Smith Heritage Exam 2

But to search the Scriptures to seek for light and instruction there; to read but little at a time, and read it often, striving to take the sense of it.

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

In eternity, I believe, some will be thankful for that day….

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

I had heard about a singularity called the jerks or jerking exercise which appeared first near Knoxville, in August last to the great alarm of the people; which reports at first I considered as vague and false;

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

but at length, like the Queen of Sheba, I set out, to go and see for myself; and sent over there appointments into this country accordingly

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

In the night I grew uneasy, being twenty-five miles from my appointment for next morning at eleven o’clock , I prevailed on a young man to attempt carrying me with horses until day, which he thought was impracticable, considering the darkness of the night and the thickness of the trees

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

Solitary shrieks were heard in these woods, which he told me were said to be the cries of murdered persons; at day we parted, being still seventeen miles from the spot, and the ground covered with a white frost

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

These emotions were involuntary and irresistible, as any unprejudiced eye might discern

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

After meeting I rode eighteen miles to hold-meeting at night. The people of this settlement were mostly Quakers; and they had said, as I was informed, the Methodists and Presbyterians have the jerks because they sing and pray so much, but we are a still peaceable people, wherefore we do not have them. However, about twenty of them came to meeting to hear one, as was said, somewhat in a Quaker line

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

but their usual stillness and silence was interrupted; for about a dozen of them had the jerks as keen and as powerful as any I had seen, so as to have occasioned a kind of grunt or groan when they would jerk. It appears that many have undervalued the great revival, and attempted to account for it on natural principles;

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

therefore it seems to me, from the best judgment I can form, that God hath seen proper to take this method to convince people that he will work in a way to show his power; and sent the jerks as a sign of the times, partly in judgment for the people’s unbelief, and yet as a mercy to convict people of divine realities.

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

I believe that those who are most pious and given up to God, are rarely touched with it; and also those naturalists, who wish and try to get it to philosophize upon it are excepted; but the lukewarm, lazy, half-hearted, indolent professor is subject to it;

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

and many of them I have seen, who, when it came upon them, would be alarmed and stirred up to redouble their diligence with God; and after they would get happy, were thankful it ever came upon them. Again, the wicked are frequently more afraid of it than the small pox or yellow fever; these are subject to it;

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

But if all men are born equal, and are endowed with unalienable rights by their Creator, in the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - then there can be no just reason , as a cause, why he may or should not think, and judge, and act for himself in matters of religion, opinion, and private judgment

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

The power of the Pope, who is styled “universal Bishop” as the spurious “Vicegerent of the Almighty upon earth” - and Kingly power and Slavery are all of a piece, though different modeled - the principle is the same, being founded in moral evil and requires terror and ignorance for its support

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

therefore tyrannical barbarity, and every species of cruelty that human nature could invent has been used ot prevent the spirit of inquiry, that man might not see, feel and detect the imposition

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

but quietly submit to the galling yoke of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance without being permitted to think, and see, and judge, or act for themselves! Which shows that those governors love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

History of Cosmopolite by Lorenzo Dow (1814)

Religion is the work of man. It is something for man to do. It consists in obeying God. It is man’s duty. It is true God induces him to do it. He influences him by His Spirit, because of his great wickedness and reluctance to obey. If it were not necessary for God to influence men, if men were disposed to obey God, there would be no occasion to pray: “O Lord, revive Thy work.”

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

The ground of necessity for such a prayer is that men are wholly indisposed to obey; and unless God interpose the influence of His Spirit, not a man on earth will ever obey the commands of God.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

A “Revival of Religion” presupposes a declension. Almost all the religion in the world has been produced by revivals. God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is in mankind, to produce powerful excitements among them, before He can lead them to obey.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

Men are so sluggish, there are so many things to lead their minds off from religion and to oppose the influence of the Gospel, that it is necessary to raise an excitement among them, till the tide rises so high as to sweep away the opposing obstacles. They must be so aroused that they will break over these counteracting influences, before they will obey God.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

Look back at the history of the Jews, and you will see that God used to maintain religion among them by special occasions, when there would be a great excitement, and people would turn to the Lord.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

And after they had been thus revived, it would be but a short time before there would be so many counteracting influences brought to bear upon them, that religion would decline, and keep on declining, till God could have time, so to speak, to convict them of sin by His Spirit, and rebuke them by His providence, and thus so gain the attention of the masses to the great subject of salvation, as to produce a widespread awakening.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

