Moral Movement in the United States

The Moral Movement and the Essentials in the Slavery Struggle

In the book “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America 1638-1870” (1), W. E. B. Du Bois explained the following: For the solution of this problem there were, roughly speaking, three classes of efforts made during this time,—moral, political, and economic: that is to say, efforts which sought directly to raise the moral standard of the nation; efforts which sought to stop the trade by legal enactment; efforts which sought to neutralize the economic advantages of the slave-trade. There is always a certain glamour about the idea of a nation rising up to crush an evil simply because it is wrong. Unfortunately, this can seldom be realized in real life; for the very existence of the evil usually argues a moral weakness in the very place where extraordinary moral strength is called for. This was the case in the early history of the colonies; and experience proved that an appeal to moral rectitude was unheard in Carolina when rice had become a great crop, and in Massachusetts when the rum-slave-traffic was paying a profit of 100%. That the various abolition societies and anti-slavery movements did heroic work in rousing the national conscience is certainly true; unfortunately, however, these movements were weakest at the most critical times. When, in 1774 and 1804, the material advantages of the slave-trade and the institution of slavery were least, it seemed possible that moral suasion might accomplish the abolition of both. A fatal spirit of temporizing, however, seized the nation at these points; and although the slave-trade was, largely for political reasons, forbidden, slavery was left untouched. Beyond this point, as years rolled by, it was found well-nigh impossible to rouse the moral sense of the nation. Even in the matter of enforcing its own laws and co-operating with the civilized world, a lethargy seized the country, and it did not awake until slavery was about to destroy it. Even then, after a long and earnest crusade, the national sense of right did not rise to the entire abolition of slavery. It was only 195a peculiar and almost fortuitous commingling of moral, political, and economic motives that eventually crushed African slavery and its handmaid, the slave-trade in America.

Resources

Notes and References

1. W. E. B. Du Bois, “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America 1638-1870” (1893), Longmans, Green and Co., London, New York, Bombay and Calcuta.

See Also

Further Reading

• Anthony Benezet. Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave Trade, 1442–1771. (In his Historical Account of Guinea, etc., Philadelphia, 1771.)
• Alexandre Moreau de Jonnès. Recherches Statistiques sur l’Esclavage Colonial et sur les Moyens de le supprimer. Paris, 1842.
• Alexander Falconbridge. An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa. London, 1788.
• George Sauer. La Traite et l’Esclavage des Noirs. London, 1863.
• T.R.R. Cobb. Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery in the United States of America. Vol. I. Philadelphia and Savannah, 1858.
• Charles F. Mercer. Mémoires relatifs à l’Abolition de la Traite Africaine, etc. Paris, 1855.
• Joshua R. Giddings. Speech … on his motion to reconsider the vote taken upon the final passage of the “Bill338 for the relief of the owners of slaves lost from on Board the Comet and Encomium.” [Washington, 1843.]
• United States Supreme Court. Reports of Decisions.