Susan B. Anthony     Speeches & Writings File    "Make the Slave's Case Our Own," ca. 1859

Make the Slaves Case our own
[*1854  (about)  159*]

a fortune of $100,000, died last year. She left 
$15,000 to Harvard College to endow a Professorship
of Moral Philosophy,- $30,000 to the Salem Athanaeum,
& $30,000 to found a farm school at Salem for boys.-
Catharine Beecher, in a letter to the last 
Annual meeting of the "American Woman's
Educational Association, says, during the four years
in which our Association has existed, more 
than $100,000 have been given by our American
women to increase the professional advantages 
of the other sex;- enough to establish & endow
five, such institutions as we aim to provide for
girls; & yet the first endowment for even one
is yet to be received.
And it will be seen that plans are now in operation
to raise hundreds of thousands the coming year, to 
endow Professorships for men, & to add to the
advantages of rich colleges; & that for this, in proportion
to their means, women will be more relied on than men."
1
We are assembled here
this evening, for the purpose
of discussing the question of
American Slavery: -- The 
startling fact that there are in
these United States, under the
sanction of this professedly Chris-
tian Republican Government, nearly
Four Millions of human beings now 
clanking the chains of Slavery.-
Four Millions of men and women
and children, who are owned like
horses and cattle,- and bought and 
sold in the Market.- Four
Millions of thinking, acting, conscious
beings, like ourselves, driven to unpaid
toil, from the rising to the setting 
of the sun, through the weary

(2)
days and years of their wretched
life times.
Let us, my Friends, for the
passing hour, make the slaves
case our own. — As much as
in us lies, let us feel that it is
ourselves, and our "kith & kin",
who are despoiled of our inalienable
right to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness;
- - that it is our own backs, that 
are bared to the slave-drivers lash; -
that it is our own flesh that is
 lacerated & torn, — that it is our
own life blood that is poured 
out. --- Let us feel
that it is our own children, that
are ruthlessly torn from our yearning
mother hearts, & driven in the 
"coffle gang", through burning suns,

3
and drenching rains, to be sold on
the auction block to the highest
bidder, and worked up, body
and soul, on the cotton, sugar
and rice plantations of the more
remote south.
That it is our own loved sister
and daughter, who are shamelessly
exposed in the public market, 
and whose beauty of face, delicacy
of complexion, symetry of form, 
and grace of motion, do but
enhance their monied value, and
the more surely victimize them
to the unbridled passions & lusts
of their proud purchasers.
Could we, my friends, but
make the slave's case our own,
could we but feel for the slave, as

4
bound with him;- could we but
make the slave our "neighbor";  and
love him as yourself,- and do unto
him as we would that he should
do unto us,- how easy would be
the task of converting us all to
abolitionism.- If by some
magic power, the color of our skins
could be instantly changed,- and the
slaves fate made really our own,
then would there be no farther
need of argument or persuasion-
of Rhetoric or Eloquence.- then
would we, every one, with heart, and 
soul, and tongue, and action, respond
to the truth & the justice of the
glorious doctrine of "Immediate and 
unconditional Emancipation, as the right 
of the slave & duty of the master."-

were we ourselves, the victims of 
this vilest oppression the sun ever
shone upon,- no appeal to 
Bible or Constitution,- no regard
for peace and harmony in our 
Religious or Political Associations,-
No blind reverence for "Union"
either in Church or State
could for a moment, quiet
our consciences,- silence our
voices,- or stay our action,-
Priests & Presidents,- Bishops & 
Statesmen,- Laymen & voters,-
Synods, general assemblies and
Conferences,- Congresses, Supreme
Courts & Legislatures, if standing
between us and liberty, would
all be swept away, without one
thought or care of consequences.-

6
what to us, would then be the
venerated Books, idolized parchments, 
time worn creeds, and
musty statutes of the Fathers ? -
All! all of them would sink
into utter insignificance! - 
Freedom, Gods priceless boon
to man, outweighs them all. -
"Liberty or Death" is now our
watchword —

7
But, we are wont to contemplate
this question of Slavery
from quite another, and an opposite
standpoint—We look upon the 
slave as a being all unlike ourselves—
The salle hue of his skin, the
curl of his hair, the flattened
features of his face, together with
the fact that he has for so many
generations been the victim of the
white man, seem conclusive
evidence to the masses, that a condition
that would be torture, worse
than death to us, is quite endurable,
nay, congenial to him.
Then, too, we quiet our consciences
with the thought, that these poor
creatures, however wronged & outraged
their condition here, are, yet, infinitely

8
better off, than they would be in their 
African homes, across the Atlantic. 
Their Fathers were wild savages,
living in tents, on the hills of Congo, 
the arid plains of Soudan, & the 
coasts of Guinea. And there, in 
their own Native land, were they 
hunted like beasts of prey, and 
made to drag out their lives in a
hopeless bondage to their more powerful 
warlike, and treacherous neighbors. 
Though slaves here, subject to the 
will of a Master, with no hope
of freedom, but in death, their condition
is still, far better than it 
could be in their father land - 
where reigns the might of heathenism, 
where all, all is shrouded in the 
thick gloom of ignorance & superstition,

9
Here, the slave is surrounded by 
the elevating, refining influences of 
civilization; - - here, the blessed 
privileges of Christianity are extended 
to him, - here the gospel of 
Jesus Christ is preached to him.
 And, here, though his life, on
earth,  shall be one of utter wretchedness, 
disgust, and loathing, he may 
take to his crushed & bleeding spirit the 
Christian's hope of eternal rest, of unfading
glory; - the Christian's faith 
that the white winged messenger of Death,
will but usher him into the immediate 
presence of the Father of all, - where 
there will be no clanking of chains, 
no torturing "cat o nine tails', No red
hot branding irons. - Where the "wicked 
cease from troubling & the weary are at rest" -

