Slave Liberation Quotes
Many English slaves had been brought into Ireland by kidnappers and purchasers of English children as described in the quotation by Girald of Wales. The Irish kept them in bondage. In 1171 English invasions of Ireland appeared to be succeeding and the Irish clerics decided that they were being punished by God for the slavery. The edict was issued with the force of law. For insight into the common practice of kidnapping slaves in England, see Council of Westminster.
In this case, the Pope was obeyed on the issue of slavery. However, Papal injunctions against slavery have not always had the desired effect. See {617632}
Jefferson’s views, actions and inactions regarding slavery are very complex and contradictory. This quotation is one example of the many statements and activities to end slavery. Yet he never freed his own slaves (as did George Washington) and he fathered a child by one of his slaves with no attempt at freeing even her and the child. The Andrew Dickson White article is one of the first serious studies of the Jefferson contradictions regarding slavery.
This is the first formal call for reparations of some kind for slaves after freedom. It is almost always quoted when the issue of reparations for Blacks is discussed. Dwight was not some left wing liberal. Actually he was one of the most conservative Americans at the time. He was an ardent opponent of Thomas Jefferson (see {600384}.) and a staunch supporter of the Federalists. He was one of the major spokesmen for the establishment and upper class of the day. He was also an ardent Christian minister who saw slavery for what it was—an evil sin and an injustice to any humans in that condition.
The reality of slavery in some Muslim countries is the cause for the last phrase.
This was America’s first emancipation of slaves. It was not done so much for the principle of equality or rights of slaves, but as an intimidation technique applied to the rebellious Americans.
The military weapon of freeing the slaves was advocated from the earliest days of the Civil War. However, most Northern political leaders were sure that the South would be economically broken by emancipation, and many were hoping to end the rebellion swiftly by some military victories, and the Confederate soldiers could return to an economically viable South. If the slaves were freed, Southern soldiers would have little to return to and would all have to become laborers and thus would fight then to the death. However, the more battlefield success the South had, the more the combination of the moral pressure of the abolitionists and the practical strategic pressure of those who wanted to cripple the South militarily by freeing the slaves, influence Lincoln’s decision.
Although some Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia maintained legal slavery into the 1960s, Tunisia’s Emancipation pre-dated that of the United States.
