But those, for whose emancipation we are striving, constituting at the present, at least one-sixth part of our countrymen,—are recognised by the laws, and treated by their fellow-beings as marketable commodities—as goods and chattels—as brute beasts; are plundered daily of the fruits of their toil, without redress;—really enjoy no constitutional or legal protection from licentious and murderous outrages upon their persons—are ruthlessly torn asunder—the tender babe from the arms of its frantic mother—the heart-broken wife from her weeping husband—at the caprice or pleasure of irresponsible tyrants;—for the crime of having a dark complexion—they suffer the pangs of hunger, the infliction of stripes, and the ignominy of brutal servitude. They are kept in heathenish darkness by laws expressly enacted to make their instruction a criminal offence.
These are the prominent circumstances in the condition of more than two millions of our people, the proof of which may be found in thousands of indisputable facts, and in the laws of the slaveholding states.
Hence we maintain:—
That in the view of the civil and religious privileges of this nation, the guilt of its oppression is unequalled by any other on the face of the earth—and, therefore,
That it is bound to repent instantly, to undo the heavy burden, to break every yoke and let the oppressed go free.
We further maintain:—
That no man has a right to enslave or imbrute his brother—to hold or acknowledge him, for one moment, as a piece of merchandise—to keep back his hire by fraud—or to brutalize his mind by denying him the means of intellectual, social, and moral improvement.
The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. To invade it is to usurp the prerogative of Jehovah. Every man has a right to his own body—to the products of his own labor—to the protection of law—and to the common advantages of society. It is piracy to buy or steal a native African, and subject him to servitude. Surely the sin is as great to enslave an American as an African.
Therefore, we believe and affirm:—
That there is no difference in principle, between the African slave-trade and American slavery.