Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Chapter III

Colonel Lloyd kept a large and finely cultivated garden, which afforded almost constant employment for four men, besides the chief gardener, (Mr. M'Durmond.) This garden was probably the greatest attraction of the place. During the summer months, people came from far and near--from Baltimore, Easton, and Annapolis--to see it. It abounded in fruits of almost every description, from the hardy apple of the north to the delicate orange of the south. This garden was not the least source of trouble on the plantation. Its excellent fruit was quite a temptation to the hungry swarms of boys, as well as the older slaves, belonging to the colonel, few of whom had the virtue or the vice to resist it. Scarcely a day passed, during the summer, but that some slave had to take the lash for stealing fruit. The colonel had to resort to all kinds of stratagems to keep his slaves out of the garden. The last and most successful one was that of tarring his fence all around; after which, if a slave was caught with any tar upon his person, it was deemed sufficient proof that he had either been into the garden, or had tried to get in. In either case, he was severely whipped by the chief gardener. This plan worked well; the slaves became as fearful of tar as of the lash. They seemed to realize the impossibility of touching TAR without being defiled. The colonel also kept a splendid riding equipage. His stable and carriage-house presented the appearance of some of our large city livery establishments. His horses were of the finest form and noblest blood. His carriage-house contained three splendid coaches, three or four gigs, besides dearborns and barouches of the most fashionable style. This establishment was under the care of two slaves--old Barney and young Barney--father and son. To attend to this establishment was their sole work. But it was by no means an easy employment; for in nothing was Colonel Lloyd more particular than in the management of his horses. The slightest inattention to these was unpardonable, and was visited upon those, under whose care they were placed, with the severest punishment; no excuse could shield them, if the colonel only suspected any want of attention to his horses--a supposition which he frequently indulged, and one which, of course, made the office of old and young Barney a very trying one. They never knew when they were safe from punishment. They were frequently whipped when least deserving, and escaped whipping when most deserving it. Every thing depended upon the looks of the horses, and the state of Colonel Lloyd's own mind when his horses were brought to him for use. If a horse did not move fast enough, or hold his head high enough, it was owing to some fault of his keepers. It was painful to stand near the stable-door, and hear the various complaints against the keepers when a horse was taken out for use. "This horse has not had proper attention. He has not been sufficiently rubbed and curried, or he has not been properly fed; his food was too wet or too dry; he got it too soon or too late; he was too hot or too cold; he had too much hay, and not enough of grain; or he had too much grain, and not enough of hay; instead of old Barney's attending to the horse, he had very improperly left it to his son." To all these complaints, no matter how unjust, the slave must answer never a word. Colonel Lloyd could not brook any contradiction from a slave. When he spoke, a slave must stand, listen, and tremble; and such was literally the case. I have seen Colonel Lloyd make old Barney, a man between fifty and sixty years of age, uncover his bald head, kneel down upon the cold, damp ground, and receive upon his naked and toil- worn shoulders more than thirty lashes at the time. Colonel Lloyd had three sons--Edward, Murray, and Daniel,--and three sons-in-law, Mr. Winder, Mr. Nicholson, and Mr. Lowndes. All of these lived at the Great House Farm, and enjoyed the luxury of whipping the servants when they pleased, from old Barney down to William Wilkes, the coach-driver. I have seen Winder make one of the house-servants stand off from him a suitable distance to be touched with the end of his whip, and at every stroke raise great ridges upon his back. To describe the wealth of Colonel Lloyd would be almost equal to describing the riches of Job. He kept from ten to fifteen house-servants. He was said to own a thousand slaves, and I think this estimate quite within the truth. Colonel Lloyd owned so many that he did not know them when he saw them; nor did all the slaves of the out-farms know him. It is reported of him, that, while riding along the road one day, he met a colored man, and addressed him in the usual manner of speaking to colored people on the public highways of the south: "Well, boy, whom do you belong to?" "To Colonel Lloyd," replied the slave. "Well, does the colonel treat you well?" "No, sir," was the ready reply. "What, does he work you too hard?" "Yes, sir." "Well, don't he give you enough to eat?" "Yes, sir, he gives me enough, such as it is." The colonel, after ascertaining where the slave belonged, rode on; the man also went on about his business, not dreaming that he had been conversing with his master. He thought, said, and heard nothing more of the matter, until two or three weeks afterwards. The poor man was then informed by his overseer that, for having found fault with his master, he was now to be sold to a Georgia trader. He was immediately chained and handcuffed; and thus, without a moment's warning, he was snatched away, and forever sundered, from his family and friends, by a hand more unrelenting than death. This is the penalty of telling the truth, of telling the simple truth, in answer to a series of plain questions. It is partly in consequence of such facts, that slaves, when inquired of as to their condition and the character of their masters, almost universally say they are contented, and that their masters are kind. The slaveholders have been known to send in spies among their slaves, to ascertain their views and feelings in regard to their condition. The frequency of this has had the effect to establish among the slaves the maxim, that a still tongue makes a wise head. They suppress the truth rather than take the consequences of telling it, and in so doing prove themselves a part of the human family. If they have any thing to say of their masters, it is generally in their masters' favor, especially when speaking to an untried man. I have been frequently asked, when a slave, if I had a kind master, and do not remember ever to have given a negative answer; nor did I, in pursuing this course, consider myself as uttering what was absolutely false; for I always measured the kindness of my master by the standard of kindness set up among slaveholders around us. Moreover, slaves are like other people, and imbibe prejudices quite common to others. They think their own better than that of others. Many, under the influence of this prejudice, think their own masters are better than the masters of other slaves; and this, too, in some cases, when the very reverse is true. Indeed, it is not uncommon for slaves even to fall out and quarrel among themselves about the relative goodness of their masters, each contending for the superior goodness of his own over that of the others. At the very same time, they mutually execrate their masters when viewed separately. It was so on our plantation. When Colonel Lloyd's slaves met the slaves of Jacob Jepson, they seldom parted without a quarrel about their masters; Colonel Lloyd's slaves contending that he was the richest, and Mr. Jepson's slaves that he was the smartest, and most of a man. Colonel Lloyd's slaves would boast his ability to buy and sell Jacob Jepson. Mr. Jepson's slaves would boast his ability to whip Colonel Lloyd. These quarrels would almost always end in a fight between the parties, and those that whipped were supposed to have gained the point at issue. They seemed to think that the greatness of their masters was transferable to themselves. It was considered as being bad enough to be a slave; but to be a poor man's slave was deemed a disgrace indeed!