Then the counteracting causes would again operate, religion would decline, and the nation would be swept away in the vortex of luxury, idolatry, and pride.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

There is so little principle in the Church, so little firmness and stability of purpose, that unless it is greatly excited, they will not obey God.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

They have so little knowledge and their principles are so weak, that unless they are excited, they will go back from the path of duty, and do nothing to promote the glory of God.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

The state of the world is still such, and probably will be till the millennium is fully come, that religion must be mainly promoted by means of revivals. How long and how often has the experiment been tried, to bring the Church to act steadily for God, without these periodical excitements!

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

Many good men have supposed, and still suppose, that the best way to promote religion is to go along uniformly, and gather in the ungodly gradually, and without excitement. But however sound such reasoning may appear in the abstract, facts demonstrate its futility. If the Church were far enough advanced in knowledge, and had stability of principle enough to keep awake, such a course would do.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

But the Church is so little enlightened, and there are so many counteracting causes, that the Church will not go steadily to work without a special excitement. As the millennium advances, it is probable that these periodical excitements will be unknown. Then the Church will be enlightened, and the counteracting causes removed, and the entire Church will be in a state of habitual and steady obedience to God. Children will be trained up in the way they should go, and there will be no such torrents of worldliness, and fashion, and covetousness, to bear away the piety of the Church, as soon as the excitement of a revival is withdrawn.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

A revival is not a miracle according to another definition of the term “miracle” something above the powers of nature. There is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature. It consists entirely in the right exercise of the powers of nature. It is just that, and nothing else. When mankind become religious, they are not enabled to put forth exertions which they were unable before to put forth. They only exert powers which they had before, in a different way, and use them for the glory of God.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

A miracle has been generally defined to be a Divine interference, setting aside or suspending the laws of nature. It is not a miracle, in this sense. All the laws of matter and mind remain in force. They are neither suspended nor set aside in a revival.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

A revival is not a miracle, nor dependent on a miracle, in any sense. It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means as much so as any other effect produced by the application of means. There may be a miracle among its antecedent causes, or there may not. The apostles employed miracles simply as a means by which they arrested attention to their message, and established its Divine authority. But the miracle was not the revival. The miracle was one thing; the revival that followed it was quite another thing. The revivals in the apostles days were connected with miracles, but they were not miracles.

What a Revival Religion Is by Charles Grandison Finney (1834)

This state of the finances exhibits the resources exhibits the resources of the nation in aspect highly flattering to its industry; and auspicious of the ability of the government in a very short time, to extinguish public debt.

First Annual Message by Andrew Jackson (1829)

The condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes within the limits of some of our States have become objects of much interest and importance. It has long been the policy of Government to introduce among them the arts of civilization, in the hope of gradually reclaiming them from a wandering life. This policy has, however, been coupled with another wholly incompatible with its success. Professing a desire to civilize and settle them, we have at the same time lost no opportunity to purchase their lands and thrust them farther into the wilderness.

First Annual Message by Andrew Jackson (1829)

By this means they have not only been kept in a wandering state, but been led to look upon us as unjust and indifferent to their fate.

First Annual Message by Andrew Jackson (1829)

Thus, though lavish in its expenditures upon the subject, Government has constantly defeated its own policy, and the Indians in general, receding farther and farther to the west, have retained their savage habits.

First Annual Message by Andrew Jackson (1829)

This emigration should be voluntary, for it would be as crucial as unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers and seek a home in a distant land.

First Annual Message by Andrew Jackson (1829)

But they should be distinctly informed that if they remain within the limits of the states, they must be subject to their laws.

First Annual Message by Andrew Jackson (1829)

Equality suggests to the human mind several ideas which would not have originated from any other source, and it modifies almost all those previously entertained. I take as an example the idea of human perfectibility, because it is one of the principal notions that the intellect can conceive, and because it constitutes of itself a great philosophical theory, which is every instant to be traced by its consequences in the practice of human affairs.

