eBook David Walker's Appeal - Journal of Pan African Studies
eBook David Walker's Appeal - Journal of Pan African Studies
eBook David Walker's Appeal - Journal of Pan African Studies
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Not satisfied with this, my Lord!<br />
They throw us in the seas:<br />
Be pleas'd, we pray, for Jesus' sake,<br />
To save us from their grasp.<br />
We believe that, for thy glory's sake,<br />
Thou wilt deliver us;<br />
But that thou may'st effect these things,<br />
Thy glory must be sought.<br />
In conclusion, I ask the candid and unprejudiced <strong>of</strong> the whole world, to search the pages <strong>of</strong><br />
historians diligently, and see if the Antideluvians--the Sodomites--the Egyptians--the<br />
Babylonians--the Ninevites--the Carthagenians--the Persians--the Macedonians--the Greeks--the<br />
Romans--the Mahometans--the Jews--or devils, ever treated a set <strong>of</strong> human beings, as the white<br />
Christians <strong>of</strong> America do us, the blacks, or <strong>African</strong>s. I also ask the attention <strong>of</strong> the world <strong>of</strong><br />
mankind to the declaration <strong>of</strong> these very American people, <strong>of</strong> the United States.<br />
A declaration made July 4, 1776. It says (see the Declaration <strong>of</strong> Independence <strong>of</strong> the United<br />
States):<br />
"When in the course <strong>of</strong> human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the<br />
political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers <strong>of</strong> the<br />
earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws <strong>of</strong> nature and <strong>of</strong> nature's God entitle them.<br />
A decent respect for the opinions <strong>of</strong> mankind requires, that they should declare the causes which<br />
impel them to the separation.--We hold these truths to be self evident--that all men are created<br />
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: that among these,<br />
are life, liberty, and the pursuit <strong>of</strong> happiness that, to secure these rights, governments are<br />
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent <strong>of</strong> the governed; that<br />
whenever any form <strong>of</strong> government becomes destructive <strong>of</strong> these ends, it is the right <strong>of</strong> the people<br />
to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government laying its foundation on such<br />
principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect<br />
their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established<br />
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn,<br />
that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by<br />
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.<br />
54<br />
<strong>David</strong> Walker’s <strong>Appeal</strong> by <strong>David</strong> Walker<br />
The <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Pan</strong> <strong>African</strong> <strong>Studies</strong> 2009 <strong>eBook</strong>