Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1863-04-30
YistomtaI.
Written for the Charles City Intelligencer.
SLAVERY s. THE CONFEDERACY.
By WINFIELD 8. RIDER.

ment has been Slavery. At last this
: serpent, SO long cherished in our
midst, has stung us most keenly, and
terrible are the effects of the sting
In the year 1920 laborers were
very scarce in the settlement at
jamestown, Virginia. King James
was forced TO transport criminals to
assist the settlers in their labor of
raising tobacco
At this time, when laborers were
in such demand, small Dutch trad
ing vessel arrived, with hcenty Afri.
cans, for sale as slaves. These were
purchased, and Slarery introduced
into the settlement. Although the
Government of the "New England
Confederacy" classed among the
spoils of war the prisoners captured
in battle, and enslaved many captured
Indians, the people thought the impor-
tation of Africans "grievous sin,"
and the slave trade was prohibited
under pain of death. In the year
l646, the General Court of the Com
monwealth of Massachusetts, ordered
a negro who had been enslaved in that
Province, "to be sent back to Africa"
yet the traffic was still carried on by
the staid old Dutch they bringing
their slaves direct to Virginia.
In the year 1911 the General AS
sembly Of Maryland passed an act
entitled "An act for the encouraging
of the importation of Slaves and Ne
grocs."
In the year 100 the famous GUM
ca Slave Company was established,
for the express purpose of importing
slaves into the Colonial States. Mas
sachusetts now allowed their importa-
tion within the Commonwealth, mere
ly levying heavy duty upon each
slave SO imported. Yet. again the
mind of the public was changed, and
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connec-
ticut and Virginia, forbade the slave
traffic, under penalty Of death to the
offenders. l.. ..
The number of Slaves increased by
natural progress, and other ways,
until there were in the State of South
Carolina, in 1928, eighteen thousand
Slaves, to fourteen thousand whites.
In 1854 there we're, in the United
States, six hundred thousand Slaves.
Although the Sd General Congress
prohibited the traffic, it still continued
until upon the breaking out of this
great rebellion, there were over four
millions Of Slaves in the Southern
States.
The Slaves have always been kept
in the most extreme ignorance, and
the old Colonies passed various laws
against teaching them the art of
writing. In l740 the Assembly of
South Carolina passed an act, THAT
whosoever should teach, or cause any
Slave or Slaves TO write, or should
use or employ any slave as scribe
in any manner of writing whatsoever,
should, for every offence, forfeit the
sum of gl00 sterling, in current
money"
In ITS there were imported direct
from Africa, into South Carolina,
6,4Il slaves. In the Revolution this
State alone was the loser of $4,000
Slaves.
The founders of our Government
early foresaw the great evil that
would arise from this system of servi-
tude, and spoke and acted against it;
an example followed by the majority
Of our great statesmen ever since, as
the following extracts will show:
"There is not man living, who
wishes more sincerely than do, to
see plan adopted for the abolition of
Slavery. The scheme you propose,
my dear Marquis, as a precedent to
encourage the emancipation OF the
black people in this country from the
state of bondage in which they are
held, is striking evidence of your
goodness of beart"- Washington to
Ls Eayeiis, April IL, l7S6.
at is the most earnest wish of
America to see an entire stop put
forever 10 the wicked and unnatural
traffic in Slaves. p Conrsation held al
Fairtar, Va, ef scAieh Washington soas
President.
"I tremble for my country, when |
reflect that God is just. His justice
cannot sleep forever."-J.0srsOn's Notes
on Slarry.
AFTER the year 1900, Christian
Era, there shall be neither Slavery,
nor involuntary servitude in any Of
the States. s.'-Jeferson's Ordinance Of
1851, affirmed By Congress, and signed By
Washington.
ave have seen the mere distinction
Of color made, in this enlightened pe-
, riod of time, a ground of the most op-
pressive dominion ever exercised by
man over man. ."-James Madison.
ave have found that this system
Of Slavery is an evil that has prcyed
: upon the very ritals of the Union, and
has been prejudicial to all the States
ia which it has cxisted."-yamss Monroe.