What Can I Do To Help Abolish Slavery - Research Paper Example

Date 1860 A son asking permission from his mother to join the Anti-Slavery movement Dear Mother, I am well aware that you have warned me of the danger of joining association that could spell harm and trouble. To a certain extent, I agree with you because I too do not like trouble and had been accustomed to the peace and tranquility of the countryside. I assure you that even as I write this letter, I am not in any trouble or whatsoever and you will be proud of me of what I have become as a young man – responsible, conscientious and reasonable. As a young adult, I believe you would agree with me that I should start deciding for myself. After all, I will have to deal with the world sooner or later and it would be better for me to take the initiative. You have brought up me well mother because the values you instilled in me to care for another and to never cease learning about the world had never abandoned me. But learning can also inadvertently open our eyes to the ugly reality of the world. It opened my eyes that our lot as Negroes are not slaves as decreed by the Almighty. All the while I thought that there was a natural order that a certain race is subjugated to another and that the natural order of things is that one race is ought to be enslaved by another. I learned through my private inquiry in libraries and lively discourse that this country in fact started as free recognizing all to be equal only that by sinister twist of fate, we suddenly learned the ugly ways of slavery until it perpetuated to be a reality for many of us. I am not making this up Mother. “The right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the acquisition of property in the earth, sea, air and all their products, is an inalienable right of human nature. None with a human nature are without that right from nature’s God. But on the other hand, no law, or ordinance of man, or custom of antiquity, can confer the right of property in human nature itself. And it is one of the greatest enormities and crimes that can possibly be perpetrated, to use a man as money “ (Cheever 7). Mother the present order of things is not in any way permitted nor idea of God but rather is built on man’s prejudice. His prejudice seeks to perpetuate because it benefits him that any effort to stop is being thwarted. The good and esteemed Maria Weston Chapman of the Anti-Slavery Society articulated this as “Prejudice as an ordination of divine providence; to make slavery safer by eliminating that dangerous element, the free black; to make its term longer by stultifying national conscience (1). I know you would be quite shock to read my letter especially with the things that I just told you. But mother, I am no longer a boy. I am now a grown man and well aware of what is happening with the world and I took it upon my initiative as well as cause to contribute to the good of society by joining an association that would restore justice in our society which is the Church Anti-Slavery Society. I hope it will bring you peace of mind that it is the company of God’s Ministers who I am with now who also helped me opened my eyes to the ugly reality of our society. They also provided the water of knowledge that helped quench my tears for knowledge through their enormous collection of books in their libraries in addition to our lively discussion about God, society and justice. It is a good company mother, don’t you worry. They are people whom you would want me to be around. And neither are we trouble makers but also likes peace as you would love peace. You might ask how I chanced to meet them. Well, I attend to their churches because I found it to be one of the most open churches admitting both black and white and people in worship although our population are mainly blacks that it is a rarity that a white man will attend our mass. But there are instances rare as they may be and they are welcome. One fine day in December 20 of 1958, our ministers gathered at the house of one of the pastors in the city of Worcester and discussed the issue of slavery and its relation to the Churches of the North. After a thorough, candid and lively discussion, the attendees decided to convene a conference to inaugurate an organized movement not only to remove slavery itself but also to position the Church in this great problem of ours. Thus we call it “The Church Anti-Slavery Society of United States”. I know you would ask what are our principles and aims and I can tell you with pride that they are noble. Foremost, we are unequivocal in our belief in the “The rights of man as man sacred and inalienable, without distinction of blood or races” and with regard to slavery, we posit that “The property in man impossible, as being without grant from the Creator, and equally contrary to natural justice and to revealed religion” (1). Our aim is the aim of every colored man, woman and children in America, that is to be free and equal, to be judged not by the color of our skin, but rather on the quality of our character. I believe that is a noble aim that is worthy of embracing as a cause and a personal creed. I sincerely believe that slavery will end. It will just be a matter of time because it is not the natural order of nature to subjugate man by another man. It is just wrong. But it cannot be corrected if we will not do anything. This explains my letter and my respect to you about my decision. I love you mother. God bless us all, Your son Works Cited Chapman, Maria Weston. What Can I Do To Help Abolish Slavery? Or, Counsels to the Newly Converted. (New York: American Anti-Slavery Society, 1855) Retrieved from http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/antislavery/chapman1855.pdf Cheever, Henry T. A Tract for the Times: On the Question, Is It Right to Withold Fellowship from Churches or from Individuals that Tolerate or Practise Slavery?. (New York: John A. Gray, 1859) Church Anti-Slavery Society [Worcester, Mass.] Circular. ([Worcester, Mass.]: s.n., 1859) Retrieved from http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/antislavery/076.pdf Read More