THE HERITAGE
of THE SOUTH
A HISTORY OF
THE INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY
ITS ESTABLISHMENT FROM COLONIAL TIMES
AND FINAL EFFECT UPON
THE POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES
By
JUBAL A. EARLY
MEMBER OF THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1861
Copyright 1915
By R. H. EARLY
PRESS OF
BROWN-MORRISON CO
LYNCHBURG, VA.
Editor's Note
A review is given, in the pages following, of the causeswhich led to the political issue of the '60s; an issue whichwill be open to argument until, in all of its bearings, it becomesunderstood through familiarity with the conditionsof the past. Sentiment divorced from reason occasionedmisconception. Many causes contributed to that effect.The lack of authentic records doubtless was one; certainlyill-advised publications inflamed, if they did not inspire,public opinion at this critical period.
The author was actuated by the desire to correct erroneousopinion in relation to the South. His manuscripthas lain unpublished during the passing of half a century,till passion having cooled and prejudice abated, there is nolonger reason for clash from difference of feeling upon thesubject.
The African slave trade began in the year 1442, whenAnthony Gonsalez, a Portuguese, took from the Gold Coast,ten negroes, which he carried to Lisbon. In 1481, thePortuguese built a fort on the Gold Coast, and as early as1502, the Spaniards began to employ negroes in the minesof Hispaniola. In 1517, Charles V, Emperor of Spain,granted a patent to certain persons, for the supply of 4,000negroes, annually, to the islands of Hispaniola, Cuba,Jamaica and Porto Rico. John Hawkins, afterwardsknighted by Queen Elizabeth, got into his possession, partlyby the sword and partly by other means, 300 negroes, andsold them in the West Indies. Hawkins' second voyage waspatronized by Queen Elizabeth, who participated in theprofits; and in 1618, in the reign of James I, the British[ 4 ]government established a regular trade on the coast ofAfrica.
When negotiations for the slave traffic were first agitated,the cost to the victim seems not to have been considered.The white man's need—or greed—demanded sacrifice.The negro, a product of the "three-cornered rum, slave andmolasses trade" was brought to New England to a conditionoffering few advantages beyond certain comfortswhich were to be provided by the master who was to assumeall the obligations of the position.
Wrenched from his home, separated from his people,exiled to a foreign land, which was governed by laws maintainedthrough penalties, the enforced emigrant was set tolabor in unaccustomed ways under uncongenial circumstances.
The experiment of settling him in a manufacturing sectionproved disadvantageous to the investor. The demandfor field labor furnished a Southern market; this occasionedhis removal to that part of the country, his aptitude forthe work kept him there.
His insurrectionary spirit made his training difficult. Itw