ONLY A REPRIEVE
Fondly do we hope,—fervently do we pray,—that this mighty scourge of War may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
Abraham Lincoln
There were two statements in the Declaration of Independence, which must have profoundly disturbed its Signers:—
“All men are created equal,” and have the right “to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Many of the Signers were slave-holders.
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, the Framer of the Declaration, was an Abolitionist, and an active one, throwing the weight of his great influence against the institution of slavery.
He earnestly believed that all men—white and black alike—are born equal. So, when he was asked to frame the Declaration of Independence, he put into it a clause condemning the slave-trade, as an “assemblage of horrors.” During the debate in the Convention, this clause was stricken out.
Though Jefferson had his reasons for not freeing his own slaves, he continued to speak and write against slavery as a violation of human rights and liberties.
“This abomination must have an end,” he said.