Anti-Slavery Opinions before the Year 1800: Read before the Cincinnati Literary Club, November 16, 1872

In Short

This book is a transcript of a formal lecture delivered to the Cincinnati Literary Club in 1872, supplemented by a facsimile reprint of a 1791 oration by Dr. George Buchanan. It catalogs the early, organized opposition to slavery in America, highlighting the intellectual and legislative efforts of abolitionists before the year 1800. By documenting these forgotten petitions, societies, and public addresses, the work serves as a corrective to the idea that the anti-slavery movement was a late-blooming phenomenon. It has lasted as a vital primary source for scholars of American moral history.

The Story

The narrative begins with an exploration of George Washington’s personal library, specifically a rare pamphlet that serves as the catalyst for the author’s research into early anti-slavery thought. The author emphasizes that a significant, if often overlooked, body of opposition existed from the very beginning of the American colonies. He argues that slavery was not a homegrown institution but an "incubus" imposed upon the colonies by British commercial interests, resisted by local colonial courts until those efforts were systematically vetoed by the Crown.

The heart of the book is the 1791 oration by Dr. George Buchanan, a Baltimore physician. Buchanan’s speech, delivered on the Fourth of July, is a searing indictment of the "moral and political evil of slavery." He systematically dismantles the justifications for the institution, arguing that slavery destroys the moral faculties of both the enslaver and the enslaved. He invokes the language of the American Revolution, pointing out the hypocrisy of a people who fought for their own independence while simultaneously denying it to others. Buchanan’s argument is rooted in the belief that equality is a natural right and that the perceived "inferiority" of the enslaved is merely the result of their dehumanizing environment.

The author traces the evolution of these sentiments into organized action. He details the formation of various abolitionist societies—spanning from Massachusetts to Virginia—which held conventions, sent memorials to Congress, and corresponded with international peers in London and Paris. These societies, led by figures like Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin, sought to use "the force of reason" to awaken the public conscience.

The work acknowledges the complexities and hesitations of the period, including the wavering mind of Thomas Jefferson. While Jefferson privately abhorred the institution, he struggled with the practical question of how to end it without social upheaval, often doubting the "faculties" of the enslaved until presented with the work of the astronomer Benjamin Banneker. The author notes that these early efforts faced two major "reactions": the economic shift following the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, and the later rise of mob violence and political entrenchment in the 1830s. Ultimately, the book presents a history of a promise—a period of significant, organized intellectual courage that was suppressed by economic interests and political fear, only to be vindicated by the eventual, violent overthrow of the institution in the 1860s.

How It Unfolds

The library discovery The author introduces the Washington collection at the Boston Athenæum, using a rare pamphlet found within it to pivot toward the broader history of anti-slavery opinions in the late eighteenth century.

The moral argument Dr. George Buchanan’s oration takes center stage, laying out a philosophical and religious case against the "unnatural custom" of bondage and its corrupting effect on the soul of the nation.

The legislative landscape The author shifts to the early American political arena, documenting how colonial assemblies attempted to halt the slave trade and how early Congressional debates showed surprising, if fragile, support for considering abolitionist petitions.

The age of societies The focus turns to the rise of state and local abolitionist societies, highlighting their cooperation in national conventions and their persistent efforts to sway public opinion through memorials and published discourse.

The era of reaction The final movement describes how the initial momentum of the late 1700s was stifled by the invention of the cotton gin and later by the rise of defensive, pro-slavery rhetoric, marking the long, dark period leading to the Civil War.

The People

The figures in this history are defined by their engagement with the "irrepressible conflict." Dr. George Buchanan stands as the central intellectual figure; his desire to align the young American republic with universal human rights leads him to confront his own peers. His legacy is one of moral clarity, famously cited by Henry Clay as the primary influence on his own developing views. Thomas Jefferson appears as a man of profound contradiction; he desires the end of slavery yet is crippled by intellectual uncertainty and the social "habits" of Virginia, ultimately finding himself challenged by the genius of Benjamin Banneker. Banneker, the self-taught mathematician and astronomer, serves as the quiet, living refutation of the racist pseudo-science of his day. Finally, the members of the various state abolition societies—men like Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin—act as the institutional backbone, seeking to formalize a national moral conscience. They end up as witnesses to the failure of their own early optimism, as the nation descends into the economic and political hardening that would eventually lead to the catastrophe of the mid-19th century.

In Its Own Voice

"To deprive a man of his liberty has a tendency to rob his soul of every spring to virtuous actions; and were slaves to become fiends, the wonder could not be great."

(Dr. Buchanan argues that the conditions of slavery inherently degrade the human character.)

"The nation, to whom they shall be in bondage, will I judge, said God—and what that judgment may be, is beyond the suggestion of mortals."

(Buchanan invokes divine justice as a warning to a nation that prides itself on freedom while maintaining slaves.)

"The pride of holding men as property is too flattering to yield to the dictates of reason, and blindly pushes on man to his destruction."

(The author concludes that the psychological and economic allure of slaveholding blinded the Southern planter class to their own ruin.)

What It's Really About

The central argument is that the abolitionist impulse in America was not a late, alien imposition, but a fundamental part of the Revolutionary-era political consciousness. The author asks whether a nation built on the "fixed principle" of equality can survive if it continues to practice the opposite. The underlying question is one of moral consistency: can a society truly claim to value liberty if it denies that same liberty to a segment of its population? The book explores the tension between reason—which dictates that slavery is an economic and moral folly—and the inertia of habit, greed, and social custom that keeps such systems in place long after they have been proven ruinous.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in the intellectual foundations of American history will find this an essential, if sobering, document. It provides a rare, grounded look at how the founders and their immediate successors struggled with the contradiction of slavery. You will experience the feeling of reading a "lost" history—a record of voices that were once loud and organized but were later muffled by the coming storm of the Civil War.

The prose is that of a nineteenth-century librarian: precise, meticulous, and occasionally stiff, with a penchant for long lists of names and technical footnotes. It does not shy away from the harsh realities of the era’s debates or the period’s own limitations in understanding race. It is not an easy narrative; it is a compilation of evidence meant to startle the reader into realizing how close the nation once came to a different path. You will be left with a haunting sense of the fragility of moral progress and the dangerous speed with which a society can retreat from its own stated ideals. For those who want to understand the deep, ideological roots of the American struggle for human rights, this book offers a window into a past that is far more complex than the simple narratives often taught in schools.