PREFACE.
In 1619 slaves were introduced into the colony of Virginia—they were Africans of pure blood, jet black, thick lips, flat noses, flat feet and crooked shins. The Virginians would have scorned the idea of enslaving a white man or woman, but the time came when the bluest blood of Virginia betrayed itself in the blush on the cheek of beautiful women standing on the auction block in Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans. Beauty of face and of form had a market value; a beautiful woman would sell for the price of ten able bodied men, and even Christianity was an article of commerce. A man stands upon the block, dignified in manner, serious countenance, and silent. “Now, gentlemen and ladies,” says the auctioneer, “I offer you a first class servant. He is honest and faithful, and moreover he is a Christian; no sham I tell you, but a genuine, conscientious Christian man. He would die rather than commit a wrong act or betray his master. How much do you offer for a servant that you can depend on every time?”
Good men in the Slave States were silent, having no means of redress; the laws and public opinion were on the side of the slave holder. The free States remonstrated and petitioned Congress to adopt measures for emancipation. The South assumed the political doctrine of