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)

Although man has many points of resemblance with the brute creation, one characteristic is peculiar to himself -he improves: they are incapable of improvement. Mankind could not fail to discover this difference from its earliest period. The idea of perfectibility is therefore as old as the world; equality did not give birth to it, although it has imparted to it a novel character

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)

It is possible to imagine an extreme point at which freedom and equality would meet and be confounded together. Let us suppose that all the members of the community take a part in the government, and that each of them has an equal right to take a part in it. As none is different from his fellows, none can exercise a tyrannical power: men will be perfectly free, because they will all be entirely equal; and they will all be perfectly equal, because they will be entirely free.

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)

To this ideal state democratic nations tend. Such is the completest form that equality can assume upon earth; but there are a thousand others which, without being equally perfect, are not less cherished by those nations.

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)

So long has man exercised tyranny over her, injurious to himself and benumbing to her faculties, that few can nerve themselves to meet the storm; and so long has the chain been about her that she knows not there is a remedy.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

The history of woman is sad and dark, without any alleviating circumstances, nothing from which we can draw consolation.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

As the nations of the earth emerge from a state of barbarism, the sphere of woman gradually becomes wider, but not even under what is thought to be the full blaze of the sun of civilization, is it what God designed it to be. In every country and clime does a man assume the responsibility of marking out the path for her to tread. In every country does he regard her as a being inferior to himself, and one whom he is to guide and control

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

Man’s intellectual superiority cannot be a question until woman has had a fair trial. When shall we have had our freedom to find out our own sphere, when we shall have had our colleges, our professions, our trades, for a century, a comparison then may be justly instituted.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

When woman, instead of being taxed to endow colleges where she is forbidden to enter – instead of forming sewing societies to educate “poor, but pious,” young men, shall first educate herself, when she shall be just to herself before she is generous to others; improving the talents God has given her, and leaving her neighbor to do the same for himself, we shall not hear so much about this boasted superiority.…

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

There is a class of men who believe in their natural, inborn, inbred superiorty, and their heaven-descended right to dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and last, though leasat, the immortal being called woman.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

I would reocmmend this class to the attentive perusal of their Bibles - Genesis 1:28, to histroical research, tto foreign travel, to a closer observation of the manifestations of mind about them, and to a closer observation of the manifestations of mind about them, and to a humble comparison of themselves with such women as Catherine of Russia, Elizabeth of England, distingusihed for their statesman like qualities

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

Harriet Martineau and Madame de Stael for their literary attainments; or Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville for their scientific researches, or physical equality, to that whole nation of famous women, the Amazons.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

We seldom find this class of objectors among the liberally-educated persons, who have the advantage of observing the race in different countries, climes, and phrases.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

But barbarians though they may be, in entertaining such an opinion, they must be met and fairly vanquished. Let us consider then, man’s superiority - intellectually, morally, physically.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

She leaves her books and studies just as a young man is entering thoroughly into his. Then comes the gay routine of fashionable life, courtship, and marriage, the perplexities of house and children, and she knows nothing beside.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

We have met here today to discuss our rights and wrongs, civil and political, and not, as some have supposed, to go into the detail of social life alone. We do not propose to petition the legislature to make our husbands just, generous and courteous, to seat every man at the head of a cradle, and to clothe every woman in male attire. None of these points, however important they may be considered by leading men, will be touched in this Convention.…

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

We are assembled to protest against a form of government, existing without the consent of the governed – to declare our right to be free as man is free, to be represented in the government which we are taxed to support, to have such disgraceful laws as give man the power to chastise and imprison his wife, to take the wages which she earns, the property which she inherits, and, in case of separation, the children of her love; laws test against such unjust laws as these that we are assembled today, and to have them, if possible, forever erased from our statute-books, deeming them as a shame and a disgrace to a Christian republic in the nineteenth century.…

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

We need not prove ourselves equal to Daniel Webster to enjoy this privilege, for the ignorant Irishman in the ditch has all the civil rights he has.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

All white men in this country have the same rights, however they may differ in mind, body or estate. The right is ours. The question now is, how shall we get possession of what rightfully belongs to us. We should not feel so sorely grieved if no man who had not attained the full stature of Webster, Clay, Van Buren, or Gerrit Smith could claim the right of elective franchise.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

But to have drunkards, idiots, horse-racing, rum selling rowdies, ignorant foreigners, and silly boys fully recognized, while we ourselves are thrust out from all the rights that belong to citizens, it is too grossly insulting to the dignity of woman to be longer quietly submitted to. The right is ours.