Life and Narrative of William J. Anderson, Twenty-four Years a Slave; Sold Eight Times! In Jail Sixty Times!! Whipped Three Hundred Times!!! or The Dark Deeds of American Slavery Revealed. Containing Scriptural Views of the Origin of the Black and of the White Man. Also, a Simple and Easy Plan to Abolish Slavery in the United States. Together with an Account of the Services of Colored Men in the Revolutionary War--Day and Date, and Interesting Facts: Electronic Edition. Anderson, William J., b. 1811 Text transcribed by Apex Data Services, Inc. Text encoded by Lee Ann Morawski and Natalia Smith First edition, 2000 ca. 125K Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000. © This work is the property of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. CHAPTER III. KIDNAPPED--SOLD INTO TENNESSEE--SUFFERING ON THE WAY, ETC. My master was considered one of those cunning, fox-like slaveholders; his craving for gold was almost insatiable; he kidnapped me by night, when all things were as silent as death, handcuffed and chained me securely, while I was ten miles from my mother, and young and inexperienced, helpless and ignorant of the geography of the country. The horrors of leaving my native land I cannot express. I was hurried off, and not permitted to get my clothes or bid my friends farewell. We arrived early next day in the city of Richmond, the capital of the State. The slave-market space was very much crowded; so he sold me privately, for three hundred and seventy-five dollars. A southern trader bought me; he asked me if I ever run, I told him I had. He asked me if I could run fast; I told him I could. He asked once more if I ever ran away; as I always stood much upon truth, I told him I had, once only, and stayed away one day. So he put me in jail, there to remain until he made up his drove of slaves, which was a very few days. But I, a free boy, locked up in jail! It was a bad and horrible feeling. In a few days he made up his drove, to the number of some sixty-five or seventy. Myself and several men, say twenty or more, were chained together, two and two, with a chain between. In this situation we started, on the 6th of Nov., 1826, for East and West Tennessee. Then we sang the song—

