UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

" Exodus
"
Deut.
"
a
"
Ex.
-'Ye
6.
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
The legislation commenced bymakingthe power entirely, and gave him his liberty.
great and common source of "
slavery kidnapping
Then,furtherthan this,if a master's conduct
capital crime.
towards a slavewas such as to induce
him to run
away, it was enjoined that nobody
should assistin retaking him, and that
found in his hand, he shallsurely be put to he should dwell wherever he
death." "Exodus 21 : 16.
The enactment is as follows: " He that
stealeth a man and sellethhim,or if he be
" "
"
chose in the
land,without molestation. Third țhe law
The sources from which slaves were to secured to the slave a
very considerable portion
be obtained were thus reduced to two : first, of time,which was to be at his own
the voluntary saleof an individualby himself,
disposalĖveryseventh year was to be at
which certainly does not come under his own disposal. Lev. 25 : 4 Every
the designation of involuntary servitude ; seventh daywas, of course, secured to him.
secondțhe appropriation of captives taken
20 : 10.
in war, and the buyingfrom the heathen. The servant had the privilege of attending
With regardto the servitude of the the three great national festivals, when
Hebrew by a voluntary himself, such all the males of the nation were
servitude, by the statute-lawof the land, appear beforeGod in Jerusalem. Ex.
came to an end once in seven
years; so that 34: 23.
the worst that could be made of it was that Each
it was a voluntary contract to labor for a
certain time.
With regard to the servants boughtof the
heathen, or of foreigners in the land țhere
was a statute by which their servitude was your God, ye, and your sons, and your
annulled once in fifty years.
daughters, and your men-servants, and your
It has been supposed, from a disconnectedmaid-servants,
and the Levite thatis within
view of one particular passage in the Mosaic your gates."
code,that God directly countenanced the Dr. Barnes estimates that the whole
treating of a slave, who was a stranger and amount of time which a servant could have
foreigner, with more rigor and severity than to himself would amount to about twentythree
years out of fifty, or nearly one-half
a Hebrew slave. That this was not the
case will appear from the following enactments,
histime.
which have express reference to
strangers :
with his master in all that concerned
his religious relations.
The stranger that dwelleth with you shall he
unto you as one horn among you, and thou shalt Now, if we recollectthat in the time of
love him as
"
thyself. Lev. 19 : 34.
Moses the God and the kingof the nation
Thou shalt neither vex a
stranger nor oppress were one and the same person, and that the
him ; for ye
were
strangers in the land of Egypt. civil, and religious relationwere one and the
22: 21.
Thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye know same, it will appear that the slaveand his
the heart of a
"
stranger. Exodus 23 : 9.
master stood on an equality in their civil
The Lord your God regardeth not persons. He relationwith regardto the state.
doth execute the judgmentof the fatherlessand
Thus,in Deuteronomy29,is describeda
the widow,and loveth the stranger in givinghim
solemn
food and raiment ; love ye thereforethe national convocation, which took
stranger.
10 : 17"19.
placebefore the death of Moses,when the
Judgerighteously between
man
every and his whole nation were called upon, after a
brother,and the stranger that is with him. "
solemn review of their national
Deut. 1 :
history,
16.
renew their constitutional oath of
Cursed be
allegiance
he that pervertethe judgmentof the
"
stranger. Deut.
to
27 : 19.
their supreme Magistrate and Lord.
On this occasion, Moses addressed them
thus :
"
stand this day, all of you,
before the Lord your God ; your captains of
your tribes, your elders, and
were adopted into the Jewish your officers,
state,educated with all the men of Israel, your little ones,
and instructedin the worshipof the true your wives,and thystranger that is in thy
God,and in due time emancipated. camp, from the hewer ofthywood unto the
In the firstplace, theywere protected by drawer of thywater ; that thou shouldest
law from personal violence. The lossof an enter into covenant with the Lord thyGod,
eye or a tooth,throughthe violence of'his and into his oath, which the Lord thyGod
master, took the slave out of thatmaster's maketh with thee thisday."
Instead of makingslavery an oppressive
institutionwith regardto the stranger, it was
made by God a system withinwhich heathen
117
required
of these festivals, it is computed,
took up about three weeks.
The slave alsowas to be a guest in the
familyfestivals.In Deut. 12 : 12, it is
said,"Ye shall rejoicebefore the Lord
Again țhe servant was placedon an exact
equality