Remarks on Seneca Falls by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1848)

To the people of Texas and all Americans in the world.

Letter from the Alamo by William Barret Travis (1836)

Then i call on you in the na e of Liberty, of patriotism, and everything dear to the American character to come to our aid with all dispatch.

Letter from the Alamo by William Barret Travis (1836)

What friend of human liberty, civilization, and refinement can cast his view over the past history of the monarchies and aristocracies of antiquity, and not deplore that they ever existed?

The Great Nation of Futurity by John Louis O’Sullivan (1839)

What philanthropist can contemplate the oppressions, cruelties, and injustice inflicted by them on the masses of mankind and not turn with moral horror from the retrospect?

The Great Nation of Futurity by John Louis O’Sullivan (1839)

America is destined for better deeds. It is our unparalleled glory that we have no reminiscences of battle fields, but in defense of humanity, of the oppressed of all nations, of the rights of conscience, the rights of personal enfranchisement.

The Great Nation of Futurity by John Louis O’Sullivan (1839)

Our annals describe no scenes of horrid carnage, where men were led on by hundreds of thousands to slay one another, dupes and victims to emperors, kings, nobles, demons in the human form called heroes.

The Great Nation of Futurity by John Louis O’Sullivan (1839)

We have had patriots to defend our homes, our liberties, but no aspirants to crowns or thrones; nor have the American people ever suffered themselves to be led on by wicked ambition to depopulate the land, to spread desolation far and wide, that a human being might be placed on a seat of supremacy.

The Great Nation of Futurity by John Louis O’Sullivan (1839)

We have no interest in the scenes of antiquity, only as lessons of avoidance of nearly all their examples

The Great Nation of Futurity by John Louis O’Sullivan (1839)

We proclaim to the millions of other lands, that the gates of hell - the powers of aristocracy and monarchy - shall not prevail against it.

The Great Nation of Futurity by John Louis O’Sullivan (1839)

Its floor shall be a hemisphere—its roof the firmament of the star-studded heavens, and its congregation a Union of many Republics, comprising hundreds of happy millions, calling, owning no man master, but governed by God’s natural and moral law of equality, the law of brotherhood—of “peace and good will amongst men.”

The Great Nation of Futurity by John Louis O’Sullivan (1839)

Since the dispersion of man upon earth, I know of no human event, past or present, which promises a greater, a more beneficent change upon earth than the arrival of the van of the Caucasian race (the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon division) upon the border of the sea which washes the shore of eastern Asia. The Mongolian, or Yellow race, is there, four hundred million in number, spreading almost to Europe

The Destiny of The Race by Thomas Hart Benton (1846)

A race once the foremost of the human family in the arts of civilization, but torpid and stationary for thousands of years. It is a race far above the Ethiopian, or Black--above the Malay, or Brown (if we must admit five races)--and above the American Indian or Red; it is a race far above all these, but still, far below the White; and, like all the rest, must receive an impression from the superior race whenever they come in contact.

The Destiny of The Race by Thomas Hart Benton (1846)

It would seem that the White race alone received the divine command, to subdue and replenish the earth! for it is the only race that has obeyed it--the only one that hunts out new and distant lands, and even a New World, to subdue and replenish. Starting from western Asia, taking Europe for their field, and the Sun for their guide, and leaving the Mongolians behind, they arrived, after many ages, on the shores of the Atlantic, which they lit up with the lights of science and religion, and adorned with the useful and the elegant arts.

The Destiny of The Race by Thomas Hart Benton (1846)

Three and a half centuries ago, this race, in obedience to the great command, arrived in the New World, and found new lands to subdue and replenish. For a long time, it was confined to the border of the new field (I now mean the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon division) and even fourscore years ago the philosophic Burke was considered a rash man because he said the English colonists would top the Alleghenies, and descend into the valley of the Mississippi, and occupy without parchment if the Crown refused to make grants of land.

The Destiny of The Race by Thomas Hart Benton (1846)

One of the broadest praries of the West, where no human habituation would be endangered by the flames, and where a vast assemblage of spectators mnight commodiously admire the show

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

Into the flames by armfuls at once, were innumerable badges of knighthood, comprising those of all the European sovereignties, and Napoleon’s decoration of the Legion of Honor, the ribbons of which were entangled with those of the ancient order of St. Louis. There, too, were the medals of our own Society of Cincinnati, by means of which, as history tells us, an order of hereditary knights came near being constituted out of the king quellers of the Revolution.

