea. 1t contemplates throughout a
man as the object Of its legislation, and con.
tains not a single provision which deprives
the servant of one essential right or priv.
lege of the immortal human being. Not
one OF its enactments is suitable for a mere
brute or a thing. The manhood of the ser.
want is neysf overlooked.
Our own slave code starts from, and bro.
ceeds throughout upon the exactly opposite
idea, that the slave IS not a man. bat a
brute. without rights, a mere piece of prop.
erly, withostpersonaliiy in law. In theory,
ii regards the slave not as an immortal, free
agent, accountable to God not as a man,
but, with almost no exceptions, as a mere
chattel having either no power or no right
TO will. and responsible to the owner alone.
The Hebrew servant then was a man, and
deprived by law Of no right whose loss would
make him less than a man. The American
slave, on the contrary, is not a man, but a
mere chatteI a piece of property, to which
the law carefully forbids every privilege, the
granting Of which, would be an admission
that the slave is a man. Slavehood and
manhood are by the theory of southern laws,
the opposite of each other.
The writer knows no exception to this
rule in favor of the rights Of the slave; but
by a refinement in cruelty, the poor victim
is sometimes recognized by the law as a
person, in order that the State may put him
to death, as a man. From these two oppo-
site IDEAS OF manhood and brutehood, or
or chaltelism-let US now trace some of the
leading provisions Of the Hebrew bond-seI-
vice. and the American slave code, and OBJ
serve how they correspond Throughout to
the leading idea of each. One code is suit
able for the regulation of a man, only, the
other is applicable 10 a brute, a thing, but
not to a human being. That the contra asst