Slaver Is a Horrible Thing

Slaver is a horrible thing and it is the reason why I and my kin have suffered throughout our lives. I lost my wife and my daughters to slavery and the whip marks on my back stand as proof concerning how white people fail to understand the pain they cause as a result of their system.

I found out that the Marbury vs. Madison case rendered a federal law unconstitutional just a few days ago. I don't really understand what the case involved, but I realized that laws are not necessarily set in stone. Would that mean that a Negro can go to court and ask lawmen to eradicate slavery because of its illegal (when considering the declaration of independence's statements) nature?

I read the Independent Chronicle issue of the first of January today and it said that the African slave trade has been prohibited. I am happy to know that Africans are no longer taken from their homes and brought here as slaves. I know that I will never to live to see the day when my peoples will no longer be slaves in the U.S., but I feel that this is actually proof that the world is changing.

A friend of mine who has access to the master's room read a recent newspaper and told me that slavery was abolished in Maine and north of the 36 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude. it's a long way from Missouri to Maine, but how can I not be glad that the government finally expressed interest in freeing slaves. I appreciate Miss Williams' kind nature, but I want to be free and I want to feel that I can actually do everything I want and not be afraid that I am going to have my master control me.

The first issue of the Liberator was published just three days ago. William Lloyd Garrison, the publisher, says "I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- and I WILL BE HEARD.." This is truly a courageous man. This enabled me to look at slavery from a different perspective. All the pain it's caused me is nothing compared to the dream of being a free man and to the feelings I experience every night when I go to sleep dreaming about a better society where people would be judged on account of their thinking instead of being categorized on account of the skin color and of the community they were born in.

I can't understand white people. Andrew Jackson went through an assassination attempt on the 30th of January. I can't understand how people can actually go against the most powerful person in the country and actually expect to succeed in their efforts. One would have to be silly to get involved in such a plan, regardless of the motives.

Not all white people want to enslave African-Americans. I recently met an abolitionist coming from the North and I was provided with the opportunity to learn that the system is, actually, not as destructive as I was inclined to consider it to be. This person proved to be an honest and God-loving individual who is actually concerned about my well-being and the well-being of other slaves. He brought me a pair of glasses and a book called "Uncle's Tom Cabin" yesterday. I could never understand why many white people in the South can't abandon slavery in spite of the fact that they know that it's wrong, but I am satisfied knowing that they treat their slaves well. I could not stop reading the book ever since I laid eyes on it. I have been awake for almost two days now and I am infuriated with the institution of slavery in general, even with the fact that I did not experience the suffering it provoked from a first-hand perspective.

Some friends of my master visited today and had a fiery conversation as a result of Abraham Lincoln's reelection. My abolitionist friend seemed to agree to their thinking, but was hesitant about the proposition of getting involved in a conflict that he didn't believe in, taking into account that even though he was born in the South he learnt a great deal of things about the value of a person's life and about the struggle that one needs to go through in order to make the world a better place. He vainly tried to explain that slavery was ineffective and he eventually agreed that the only solution for the government to respect their beliefs was for them to go to war.

My master's wife has been crying all day. She does not like to talk with me, but another slave working for them told me that my master is dead, he was killed in Kentucky as he was fighting against unionist forces. This is one of the saddest days of my life, it is catastrophic to see a man dying while fighting for something that he does not truly believe in.