Sinfulness of Slavery

Charles Elliott, the author of this piece, was clearly an abolitionist. He elucidated six divergent arguments, coming from the Christian Bible, including the book of Genesis, against all slavery. The first argument contained to parts. The first part argued that the act of slavery went against Genesis 1, when "God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and have given you every herb bearing seed, which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." (Gen 1: 28-29) In other words, God gave every human the right to possess property over everything, but not human beings. Since God distributed this right to all human beings, slavery went completely against this notion. God gave human beings dominion over all the "work of thy hands," and thus, slavery took away a human's right to property. Furthermore, the author also noted that no where does it say that God has given Saxons the right to have property over Africans or Indians. Because of this, humans attempt to take on the power of God by imposing slavery on others. Dominion of man over man has even been described as unlawful in the Book of Exodus, "He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 11: 16) The author then described the second part of his first argument, stating three different deprivations of slavery. The first deprivation was the slave's right to be fruitful in a lawful way. Slavery, thus, were not allowed to reproduce without the consent of their owners, and thus denied them this privilege granted by God in the first book of Genesis. The second deprivation claimed that slavery robbed slaves of their rights, which were granted by God to all of mankind in the creation of man. The third deprivation further discussed how slavery took away a slave's right to property. God granted all humans, including slave, to have possession over all things other than human. He described slavery as a "complicated crime of avarice and robbery - avarice, in monopolizing the land and other property of our neighbors, and robbery, in doing it by violence, without the shadow of justice."

The second argument explained that slavery "sinks the divine image of God, in which man was created, to the level of brutality." In Genesis 1 and Genesis 2-3, the author explained that man was created in the divine image of God. Because slaves were humans also, they too were a representation of the divine image of God. Thus, since they were sunk to a level inferior to other humans, this tainted the divine image of God. As such, slavery was an attempt by man to destroy the image of God, sinking the status of slaves "among and below" the works that God granted humans the right to have dominion over. The author also explained that slaves were humans, not things, and thus, slaveholders did not have power of them. God only granted humans the power over animals, plants, etc, not other humans. Slavery was an act that degraded humans, who are supposed to be made in God's image. Thus, it was morally wrong. In fact, in South Carolina, slaves were outlawed from any mental improvement. Thus, slaveholders denied slaves the right to education and improving knowledge. This, of course, was a fundamental property of all human beings, granted by Genesis 2-3, when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. They acquire this gift of knowledge, and thus, passed down this trait to all of their offspring. Thus, all humans have the ability to learn and acquire knowledge. By taking away a humans right to enhance their intelligence, a slaveholder denied slaves the right to be human, since knowledge was such a defining aspect of mankind's nature.

The third argument stated that since Christ's death gave humans the opportunity to purify themselves from the act of Original Sin, which originated from Genesis 2-3, slavery contradicted this act. The author stated that "Redemption of the race of man through the sacrfice of Christ is antagonistic to slavery." He even stated that, because God through Moses retrieved the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, slavery went against this incredible story. In the book of Leviticus, because of this event, slavery was defined as unlawful. St. Paul also stated that slavery went against redemption. Because all human beings are equal at the level of the soul, all humans, both free man and slaves, all had the same privileges of redemption. All slaves had the right to enjoy the divine grace of God granted by Christ's death and redemption. Slavery took away all the duties, privileges, and advantages flowing from redemption. It prevented slaves from learning to read and write, and made robbery and cruel treatment lawful. The author also pointed out that St. Paul, Constantine the Great, Gregory the Great, and Thomas Aquinas all decided that slavery was unlawful and morally wrong.

The fourth argument discussed how slavery was an "usurpation of the Divine right." In other words, by possessing slaves, slave holders attempted to equal the power of God. In fact, slave holders were known to force their slaves to perform sinful acts by force. If the slaves did not obey their masters, they would subjected to excruciating pain. Much like God had a strong influence on the choices of all His followers, slave holders held a very similar position with regard to their slaves. Slaves relied mostly on their slave holders on making choices. Thus, any form of slavery was sinful. In other words, slavery demonstrated an act in which a humans will was completely based on the will of the other. Only God held this power over man. Since God gave all humans free will, as demonstrated by the second Genesis story, slavery was sinful, considering the notion that slave holders had a strong influence of the actions of their slaves. Adam and Eve could go against God, and thus, slaves should be able to go against their masters. The God-given right of free will should be maintained. Thus, abolishing slavery was the only means of maintaining this prerogative.

The fifth argument described that slavery was a contradiction of the "natural equality of mankind." In the book of Genesis, all humans had the same origin, which was Adam, whom was created by God. Since all humans originated from the same source, all were created equal and possessed equal God-given rights. The author also stated that the Declaration of Independence was an "echo of Scripture," explaining that "All men are create free and equal." Thus, slavery took away this divine right. It took away rights of personal liberty, security, and property. The author also noted that equality of human beings did not mean all humans should have the same amount of property, power, and money. Rather, this stated that all human beings had the same opportunity. Slavery led to inequality of this right to opportunity, since it restricted how much the slaves could learn and it put them under complete possession of another human being's will. Thus, the slave did not have equal opportunity.

The sixth argument elucidated that slavery went against the main goal of Christians, which was to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. In other words, slavery prevented slaves from making their own choices about God and religion. They were completely depend on the will of their masters. If their masters were not Christian, than the slaves most likely were denied the God-given right to practice Christianity. Even if the slaveholder was Christian, it was still up to them to educate their slaves on God. This of course was sinful.