"Farewell, ye children of the Lord, &c." We traveled a few days, and scenes of sadness occurred; the snow and rain came down in torrents, but we had to rest out in the open air every night; sometimes we would have to scrape away the snow, make our pallets on the cold ground, or in the rain, with a bunch of leaves and a chunk of wood for our pillow, and so we would have to rest the best we could, with our chains on. In that awful situation the reader may imagine how we gained any relief from the suffering consequent upon the cruel infliction we had to endure. We were driven with whip and curses through the cold and rain. One thing in particular attracted my attention on my way to Tennessee; it was the sight of about fifty women working with picks, hoes and shovels, and a large white man cursing and driving them with a ship; all had on hats alike. Our route was straight up the James River; we passed many towns which it would be useless to mention. In about two months we arrived safely in Nashville, West Tennessee. Our irons were knocked off from our limbs. O, the soreness and awful feelings are inexpressible… CHAPTER V. ARRIVING ON THE COTTON FARM--RUNNING AWAY--GETTING INTO JAIL--AWFUL WHIPPING-- LABOR, FOOD, CLOTHING--HARD TIMES. … I made up my mind to run away, and set about making preparations. My plan was to steal a skiff, as I lived twenty miles above Vicksburg, on the west bank of the Mississippi river, which was deep, wide and rapid, and make off down the river until I got to Vicksburg, or get on a steamboat going up the river. But, being ignorant of important facts, my plan did not work at all, for I did not get as far as Vicksburg before a parcel of "Northern men with Southern principles" assisted me to town and put me in jail; they were Indianians. In a few days my master came down, put irons on my hands and feet, and laughed in anger at my calamity. He took me back upon the cotton farm, where he with three or four others, stripped me stark naked, or divested me of all my apparel, drove down four stakes, about nine feet apart, then (after I was tied hard and fast to the cold ground) with a large ox whip, laid on me (he said) five hundred lashes, till the blood ran freely upon the cold ground and mother earth drank it freely in. I begged, mourned, and cried, and prayed; but all my lamentations were only sport for him; he was a stranger to mercy. My pen would fail here to describe my agonizing feelings and I must leave the reader again to imagine my suffering condition. At the close of this brutal punishment he called for some salt brine, of the strongest kind, and had me washed down in it. O, that, with the whipping, was another hell to undergo. He at last let me up in my chains, and put me to work at hard labor, on corn and water. Now, hear what our food was. We were called up on Sunday evenings, and had a peck of corn measured to us, shelled, or enough corn to make a good peck, two or three pounds of pork or beef. This was our allowance for a week; but to continue the punishment for my running away he would not allow me any meat for several weeks, and kept me in chains some two months, this was to cow me down in degradation like the rest of the slaves, which was hard to do. On this farm they had a large coffee mill on which we might grind our corn, or beat, boil or parch it. This had to be done between two days, or we must go without eating the next day. Here I wish to remark; that I worked hard on my allowance of corn or dry bread for several weeks. There being a large lot of chickens on the farm, I determined to kill and cook one, to eat with my bread and make it go down better. I had eaten only a part of the fowl when my master was told by some of the other servants that I was "eating up all the chickens on the place!" My master seized me and dragged me out of the cabin, tied me down to the same stakes which had witnessed my agony on a former occasion, and gave me one hundred lashes--he said. I have no recollection of eating any more chickens while I lived in the State of Mississippi. But my appetite for such food was not destroyed by my master's cruelty to me, and I have enjoyed many a meal of such innocent fowls since I left there…..

Slave Owners

Overview

When people study slavery in the United States, they often wonder, "How could slave owners justify their choice to hold other humans in bondage? What could make them do such a horrible thing?" These questions are important and the answers are complex. Slave owners used many reasons to make their choices seem acceptable to society at large, and to themselves.

In looking for answers we might simply say that slave owners were "bad people" too cruel to think that slavery was wrong. There is historical support for this explanation, considering the many stories of slave masters abuse and torture of slaves. At the same time, there have been many examples of extreme cruelty in history that do not involve slaves and masters, or even people of different ancestry. Cruelty alone does not seem to explain the unique experience of slaves in the United States.

