The very institution of slavery
itself produced shiftless, undependable beings, seeking relief
whenever possible by giving the least and getting the most from their
masters. When the slaves were cut off from the light of the gospel by
the large plantation system, they began to exhibit such undesirable
traits as insensibility of heart, lasciviousness, stealing, and lying.
The cruelty of the "Christian" master to the slaves made the latter
feel that such a practice was not altogether inhuman. Just as the
white slave drivers developed into hopeless brutes by having human
beings to abuse, so it turned out with certain Negroes in their
treatment of animals and their fellow-creatures in bondage. If some
Negroes were commanded not to commit adultery, such a prohibition did
not extend to the slave women forced to have illicit relations with
masters who sold their mulatto offspring as goods and chattels. If the
bondmen were taught not to steal the aim was to protect the supplies
of the local plantation. Few masters raised any serious objection to
the act of their half-starved slaves who at night crossed over to some
neighboring plantation to secure food.
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