10
Just think of it, [fellow citizens,] my Friends, -
a civilization elevating & refining, that 
makes slaves and chattels of one 
sixth portion of its own children; - and 
with iron heel, crushes out their every 
spark of manhood; - a civilization
elevating & [refining?] that, by statute law, denies to every 
sixth man, woman, & child all its 
[its] educational, industrial, social 
and political rights and privileges! - 
Such is our boasted American 
Civilization, -  that prates of elevating 
and refining the very victims it
tramples in the dust. - Heaven 
defend the benighted children of Africa from
such a [damning] civilization! 
Here, too, the slave enjoys the blessed
privileges of Christianity; - Think of it! 
A Christianity that trafficks in

11
human beings, - that barters Gods 
Image for filthy lucre! - And Here,
is the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached
to the poor slave - Think of it! 
a gospel that transforms every 
sixth child of God into a chattel! A 
gospel that sells Jesus Christ 
himself in the person of the slave, on the auction block! 
What a profanation! What 
blasphemy! Such a Gospel 
can be none other than that of the
bottomless pit. And sooner will the
true Christ take to his bosom the
children of heathedom's Midnight
darkness, than allow one of those 
slave-holding miscreants to step into
the light of his presence.

12
Again, it is argued, that we, 
of the North, are not responsible 
for the crime of Slave holding 
- that the guilty ones dwell in 
the South, and lord it over 
the rice swamps of Georgia, -
the tobacco fields of Virginia, -
and the sugar and cotton 
plantations of Lousianna and 
the Carolina's. - Thus, do 
we put the slaves case far away 
from us; - forgetting that 
he is a human being like ourselves, -
forgetting that we, 
ourselves are bound up with 
the slave-holder, in his guilt, -
forgetting that we of the North 
stand pledged to the support 
of the Federal Government, - the

13 
tenure of whose existence is 
vested in the one idea of protection 
to the slave-holder, in 
his slave-property, - Forgetting 
that, by the terms of the unholy 
agreement of the Fathers of our 
Union, the only property represented 
on the floor of Congress is the 
Slave-holders property in Man, - 
Forgetting that every loyal citizen 
of the North, himself, or through 
his representatives, swears to support 
the United States Constitution, by 
whose special provision, the Slave
holder is, not only secured the right to 
own slaves, and give them a three 
fifths representation in the legislation 
of the nation, - but every such loyal citizen
is solemnly bound to return fugitive

14
Slaves to their Masters, [nay, more,]
to buckle on his armor, & go
down to Kentucky, Tenesee, or any
of the fifteen slave states, and
aid in putting down insurrections
- aid in shooting down men & women,
for no other crime save that of 
hating slavery, & loving liberty,-
Nay! More than all, forgetting 
that we, of the north, welcome
slave holding priests to our
pulpits,- and slave holding
Laymen to our Church Sacraments.
Think of it, - professing Christians -
members of any and all of 
our popular churches here at the
North-- You, talk about not
being responsible for the crime
of Slave-holding,- while, religiously,

15
You strike hands with the Southern
slave-holders, - the perpetrators
of every vile deed in Crime's 
black category! -
The Scotch Covenanter or 
Reformed Presbyterians, is the only
Evangelical Church in all the
Nominally Free States of the North 
that can consistently claim freedom 
from all sanction of, or
compromise with Slavery - "the
sum of all villianies." -
The Old Scotch Covenanters, 
refuse Church Fellowship not only to
Slave-holders, but to Churches
that fellowship slave-holders;-
they also refuse to take the oath 
of allegiance to the United States 
government- and thus are, theoretically

15
and practically, abolitionists; -
and thus are the doers of the commands 
of Jesus. - "Remember them 
in bonds, as bound with them."  -
"Break every yoke and let the 
oppressed go free" - - But, 
[does this] as a Nation, we do deny the manhood 
of the slave, both politically 
and religiously. - And it is this 
failure to recognize the slave's 
humanity that keeps him 
in his chains, [(in this professedly
Republican, Christian America)] -  
From the very hour of the 
foundation of this Government, 
has slavery been considered a 
national curse. - - Able 
Statesmen, and Shrewd Politicians 
have denounced it in the

17

halls of legislation, and labored 
to defeat its merciless purpose. -
Pious Divines have hurled at its 
monster head, the thunder-bolts of 
Gods wrath, and prayed their 
Avenger to drive it from the 
land. - - And, yet, after 
Seventy years of such labors, and 
such prayers, what do we see? -
- Why, the number of slaves increased 
from a half a million to nearly 
Four Millions, - the number 
of slave states from six to Fifteen, - 
One Thousand Millions of Dollars 
poured out of the public treasury 
for the purchase and conquest 
of new slave territory;  - all the 
United States Territories, at first, consecrated 
to Freedom, thrown open

18
every foot of them, to the desecrating 
tread of the slave holder; -  
- the nominally Free States, 
by the late decision of the 
Supreme Court, made the home 
of the Slave-holder, and his 
slave-property; - and an 
entire nation, which at the 
beginning, could but blush 
and hang its head, that it 
held within its wide embrace, 
so foul a thing as slavery, now
glorifying in its shame. -
Crying "great is Dianna of the Ephesians". 
Yes, from being the hated and 
despised thing, it is to day, the 
Divine God, before whom this Nation 
bows, and to whom it makes willing 
sacrifices; -

19

tenure of whose existence is 
vested in the one idea of protection 
to the slave-holder, in 
his slave property; - Forgetting 
that, we of the Free States, by 
the terms of the agreement, 
consent to the representation 
of the slave holders property in 
man, on the floor of Congress,
while our property is unrepresented. - 

Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.