Another explanation for slavery is racism. This builds on the "bad people" explanation by being more specific about the "badness" of slave owners-they were not just cruel, but practiced their cruelty on people of African ancestry. There is a lot of historical support for this explanation, but there are many stories that complicate such an explanation. For example, we know that there were African-Americans who enslaved other African-Americans, most commonly in Louisiana. There are also examples of Native Americans holding African-American slaves. So racism alone cannot explain slavery's existence.

Yet another explanation for slavery is greed. In this case we might say that slave owners were driven mostly by the desire for wealth and power. This too seems to make sense. Historians know that the profits from slavery were large, often as large as the profits made by factories in the North. Furthermore, slave owners held almost every position of political power in the South, as well as important jobs in the Federal government. For example, other than John Adams and John Quincy Adams, every President in the first forty-five years of our nations existence was a slaveholder.

To help us understand how slave owners justified holding other humans in bondage we have the chance to read a series of letters between two fictional slave owners. What follows is an imaginary exchange of letters between a plantation owner and small-scale slave owner. The letters show slave owners justifying their actions.

Every quotation within each fictional letter is drawn from the actual writing of an actual person who lived in the early 19th century. For example, one letter refers to John C. Calhoun, who was a United States Senator from 1832-1843 and from 1845-1850. The biographical details about each person quoted are also 1 true. Their words are harsh, direct and often disturbing. The opinions of the fictional letter writers are also disturbing, but they are written to show you how slave owners spoke and thought about their slaves. Finally, it is important to know that throughout the 1700s, many American slave owners had seen slavery as a "necessary evil." What these letters show is a new, more vicious view of slavery emerging. The fact that beliefs about right and wrong can change so quickly should make us all pay close attention to the values that are changing today. They will influence our future, for the better or for the worse.

The Letters

Sept. 5, 1848

To the Hon. Col. Williams,

Sir, I cannot thank you enough for generously lending me two of your slaves. Casius and Claudius were hard workers and behaved well too. However, I found that I could not understand much of what they said. I relied on my own Negroes to make sense of their speech. They seemed to understand me only with great effort. Are they dim witted? In any case, my two Negroes have benefited from seeing just how productive plantation slaves can be.

With the help of your Negroes all the cotton I feared would spoil will now be sent to Charleston in time to fetch the best price. To show my appreciation of your help I have sent you a copy of my new book on the physical and mental characteristics of Africans. I think you will find my ideas well researched and supported by today's science. Of course I have also included the ten dollars rental fee we agreed upon.

Humbly Yours,

Dr. Simon Elkins

Sept. 21, 1848

To Dr. Elkins, Sir, I received your payment and generous gift. I have read it and found it to be most interesting reading. But before I comment on your book, let me answer your questions about the Negroes I lent you. My answer may have some use to your further research.

As you know my plantation has some hundred and sixty slaves. They live in their own quarters. The field slaves work under my overseer, Mr. Thomas, from dawn to dusk every day except Sunday. They have the evenings to themselves. Because work must take top priority, the field slaves are not instructed in proper speech. They keep much of their African accents and never learn English properly. This I think explains your difficulty understanding them. They are no more dimwitted than any other African. This leads me to comment on your fine book.

I found that your book confirmed my experience working with slaves. I think that your are right, Africans do seem made to be slaves. Their coarse manners and slow wits show that they need our guidance to help civilize them and show them the way to proper morality and religion. I recently heard a speech from Senator Calhoun who observed that, "The African is incapable of self-care and sinks into lunacy under the burden of freedom. It is a mercy to him to give him the guardianship and protection from mental death." On a different note, I was surprised that you drew so little evidence from the Bible. After all it is written that slaves should always obey their masters, as we are to obey God. In addition, why did you not mention how science supports slavery? Are you unaware of Professor Thomas Drew's work? In his research at the University of Virginia he has claimed that, "It is as much in the order of nature that men should enslave each other as that other animals should prey upon each other." This is a minor point though. Overall, I found your book to be very informative indeed.

Finally, I was pleased to hear that my laborers made such quick work of your harvest. I was not surprised however. They are an example of the benefits of holding slaves in larger numbers. We plantation owners are able to have work done more efficiently than small-scale owners like yourself. We do not have the inconvenience of living in close contact with our slaves. Because of that greater social distance, I can use the whip much more freely to get the most out of each worker. By whipping each slave once a year, I can be sure that each one sees at least a whipping a week. This helps keep them at their work. As a friend and a fellow man of learning, I await your reply.