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

“People, what have you done? This fire is consuming all that marked your advance from barbarism, or that could have prevented your relapse thither. We, the men of the privileged orders, were those who kept alive from age to age the old chivalrous spirit; the gentle and generous thought”

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

“the higher, the purer, the more refined and delicate life. With the nobles, too, you cast off the poet, the painter, the sculptor,—all the beautiful arts; for we were their patrons, and created the atmosphere in which they flourish. In abolishing the majestic distinctions of rank, society loses not only its grace, but its steadfastness—”

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

To my astonishment the persons who now advanced into the vacant space around the mountain fire bore surplices and other priestly garments, mitres, crosiers, and a confusion of Popish and Protestant emblems with which it seemed their purpose to consummate the great act of faith. Crosses from the spires of old cathedrals were cast upon the heap with as little remorse as if the reverence of centuries passing in long array beneath the lofty towers had not looked up to them as the holiest of symbols.

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

The font in which infants were consecrated to God, the sacramental vessels whence piety received the hallowed draught, were given to the same destruction. Perhaps it most nearly touched my heart to see among these devoted relics fragments of the humble communion-tables and undecorated pulpits which I recognized as having been torn from the meeting-houses of New England.

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

Those simple edifices might have been permitted to retain all of sacred embellishment that their Puritan founders had bestowed, even though the mighty structure of St. Peter’s had sent its spoils to the fire of this terrible sacrifice. Yet I felt that these were but the externals of religion, and might most safely be relinquished by spirits that best knew their deep significance.

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

“All is well,” said I, cheerfully. “The wood-paths shall be the aisles of our cathedral, the firmament itself shall be its ceiling. What needs an earthly roof between the Deity and his worshippers?

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

Our faith can well afford to lose all the drapery that even the holiest men have thrown around it, and be only the more sublime in its simplicity.”

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

“Poh, poh, my good fellows!” said a dark-complexioned personage, who now joined the group,—his complexion was indeed fearfully dark, and his eyes glowed with a redder light than that of the bonfire;

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

“be not so cast down, my dear friends; you shall see good days yet. There is one thing that these wiseacres have forgotten to throw into the fire, and without which all the rest of the conflagration is just nothing at all; yes, though they had burned the earth itself to a cinder.”

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

“What but the human heart itself?” said the dark-visaged stranger, with a portentous grin. “And, unless they hit upon some method of purifying that foul cavern, forth from it will reissue all the shapes of wrong and misery—the same old shapes or worse ones—which they have taken such a vast deal of trouble to consume to ashes. I have stood by this livelong night and laughed in my sleeve at the whole business. O, take my word for it, it will be the old world yet!”

Earth’s Holocaust by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1844)

Having its origin in the same principle of our nature, constitution stands to government, as government stands to society; and, as the end for which society is ordained, would be defeated without government, so that for which government is ordained would, in a great measure, be defeated without constitution. But they differ in this striking particular. There is no difficulty in forming government.

Disquisition on Government by John C. Calhoun (1840)

It is not even a matter of choice, whether there shall be one or not.

Disquisition on Government by John C. Calhoun (1840)

Like breathing, it is not permitted to depend on our volition. Necessity will force it on all communities in some one form or another. Very different is the case as to constitution

Disquisition on Government by John C. Calhoun (1840)

So deeply seated, indeed, is the tendency to conflict between the different interests or portions of the community, that it would result from the action of the government itself, even though it were possible to find a community, where the people were all of the same pursuits, placed in the same condition of life, and in every respect, so situated, as to be without inequality of condition or diversity of interests.

Disquisition on Government by John C. Calhoun (1840)

The advantages of possessing the control of the powers of the government, and, thereby, of its honors and emoluments, are, of themselves, exclusive of all other considerations, ample to divide even such a community into two great hostile parties.

