Slavery “Annotated”: Lost History Series: Prolific Works From the 1800s Addressing the African American Experience

Slavery is an institution that is as old as the written word. Although the word slavery often brings to mind a great portion of African American history the institution of slavery is as common to the human experience as illness and death. There is no race of man that has been immune to its shackles. At the time William Channing wrote this, he was considered America’s foremost Unitarian preacher. It was originally published in 1846, fifteen years before America’s Civil War. It was designed to aid the reader in forming a “just” moral judgment of the institution of slavery. This work was written at a time in human history when the institution of slavery was finally being opposed as a moral wrong by more than a handful of kind-hearted abolitionists. Unlike many writings concerning the horrible anecdotal experiences of the slave, this is focused on the immorality of the institution. Great truths, inalienable rights, everlasting duties, these will form the chief subjects of this discussion. I warn the reader not to judge the morality and level of ignorance of those living in the middle of the nineteenth century by our information age moral standards. There is much to learn from history. The most important thing to learn is not to repeat it.