Liberty and Slavery—Professor Bledsoe [pp. 382-388]

Liberty and Slavery.-Professor Bledsoe.
ance to the laws of God, and that they
cannot divest themselves of that allegi ance. But it does not follow that slavery
conflicts with this proposition. On the
contrary, it may be the condition best
suited to habitual obedience to God. Sla ve ry subverts equal it y of civil rights,
but inequality of c ivil rights, s o far from
conflicting with equ ali ty of natural rights,
is indispensable to the attainiment of such
equality. If one class of a community be
disposed to invade the natural rights of
others, it m ust be restricted in political
and civil power. If one class be less com petent than others to exercise civil and
political power, it must in like manner
receive a smaller share of it. No society
on earth ever conferred equal, civil and
political rights on all its members, If
slavery were what it is not, a state of total
extinction of civil rights, it might still be
the very best contrivance to secure equal ity of natural rights, or in other words,
equal obedience to the laws of God.
Bur it will be said that the Declaration
of Independence declares liberty to be a
natural right, that slavery destroys it, and
therefore violates natural law. Liberty
is no doubt a natural right, but slavery so
far from destroying, may be the best
means of protecting it, paradoxical as the
proposition appears. Liberty and slavery
arenot antagonistic, if the former be rightly understood. Independence and slavery are incompatible, because the former
means an absence of all control, and the
latter implies control. But liberty, so far
from implying the absence of control, necessarily supposes a controlling power.
" It consists," says Montesquibu, "in the
power of doing what we ought to will, and
in not being constrained to do what we
ought not to will."-Spirit of Laws, lstvol.
p. 186. "Ought" recognizes obligation,
and obligation implies duty and obedience
to law, either natural or civil. According
to Montesquieu, therefore, natural liberty
means the capacity to obey natural law.
Professor Bledsoe's definition of liberty
conforms exactly to this conception. He
says " that liberty consists in an oppor'tunity to enjoy our rights. p. 29. But
right is synonymous with obedience to
law, arnd liberty therefore is "an opportu
In our humble judgment to vindicate
slavery on this ground, is to surrender
the argument. It is to deny a correct
premise instead of refuting an erroneous
conclusion.
The abolitionist is quite right in maintaining that life and liberty are inalienable rights, but wrong in thence condemning slavery. He misconceives the
nature of the rights possessed by society.
They are derivative it is true, but they
are derived from God and not from man,
and are not at all affected by the inalienability of individual rights. Society
does not derive its rights from the alienation of its members; if it did, society
would have no power, for there has been
no such alienation.
He is also right in affirming the equality of rights announced in the Declaration of Independence, and wrong in supposing'slavery to be in conflict with such
equality; and his error here, consists in
a misconception of the word "right." It
is true that ".all men are created equal,"
or in other words, possess equal natural
rights, for no sane man supposes that
an equality of physical or intellectual
strength, or moral perceptions. or civil
rights, was intended. But it does not
follow that slavery impairs the equality
of natural right; indeed, this inference
betrays a total misconception of natural
right.
Writers and lexicographers, with one
voice, define right as conformity to law.
"Right," says Paley, "is consistency with
the will of God."-Moral and Political
Philosophy, p. 41. "Right," says Richardson, "is conformity to the will of God
or his law."-fRichardson's Dictionary.
"Right is no other than rectum the past
participle of the Latin verb regere."
"When a man demands his right he only
asks that which it is ordered he shall
have."-Tooke's Diversions of Purley, pp.
304-306. Natural right is therefore conformity to natural law, and the Declaration of In dependence only declares that
all men are equally bound to conform to
this law. This definition establishes both
the equality and the inalienability of natural right. For it is a self-evident proposition that all men owe equal allegi
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