Disquisition on Government by John C. Calhoun (1840)

Now it has been the practice in all countries and in all ages, in some degree, to accommodate the amount and character of government control to the wants, intelligence, and moral capacities of the nations or individuals to be governed. A highly moral and intellectual people, like the free citizens of ancient Athens, are best governed by a democracy. For a less moral and intellectual one, a limited and constitutional monarchy will answer. For a people either very ignorant or very wicked, nothing short of military despotism will suffice. So among individuals, the most moral and well-informed members of society require no other government than law. They are capable of reading and understanding the law, and have sufficient self-control and virtuous disposition to obey it. Children cannot be governed by mere law; first, because they do not understand it, and secondly, because

Sociology for the South by George Fitzhugh (1854)

they are so much under the influence of impulse, passion and appetite, that they want sufficient self-control to be deterred or governed by the distant and doubtful penalties of the law. They must be constantly controlled by parents or guardians, whose will and orders shall stand in the place of law for them. Very wicked men must be put into penitentiaries; lunatics into asylums, and the most wild of them into straight jackets, just as the most wicked of the sane are manacled with irons; and idiots must have committees to govern and take care of them. Now, it is clear the Athenian democracy would not suit a negro nation, nor will the government of mere law suffice for the individual negro. He is but a grown up child, and must be governed as a child, not as a lunatic or criminal. The master occupies towards him the place of parent or guardian. We shall not dwell on this view, for no one will differ with us who thinks as we do of the negroes capacity, and we might argue till dooms-day, in vain, with those who have a high opinion of the negroes moral and intellectual capacity.

Sociology for the South by George Fitzhugh (1854)

The question before us is, whether the class of persons described in the plea in abatement compose a portion of this people, and are constituent members of this sovereignty? We think they are not, and that they are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.

Dred Scott v. Sanford by Roger Taney (1857)

On the contrary, they were at that time considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beings, who had been subjugated by the dominant race, and, whether emancipated or not, yet remained subject to their authority, and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the Government might choose to grant them.

Dred Scott v. Sanford by Roger Taney (1857)

My doctrine is, that even taking Mr. Lincoln’s view that the decision recognizes the right of a man to carry his slaves into the Territories of the United States if he pleases, yet after he gets there he needs affirmative law to make that right of any value. The same doctrine not only applies to slave property, but all other kinds of property. Chief Justice Taney places it upon the ground that slave property is on an equal footing with other property.

Lincoln-Douglass Debates (1858)

Suppose one of your merchants should move to Kansas and open a liquor store: he has a right to take groceries and liquors there; but the mode of selling them, and the circumstances under which they shall be sold, and all the remedies, must be prescribed by local legislation; and if that is unfriendly it will drive him out just as effectually as if there was a constitutional provision against the sale of liquor.

Lincoln-Douglass Debates (1858)

So the absence of local legislation to encourage and support slave property in a Territory excludes it practically just as effectually as if there was a positive Constitutional provision against it. Hence, I assert that under the Dred Scott decision you cannot maintain slavery a day in a Territory where there is an unwilling people and unfiendly legislation. If the people are opposed to it, our right is a barren, worthless, useless right, and if they are for it, they will support and encourage it.

Lincoln-Douglass Debates (1858)

The Judge has alluded to the Declaration of Independence, and insisted that negroes are not included in that Declaration; and that it is a slander upon the framers of that instrument, to suppose that negroes were meant therein; and he asks you: Is it possible to believe that Mr. Jefferson, who penned the immortal paper, could have supposed himself applying the language of that instrument to the negro race, and yet held a portion of that race in slavery?

Lincoln-Douglass Debates (1858)

Would he not at once have freed them? I only have to remark upon this part of the Judge's speech (and that, too, very briefly, for I shall not detain myself, or you, upon that point for any great length of time), that I believe the entire records of the world, from the date of the Declaration of Independence up to within three years ago, may be searched in vain for one single affirmation, from one single man, that the negro was not included in the Declaration of Independence;

Lincoln-Douglass Debates (1858)

I think I may defy Judge Douglas to show that he ever said so, that Washington ever said so, that any President ever said so, that any member of Congress ever said so, or that any living man upon the whole earth ever said so, until the necessities of the present policy of the Democratic party, in regard to slavery, had to invent that affirmation.

Lincoln-Douglass Debates (1858)

Cotton is king. Until lately the Bank of England was a king; but she tried to push her screws as usual, the fall before the last, upon the cotton crop, and was utterly vanquished. The last power has been conquered. Who can doubt, that has looked at recent events, that cotton is supreme?

King Cotton by James Henry Hammond (1858)

Society precedes government

King Cotton by James Henry Hammond (1858)