he average a very poor and a very bad creature, "clumsy,
awkward, gross and elephantine in movement ... sly, sensual and
shameless in expression and demeanor." "He seems to be but an
imperfect man, incapable of taking care of himself in a civilized
manner, and his presence in large numbers must be considered a
dangerous circumstance to a civilized people."[340] And yet he
testifies that slavery improved the African Negro.[341]

The most beneficial effects were noticeable where the slave came in
constant contact with the whites. For this reason the household slaves
manifested a degree of intelligence and initiative far above that of
the untutored field hand; this contact with the white was in effect an
involuntary education. This appeared even in dress. "For though their
own native taste," says Kemble, "is decidedly both barbarous and
ludicrous, it is astonishing how very soon they mitigate it in
imitation of their white models." The mulattoes in Charleston were
often as well dressed as the whites.[342] The best witness to the
benefits derived from slavery was the fact that for a generation after
emancipation the older Negroes who received their training under the
old regime made the most faithful and consistent laborers when set
free.[343]

There were, however, other effects of slavery which offset its
advantages. The slave had no true home life and without this it is
impossible to train personality and character. The father felt no
responsibility for children that were not really his but his master's.
The mother merely discharged the animal functions of bearing and
rearing the child, all the finer instincts of motherhood being
prostituted to a selfish commercial end. The slave-mother, of course,
did not feel the pathos of the situation when pointing to her children
she said: "Look missis! little niggers for you and massa; plenty
little niggers for you and little missis." The slave lived perpetually
in an atmosphere of fawning and flattery by no means conducive to the
development of independent manhood either in himself or his master.
Being outside those social sanctions which keep the free man honest
and trustworthy he was often guilty of petty theft and deceit and the
law recognized the logical results of his status upon his character by
refusing to take the word of a slave against a freeman. The slave had
no social standing and no respect for himself or his fellow slaves and
hence exercised unbounded insolence and