The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-11-24

Washington Jefferson. Madison, and other
tchose names are CO1lseCrdted IN the affection
of the Southern PcOple-tht Debates an h
Federal and State COHUeationS Which frame
and ratified The Constitution of the Unite
Stdtes-tho,e tchlch occurred IN the first Con
greSe, lohich sat duriag the administrator
of General WGShington-dnd extracts iron
he Debate in the Virginia Legislature II
1882 ;uith variOus letters Judicial decisions, 81
: BY DANIEL R. GooDLOE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
From fuckers Blackstone.
ON THE STATE OF SLAVERY IN VIRGINIA
By ~. George Tucker, Professor OF Law in the Uni
versiiy of William and Mary and one of III
Judges OF the General Court in virginia.
CONTINUED
In what manner mauumission was perform
ed in this country during the first century aftel
the introduction of Slavery, does not appear
The act of zoos. before mentioned (65) shows
it to have been practiced before that period
In 1928, an act passed prohibiting the manu-
mission Of slaves, upon any pretence whatso
ever, except for meritorious services, to be ad
Judged aud allowed by the Governor and Coun.
Gil, 1907 This clause was re- enacted in l74S
and continued to be the law until after the
Revolution was accomplished The number Of
manumissions under such restrictions must
necessarily have been very few. In May, 1882
an act passed authorizing, generally, the manu-.
mission of slaves, but requiring such as might
| be set free not being Of sound mind or body or
being above the age of forty-tiye years, or males
under twenty-one or females under eighteen,
to be supported by the person liboratng them,
or out of his estate 81 The act of manu-
mission may be performed either by will or by
deed, under the hand and seal Of the party,
acknowledged by him, or proved by two wit
ncsses in the court of the county where ne re-
sides There is reason TO believe that great
numbers have been emanclpated since the
passing Of this act. By the census Of 1891, it
appears that the number Of free negroes, mu
lattoes and Indians in Virginia, was then
1866. 1t would be a large allowance to sup
pose that there were 2 500 free-negroes and
mulattOes in Virginia when the act took effect ;
so that upwards of ten thousand must have
been indebted to it for their freedom, (6S The
number of Indians and their descendants in
Virginia, at present, is too small to require par
ticular notice. The progress of emancipation
in Virginia is at this time continual, but not
rapid. The act passed in 1892 accords in some
degree with the Justinian code, t69) by prOvi-
ding that slaves enamel pated may be taken in
execution to satisfy any debt contracted by the
person emanoipating them, before such eman-
cipation is made, (70)
Among the Romans, the HbeTtini or freed
men were formerly distinguished bya threefold
DIVISION (7l They sometimes obtained what
was called the greater liberty, thereby becom-
ing Roman citizens To this privilege those
who were enfranchised by testament by the
census, or by the vindlcta. appear to have been
alone admitted; sometimes they obtained the
lesser liberty only, and became LatinS, whose
condition is thus described by Justinian
"They never enjoyed the right of succession to
estates for although they led the lives of free
men, yet with their last breath they lost both
their lives and liberties; for their possessions
ike the goods of slaves, were detained by the
manumttOr," az Sometimes they obtained
only the inferior liberty, being called dedititu,'
such were slaves who had been condemned az
criminals, and afterwards Obtained manumis-
sion through the indulgence Of their masters
Their condition was equallcd with that Of con-
quered revolters whom the Romans called, in
repfOach, dedttiit', qua Sc Sudqle Omnia dedtde-
runt but ull these distinctions were abolished
by Justinian, (73) by whom all freedmen in
general were made citizens of Rome without
regard to the form of manumesOD In Eng
land, the presenting the villein with free arms
seems to have been the symbol of his restoration
to all the rights which a ieudatory was entitled
to. With us, we have seen that emancipation
does not confer the rights of citizenship on the
person emancipated; on the contrary, both he
and his pOsterity, of the same complexion with
himself must always labor under many civil
incapacities. If he is absolved from personal
restraint or corporal punishment by master,
yet the tdUS impose rcstranst upon his actions
in many instances, where there is none upon a
free white man. IL he can maintain a suit he
canAot be witness, a Juror, or judge, i'll any
controversy between one of his own CONF lexion
and white person. If he can acquire proper
ty in lands, he cannot exercise the right of suf-
trage which such a property would confer on
his former master much less can he assist iii
making those laws by which he is bound. Yet,
even under these disabilities, his present cond
ton bears an envlable pre.eminence over his
former state. Possessing the liberty of locomo-
ton, which was formerly denied him, it is in
his choice tolsubmit to that civil inferiorty in
attached to his condition in this
or seek some moro favorable climate
where all distinctions between men are either
totally abolished or less regarded than in this
The extirpation of Slavery from the United
States is a task equally arduous and moment
ous To restore the blessings of liberty to near
a million (7l) of oppressed individuals, who
have groaned under the yoke of bondage, and
to their descendants, is an object which those
who trust in Providence will be convinced
would not be unaided by the Divine Author of
our being, should VIC invoke his blessing upon
our endeavors. Yet human prudence forbds
that we should precipitatoly engage in a work
of such hazard ms a general and simultaneous
emancipation. The mind of n man must, in
some measure, be formed for his future oondi-
ton. The early impressions of obedience and
submission, which slaves have received among
us, and the no less habitual arrogance and as
sumption of superiority among the whites, con-
tribute, equally, to unfit the former for freedom,
and the latter for equality, as To expel
them all at once from tho United States would,
in fact, DO to devote them only to n lingering
death, by famine, by disease, and other accu-
mulated miseries: 1--WE have in history but
one picture of similar enterprise, and there
we see it was necessary not only TO open the
sea, by a miracle, for them to pass, but more
necessary to close it again to prevent their re
turn (76) To retain them among us would
be nothing more than to throw 20 many OF the
human race upon the earth without the mean
of subsistence, they would soon become idle
pronigatc and miserable Unfit for their new
condition, and unwilling to return to their for
mcr laborious course, they would become tn
caterpillsrs Of the earth, and the tigers of tn
| human race.
The recent history Of the French West In
dies exhibits the melancholy picture Of tn
probable consequences of general and mo
mentary emancipation in any Of the State
where Slavery has made considerable progress,
In Massachusetts, the abolition of it was effect
cd by single stroke, a clause in their Consti
tuition; an but the whites at that time wcr
"a sx.y.five to one, in proportion 70 the black,
The whole number of free persons in the Uni
ted States, south of Delaware State, ar
1898 s29, and there are CAS- i39 slaves--th
proportion being less than two to one. OF tn
cultivators Of the earth in the same district,
Ak l.. sl,,t, L.. IL. a..