Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-01-27
Pious Pilgrims in Ancient Advertisements.
BY BISHOP WARREN A. GAMBLER.

where Mrs. Stowe and other New Eng
land writer's of her type got their ideas
of slavery. They fancied that the
slaves of the south were treated as
formerly slaves had been dealt with
in Boston. Their ghost stories were
compounded from "reminiscences -
their own ancestors.
Among other interesting things DR..
Moore brings to light this fact: The
first statute establishing slavery in
America is to be found in the famous
Code of Fundamentals or Body OF
Liberties of the Massachusetts Colony
in New England the first code OF
laws of that colony, adopted in Decem-
Der. 164l.'
1t is also a fact that Massachusetts,
Is the only state in America that ever
enga ged in the slave trade in its cor
pOrate capacity. This trade 1t carried
on with a process that had bondage at
both ends of the line; Indian captives
were carried out and sold; while Al
rican slaves were captured or pur-
chased and brought in. DR.. Moore
says: 1T will be observed that this
first entrance into the slave trade was
not a private. individual speculation.
1t was the enterprise of the authori-
ties of the colony"
Cotton Mather's ''Magnalia'' and the
records of the colony are quoted, pas
sage and page being given, to verify
this statement.
Georgia prohibited the slave trade
from the first days of the colony;
while Massac husetts allowed it from
1641 to 17sS-the colony itself engaging
in the business for part of that pc
Rod. Georgia was a slave-holding
commonwealth for about no years;
Massachusetts, for 147 years.
When very tardily Massachusetts
prohibited the slave trade by the act
Of lTSS, the act was carefully drawn
so as not to abolish slavery, while pro-
hibiting the slave trade, and as a mat
ter Of fact, slavery has never yet been
abolished by any act Of the legisla-
ture Of the state Of Massachusetts,.
In this connection 1 may mention the
fact, mot as generally known as its
Importance demands) that the consti-
tuition of the Confederate states of
America outlawed the slave trade,
while section 9, article / of the consti-
tuition of the United States forbade
even the federal congress to prohibit II
prior to the year 1908. The words
slave and ''sIave trade" do not oc-
cur in that section or elsewhere in the
constitution; language is unmistakable.
It reads as follows: The migration
or importation of such persons as any
of the states now existing shall think
proper to admit shall not be prohibited
by the congress prior TO the year one
thousand eight hundred and eight"
Article 4. section 2. paragraph 3 pro-
vided for the delivery Of fugitive
slaves to their owners on demand, but
in il the use of the word slave" was
carefully avoided. These two sections
of the federal constitution which pro-
vided for the continuance of the slave
trade until 1903 and for the protection
of slavery in perpetuity, while skill
fully emitting to employ the word
slave. were wittily called by the Hon.
orable John Quincy Adams the fig
leaves of the constitution" They are
in sharp contrast with the naked and
undisguised prohibition of the slave
trade by the constitution Of the Con-
federate States of America.
But why dig up all this old history?
Partly Just for the fun of it. Partly
as a matter Of historical interest.
Partly as a means of grace to New
Englanders, many Of whom run far
too easily to pride and who therefore
often require the kindly help of their
friends and neighbors to keep them
suitably humble. But, chiefly, to raise
this question: If sectionalism is to run
against our southern ancestors. and
their children a sort of moral bill OF
attainder. when Of ever will it ex-
pire? And then I wish TO inquire
further. how the inhabitants Of Mas
sachusetts. the chief of sinners among
the American states in the matter OF
slavery. escaped this bill of attainder,
and when?
There are fortunes in Boston the
foundations of which were laid in mon
ey received in payment for slaves; but
there are no such estates in Georgia.
1t seems to me the Pilgrim children OF
Pilgrim fathers ought to get rid OF
this tainted money. They are surely
too pious to retain such ill-gotten
gains. I cannot think they have yet
given enough for the education of the
negro to purge themselves Of all this
vile stuff Let them proceed without
DELAY to bring forth fruits meet for
repentance" When they begin 10
throw down this awful price of blood
at the feet of the elders of the land
NAV Won and I be there, gentle reader.
I trust their experience then viii
not be as bitter as that of the poor
fellow who in telling his religious ex-
perience is reported to have said,
Brethren, when I was repenting for
my own sins / got on very well, but
when I began to repent for Adams
transgression IL came mighty nigh to
killing me-" We of the south can
appreciat e the fix in which he found
himself Most of us never had a slave
I'm our lives. but we have been made
to see awful times ON account Of the
slaves our fathers once owned. But
as the sons of Massachusetts have
gotten from under the load and have
kept the slave money in the bargain,
maybe without any negro money in
our pockets we. too, may yet find alb
solution. So mote it be.