It is naturally supposed that free negroes will sympathize with their enslaved brethren, and that, notwithstanding all exertions to the contrary, they will become a little more intelligent; this excites a peculiar jealousy and hatred in the white population, of which it is impossible to enumerate all the hardships. Even in the laws, slaves are always mentioned before free people of color; so desirous are they to degrade the latter class below the level of the former. To complete the wrong, this unhappy class are despised in consequence of the very evils we ourselves have induced—for as slavery inevitably makes its victims servile and vicious, and as none but negroes are allowed to be slaves, we, from our very childhood, associate every thing that is degraded with the mere color; though in fact the object of our contempt may be both exemplary and intelligent. In this way the Africans are doubly the victims of our injustice; and thus does prejudice "make the meat it feeds on."
I have repeatedly said that our slave laws are continually increasing in severity; as a proof of this I will give a brief view of some of the most striking, which have been passed since Stroud published his compendium of slave laws, in 1827. In the first class are contained those enactments directly oppressive to people of color; in the second are those which injure them indirectly, by the penalties or disabilities imposed upon the whites who instruct, assist, or employ them, or endeavor in any way to influence public opinion in their favor.
Class First.—The Legislature of Virginia passed a law in 1831, by which any free colored person who undertakes to preach, or conduct any religious meeting, by day or night, may be whipped not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, at the discretion of any justice of the peace; and any body may apprehend any such free colored person without a warrant. The same penalty, adjudged and executed in the same way, falls upon any slave, or free colored person, who attends such preaching; and any slave who listens to any white preacher, in the night time, receives the same punishment. The same law prevails in Georgia and Mississippi. A master may permit a slave to preach on his plantation, to none but his slaves.
There is a naiveté in the following preamble to a law passed
by North Carolina, in 1831, which would be amusing, if the subject were not too serious for mirth: "Whereas teaching slaves to read and write has a tendency to excite dissatisfaction in their minds, and to produce insurrection and rebellion," therefore it is enacted that teaching a slave to read or write, or giving or selling to a slave any book or pamphlet, shall be punished with thirty-nine lashes, if the offender be a free black, or with imprisonment at the discretion of the court; if a slave, the offence is punishable with thirty-nine lashes, on his or her bare back, on conviction before a justice of the peace.
In Georgia, any slave, or free person of color, is for a similar offence, fined or whipped, or fined and whipped, at the discretion of the court.
In Louisiana, twelve months' imprisonment is the penalty for teaching a slave to read or write.
For publishing, or circulating, in the State of North Carolina, any pamphlet or paper having an evident tendency to excite slaves, or free persons of color, to insurrection or resistance, imprisonment not less than one year, and standing in the pillory, and whipping, at the discretion of the court, for the first offence; and death for the second. The same offence punished with death in Georgia, without any reservation. In Mississippi, the same as in Georgia. In Louisiana, the same offence punished either with imprisonment for life, or death, at the discretion of the court. In Virginia, the first offence of this sort is punished with thirty-nine lashes, the second with death.
With regard to publications having a tendency to promote discontent among slaves, their masters are so very jealous, that it would be difficult to find any book, that would not come under their condemnation. The Bible, and the Declaration of Independence are certainly unsafe. The preamble to the North Carolina law declares, that the Alphabet has a tendency to excite dissatisfaction; I suppose it is because freedom may be spelt out of it. A storekeeper in South Carolina was nearly ruined by having unconsciously imported certain printed handkerchiefs, which his neighbors deemed seditious. A friend of mine asked, "Did the handkerchiefs contain texts from scripture? or quotations from the Constitution of the United States?"
Emancipated slaves must quit North Carolina in ninety days after their enfranchisement, on pain of being sold for life.