On Slavery

On Sunday, I finished reading a book called Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. It was written by a woman named Harriet Jacobs (though she wrote under the pseudonym Linda Brent), who was born to a slave mother in the American South in 1813. According to the laws at the time, any children of a slave mother were also slaves, owned by the mother's master or mistress. Though Harriet's mother was married to a free man, his children were the property of his wife's owner and could be sold away at the whim of the owner at any time.

Harriet wrote her story in the form of a sentimental novel, which was a popular writing form at the time. Though it is written in story form, all the incidents in the book are true. This type of writing was sure to grab the attentions and sympathies of white women in the northern Free States who were working to abolish slavery in the South as well as those who were not yet familiar with the plight of their sisters of African descent. When she wrote the book, Harriet had only recently become legally free, though she had escaped from slavery years before.

It's a heart-wrenching story, and it is impossible to imagine living a life in which the law declared that I was the personal property, body and soul, of another human being. Harriet, who had been taught to read and write at the age of six (which was a crime), frequently stops to ask the reader how they would feel in her situation as a female slave. Because her complexion was light and she was pretty, she was constantly under threat from her mistress's father to be raped and impregnated, and Dr. Flint (her mistress's father) spent years making her life absolutely miserable. Many white slave owners fathered children on black slaves, and the children that resulted were often sold away--with or without their mothers--because the slave owners' wives felt so much anger and jealousy toward them. The other choice, frequently taken, was to smother the infants to death. Even clergymen, who would have caused a scandal by having an affair and a child with a white woman, were not held to account for fathering black babies. In fact, slave women were frequently used as breeding horses to increase a slave owner's stock of slaves, whether he fathered them or forced them to breed with other slaves. The lenient owners allowed the women to choose their own husbands, but there was never a guarantee that the families would be allowed to stay together.

Harriet's story is truly horrific, and I think everyone should read the book to see what is possible when slavery is allowed. It's what she writes about the universally corrupting influence of slavery on an entire society that is really penetrating, however. She talks about how the institution of slavery changed what would have been otherwise fairly decent people into despicable human beings. White men and women and their children were all surrounded by slaves, and they grew up learning to treat an entire class of human beings as property. Because of that, they lost much of their compassion and humanity for each other, as well. The pain and misery of slavery didn't just rest on the whipped shoulders of the slaves.

My point in sharing this is that we must learn from history, from what human beings can do to each other. We decry any thought of slavery today, and yet we defend twisted practices such as pornography as "freedom of speech," when, behind the scenes, an entire industry thrives on trafficked women and children to feed the ever-growing and ever more insatiable demand for explicit and violent pornographic material.

We see a problem and demand that government do something about it, ignoring the historical tendency of all governments to increase in power and tyranny until the people who once cried to the government for safety and security are now running away from it for fear of their lives. We so willingly put the yoke of slavery on our own shoulders, believing the soothing promises of men and women who are both corruptible and corrupted with power.

Samuel, the great prophet who preceded King David, tried his best to set up a government among the Israelite nation that would champion freedom and liberty. He ran effective military campaigns against the neighboring kingdoms that wanted to conquer Israel and force them to pay tribute (slavery). He taught them how to council together in order to govern themselves. And yet, Samuel's people, for whom he had given his entire life, demanded a king. They wanted a monarchy so they would appear strong to the surrounding nations. They wanted the pomp and circumstance associated with a king and a royal court. They wanted to quit thinking for themselves and rely on a king to make their decisions and lead their military campaigns against their enemies. When Samuel went to the Lord, depressed and discouraged at their immaturity and refusal to accept freedom, the Lord told Samuel to give them what they wanted, but to warn them first.

As commanded, Samuel warned the people what would happen if they willingly subjected themselves to a monarchy. They would be taxed heavily from their crops and profits to support the king and his court; they would have to send their children to serve the king in his court and on the battlefields; they would end up groaning under the burden they had willingly taken upon themselves because they wanted the appearance of strength and the false security of having a king.

Despite Samuel's warnings, and despite the fact that Samuel had shown them another way to govern themselves, the people chose a king. They got what they wanted, and they lived to regret it within just a single generation. Solomon, though a wise man, taxed the people incredibly heavily to build a new temple. After Solomon, the kings were largely oppressive and wicked, with a few bright lights of righteousness and kindness here and there. Eventually, Israel was divided into two rival kingdoms, and eventually, both of those kingdoms were conquered by other nations. The Israelites were either captured and taken with the conquering armies or forced to scatter among the other nations, no longer a mighty people.

My point is that if we choose slavery, we will suffer. When the Israelites chose their idols over the One True God, they suffered. When we choose a strong, all-powerful federal government over the One True God (who helps us learn to govern ourselves), we will suffer. We have only to look to Germany and Russia as recent examples of what happens when we elect despots. Unlike Harriet Jacobs, who suffered from the unrighteous decisions of others, we will be choosing to enslave ourselves and our children.