On the record
I know it is said that the fact of slavery always precedes the law of slavery; that law does not go before the institution and create it, but comes afterwards to sanction and regulate it.
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gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Mann critiques the idea that slavery is a natural institution, arguing that laws should not validate practices that are inherently wrong.
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The general system of slaveholding farmers and planters, in all times and places, has been, and now is, and ever will be, to cultivate much land, badly, for present gain,--in short, to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
Her lowland neighbors of Maryland and the Carolinas were not far behind at the seeding; nor are they far behind at the ingathering of desolation.
Is there not one spot where we can stand side by side, as friends, sympathize with each other, and act together in harmony?
Of all the states in this Union, not one has on the whole such various and abundant resources for manufacturing as our own Virginia, both East and West.
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