You well know that slaveholders, in answer to the abolitionists, are wont to boast of the fidelity and attachment of their slaves; and you also well know, that among themselves they freely avow their dread of these same faithful and attached slaves, and are fertile in expedients to guard against their vengeance.
Tappan points out the contradiction in slaveholders' claims of loyalty from slaves while fearing their potential for revolt.
Share
More from Lewis Tappan
In 1837, Governor Clarke, in his message to the Kentucky Legislature, remarked, "By the computation of those most familiar with the subject, ONE THIRD OF THE ADULT POPULATION OF THE STATE ARE UNABLE TO WRITE THEIR NAMES.
You are told, much of the wealth is invested in negroes--yet it obviously is a wealth that impoverishes; and no stronger evidence of the truth of this assertion is needed, than the comparative price of land in the free and slave States.
It cannot be, therefore, the interest or the inclination of the sagacious and reflecting among them, to promote the intellectual improvement of the inferior class.
Slavery is maintained by you whom it impoverishes and degrades, not by those upon whom it confers wealth and influence.