UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

108
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
Such obedience is the consequence only- A slave is one who is in the power of a masfcei
Judge Ruf- of uncontrolledauthority over the body. to whom he belongs.
to
L^eTf The master may sell him,
There is nothingelse which can
op- disposeof his person, his industry,
The State v. erate to produce the effect. The CiTi, Coc]e
power and his labor ; he can do nothing,Article 35.'
Mann. Whee- 0f the master must be absolute, to renpossess
nothing,
^iveryf 2i6.f der the submission of the slaveperfect.
nor acquireanythingStroud,p. 21
but what must belongto his master.
II. At first, the master possessed the uncontrolled
Accordingto Judge Rufiin,a slave is
power of lifeand death.
"one doomed in his own person, and his
Judge Clarke, in case of .A*a V*7 earlyV?"" " posterity, to live without knowl- wh'ier's Law
State of Miss. v. Jones. Virginia, the power of life over
Wheeler, 252. slaves was
edge,
givenby and without the capacity to ^"state I'.
statute.
make anythinghis own, and to Manntoilthat
another may reap the fruits."
III. He mighthill,mutilate or torture his slaves,
forany or no offence ; he mightforcethem to become
With reference to the
gladiators
prostitutes.
bindingpower of
engagementsbetween
The privilege of master and slavețhe
killingis now somewhat
following decisions from the United States
abridged ;
as to mutilation and torture,
Digestare in point(7,p. 449)
see the case of Souther v. The Commonwealth,
:
7 Grattan,673, quoted in All the acquisitions of the slave in possession
ChapterIII., above. Also State are the property v. Mann,
of his master, notwithstanding
in the same chapter, from Wheeler, p. 244.
IV. The temporary unions of male with them.
female
slaves were formed and dissolved at his command; A slave paid money which he had earned over
families and friends were separated when he pleased. and above his wages, for the purchaseof his
children into the hands of
See the decision of Judge Mathews in
B, and B purchased
such children with the money. Held that
the case of Girod v. Lewis,Wheeler,199 : the master of such slave was entitled to Ibld*
It is clearțhat slaves have no legalcapacity to recover the money of B.
assent to any contract. With the consent of their
VTI. The master might transfer
master, they may marry, and their moral his rightsby
power eithersale or to gift,or mightbequeaththem by will.
agree to such a contract or connection as that
of marriagecannot be doubted ; but whilst in a Slaves shall be deemed,sold,taken, reputed
state of slavery it cannot produceany civil effect, and adjudged
because slaves are deprivedof all civilrights.
in law,to be chattels Law of s. Carpersonalin
the hands of their owners olina. Cobb's
"
and
See also the chapterbelow on the possessors, and their executors, Dl"est" 971-
separation
administrators, and assigns
of families," and the filesof țo all intents,constructions,
any
and purposes whatsoever.
southern neAvspaper, jmssim.
VIII. A master selling,giving,or
V. The laws recognized no obligation
bequeathing
upon the
a slaveșometimes made it a provision that he should
owners of slaves țo famish them with food and
never be carried abroad,or that he should be manumitted
clothing, or to take care of them in sickness.
on a fixedday; or that,on the other hand,
The extent to Avhich this deficiency in he should never be emancipated, or that he should be
keptin chains for life.
the Roman law has been suppliedin the
American,by "
protective acts" has been We hardlythink that a provision that a
exhibitedabove.*
slaveshould never be emancipated, or that
VI. Slaves could have no property but he should be
by the
keptin chains for
sufferance
of their master, for whom they acquiredThT u
Ash'life, would be sustained. A proeverytiling,
and with whom theycould form no engagements
Bijire!\'tvisi"n
tnat tne s^ave sh"uld not
1S' y"' '
which could be bindingon him.
be carried out of the state,or
The following chapterwill show how far sold,and that on the happeningof either
American legislation
in advance of that event he should be free,has been sustained.
of the Romans, in that it makes it
The
a
remainder of Blair's account of Roman
penal
ofl'mce on the part of the master to permit slavery
his slave to hold property, and a crime
of masters than the state of the law itself.
on the part- of the slave to be so permitted. Surely țhe writer is not called upon to
For the exhibit in the
presentpurpose, we givean extract
society of enlightened, republican
and
from the Civil
ChristianAmerica,in the nineteenth
code of Louisiana, as quoted
by JudgeStroud :
century, a parallel to the atrocities
committed in pagan Rome, under the sceptre
of the persecuting Caesars,when the
* See also the case of State v. Abram, 10 Ala. 928. 7Z7.
"S.Dig. p. 419. "The roaster or overseer, and not the amphitheatre was the favorite resort of the
slave,is the proper judge whether the slave is too sick to
most refined of her citizens, as well as the
be able to labor. The latter cannot, therefore, resist the
order of the former to go to work." schoolof morals" for the multitude.
the promiseof his mas-
Gist ""
^j"""
ter that the slave shall have certain of ^UW""
great "
isdevoted rather to the practices