Yours,

Colonel John R. Williams

October 11, 1848

To The Hon. Col. Williams,

Sir, I apologize for not responding sooner to your letter. I have been traveling recently, collecting information for an expanded edition of my book. Your suggestions to look for new sources of information on the justness of slavery inspired me. My time is short, so I will only sketch for you the ideas that I have developed.

I have learned most from the area of political economy. I have studied the governments of African countries and found that all are very poorly run. None have been able to see the light of democracy and few have more than a simple tribal organization. This supports the view that Africans cannot be fit to rule themselves. After all, if they cannot lead themselves in Africa, how could they possibly manage it here?

I have also looked into the working conditions of free laborers in the North. You will not be surprised when I say that our Negroes live better than most factory workers. Does anyone lookout for the poor worker whose arm is permanently damaged? No. Does anyone see that workers are properly fed and housed? Again, the answer is no. I think that if our slaves saw what awaits them in Northern factory life, they would never wish to set foot north of Maryland.

While I am on the subject of the north, I have found that their textile industry shows just how much they need slave labor for their own benefit. We both know that the mills of New England would shudder to a halt without our cotton. And I wonder how they would respond if we suddenly asked them to pay twice as much for raw cotton. That is what would happen if the abolitionists had their way. Wouldn't it be ironic if the people who oppose slavery found themselves without shirts and pants as a result of their success? It seems hypocritical of Northerners to oppose slavery and, at the same time, treat their workers poorly and push us to keep our cotton cheap.

I hope these ideas meet with your approval. Yet I must add one observation. I found your remarks about whipping your slaves upsetting. Are we not Christians? Should we not lead by example, and not by heartless calculation? I beg your pardon, but I think that small slave holdings are superior to plantations in a number of ways. I know my slaves personally, and thus am able to teach them proper piety and virtue. I use the whip only as a last resort, because I must face my slaves each day and work along side them. The distance of the plantation seems to leave the slaves further from our good influence and too much in the company of their own. It lets you use the lash too freely. I am sure, Sir, that you take care to avoid these problems, but I fear that others do not possess your sense of responsibility.

I look forward to your response on these matters, and would appreciate it if you would do me the honor of your reading the first draft of my new book. A mind as developed as yours would be a welcome addition indeed.

Warmest Regards,

Simon Elkins

Postscript

These letters show that slave owners used science, the Bible, and what they thought was objective observation to justify slavery. They also show that slave owners did not treat their slaves in exactly the same way.

Today the views of "scientific racism" which appear above are very rare within the academic world. Those ideas have been disproven again and again over the past hundred years, though a very small minority of scientists still think that race and intelligence are related. All the scientific bases for racial hierarchy have been discredited.

It is important to know that, during the 19th century, opponents of slavery had arguments to contradict each claim made in support of slavery. European-American and African-American opponents of slavery made these rebuttals using philosophy, history, and religion. Sometimes they even used the same sources, like the Bible, to draw conclusions that directly contradicted the slave owners.

Whatever the arguments, the debate over slavery was itself changing in the 19th century. Slavery had been practiced for thousands of years, while widespread opposition to slavery was little more than forty years old when abolitionism took root in the United States during the 1830s. The opponents of slavery drew many of their ideas from the Enlightenment, a relatively recent intellectual movement. In this way critics of slavery were bringing new ideas to their society. The resistance they met can be understood in part as the weight of tradition pushing back on new ideas of the day.

These letters show that the answer to our question, "how could slave owners hold slaves," is complicated. Not all slave owners had the same reasons for holding slaves, though most agreed on a number of points. Given this complex history, a number of questions arise from the letters above. What do they say about human nature? Do humans always try to exploit groups who seem different and are less powerful? Were slave owners 100% evil? Did any of the slave owner's arguments make any sense? Which one made the least sense to you? Which made the most sense? Are any of these arguments used today to justify inequality among people?

1 There are many collections of primary sources that allow students to read the actual words of participants in the debate over slavery. Particularly useful are William Dudley, ed., Slavery: Opposing Viewpoints, Greenhaven Press, 1992, and David Shi and Holly Mayer, For the Record, W.W. Norton, 1999. Writings from the men quoted in the fictional letters can be found in these volumes.