Sons of the Fathers by Root Erik S.;

Author:Root, Erik S.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2010-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Seventh Day of Debate

January 18, 1832

John T. Brown (town of Petersburg)1

On motion of Mr. Brown of Petersburg, the report of the committee on slaves, free negroes and mulattoes, and the amendment of Mr. Preston, were taken up when Mr. Brown rose and addressed the house as follows:

Mr. Speaker: When the subject under consideration was first brought to the notice of this house in the unostentatious form of a petition from Hanover, I felt but little apprehension about the result. I avowed, at that time, my firm conviction that no scheme of emancipation was practicable, and that none should be attempted. Yet, I was willing that the petition should be referred to a committee, and disposed of, with all becoming respect, in the ordinary manner. I believed the discussion of this question to be unavoidable, and was desirous of giving it such direction as would be best calculated to settle and to sink it forever. I know that some intelligent gentlemen, who concurred with me in the object, were of the opinion that it would be better attained by a different course, and that the petition ought to be rejected at once, as the most effectual means of arresting the inquiry. I doubt not those gentlemen are now convinced that the agitation of this question was inevitable. If suppressed in one form, it would have arisen in another. Even the effort made by the gentleman from Mecklenburg, to arrest its progress, has been seized by the advocates of emancipation, as a favorable opportunity for the full expression of their sentiments. The very character of those sentiments, and the zeal with which they have been urged, must be sufficient to satisfy everyone that they could not have been repressed. It is useless to talk of avoiding discussion. It will be fortunate if we can prevent action—immediate and decisive action—on the subject of emancipation.

I have listened to this debate, with the most anxious and painful interest. The evils of slavery have been again and again enumerated, and set in appalling array before our imaginations. Its impoverishing effects, its immoral tendencies, and the dangers to which it exposes our lives and property, have all been the theme of eloquent and exaggerated representation. We have been told that the body politic is languishing under disease—that it is “a mass of corruption”—that there is hidden in its bosom, a pestilence more fatal than that which “wasteth at noonday.” The sufferings of the unhappy patient have drawn forth successive expressions of pity, reproach, and scornful sarcasm. It might have been expected that, with so perfect a knowledge of the malady, the physician could have recommended an effectual remedy. None has yet been proposed that commands my confidence. I have examined the various schemes which have been suggested, with unwearied attention, and with an unaffected wish to find them worthy of adoption. I have analyzed them as far as my mind is capable of doing it, and have endeavored to trace through the mists of futurity, their probable operation and consequences.

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