An Address to the Public
Benjamin Franklin, Nov. 9, 1789
Pages 189-190
Benjamin Franklin, although he had
owned slaves, including Peter, he eventually saw the horrors of slavery and
took on the mission of proving to the world that slavery was unjust and
attempted to stop it. He even remarked: “Slavery is such an atrocious
debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with
solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils” (Page 189).
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| Benjamin Franklin |
I found it interesting how he
basically pre-empted Social Darwinism by saying “The unhappy man, who has long
been treated as a brute animal, too frequently sinks beneath the common
standard of the human species. The galling chains, that bind his body, do also
fetter his intellectual faculties, and impair the social affection of his heart”
(Page 190). It is for reasons such as this, that he proposes a new plan. “Encouraged
by this success, and by the daily progress of that luminous and benign spirit
of liberty, which is diffusing itself throughout the world, and humbly hoping
for the continuance of the divine blessing on our labours, we have ventured to
make an important addition to our original plan, and do therefore earnestly
solicit the support and assistance of all who can feel the tender emotions of
sympathy and compassion, or relish the exalted pleasure of beneficence” (Page
189).
Then, Franklin begins bashing
slavery, saying it “is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its
very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a
source of serious evils” (Page 189). He even slightly shows his emotions of
slavery by explaining some of what slaves feel. This is quite interesting
because you would most already know what slaves are going through and simply
don’t care. By doing this, Franklin appeals to their ethos. “Accustomed to move
like a mere machine, by the will of a master, reflection is suspended; he has
not the power of choice; and reason and conscience have but little influence
over his conduct, because he is chiefly governed by the passion of fear. He is
poor and friendless; perhaps worn out by extreme labour, age, and disease”
(Page 190). He then believes because they are so “accustomed” to this horrible lifestyle
that it isn’t within their power to change or even want to change. “Under such
circumstances, freedom may often prove a misfortune to himself, and prejudicial
to society” (Page 190).
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| Slave: Am I Not a Man and a Brother? |
Franklin knows it would be difficult
to have the whole country accept freeing all of the slaves overnight, so he at
least hopes to raise awareness of the issue. “Attention to emancipated black
people, it is therefore to be hoped, will become a branch of our national
policy; but, as far as we contribute to promote this emancipation, so far that
attention is evidently a serious duty incumbent on us, and which we mean to
discharge to the best of our judgment and abilities” (Page 190). Not only is
emancipation, what Franklin is proposing, a very radical idea for the time, he
even goes on to say that it will help the national public good of society. “To
instruct, to advise, to qualify those, who have been restored to freedom, for
the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty, to promote in them habits of
industry, to furnish them with employments suited to their age, sex, talents,
and other circumstances, and to procure their children an education calculated
for their future situation in life; these are the great outlines of the annexed
plan, which we have adopted, and which we conceive will essentially promote the
public good, and the happiness of these our hitherto too much neglected
fellow-creatures” (Page 190). As Ms. Quosigk would say, “Whoa!” What a powerful
statement. It’s a wonder Franklin wasn’t assassinated for this hugely radical
idea. The last paragraph is simply asking the general public to make donations
to help their cause, which really makes me wonder how many people donated, and
if so how much.
