were educated they would read abolition papers and would be
discontented. On the other hand, some of the planters contended that
they should be taught to read in order that they might understand the
Bible. The majority of Negroes, however, were illiterate. As to their
religious education, there was much consideration. Southern people
were very pious and orthodox in their faith and usually baptized their
slaves, taught them the catechism, and then had them confirmed. Their
favorite text, however, was "Servants obey in all things your
masters." One can not blame the planter for his attitude towards the
education of the slave; for, after all, his chief aim was to obtain
the utmost work from him, and what educated man free to read and think
for himself would really be willing to work as a slave for another?

The question which next presents itself is: "How could anyone justify
such a system by which one man is enslaved to the other, sacrificing
his right to life, liberty, and happiness that another might prosper?"
In the first place, the planter argued that the Negroes were naturally
inferior to the white race and could not enjoy the intellectual
pursuits; for they had always been savages, having lived in savagery
in Africa before taken into captivity and, even in the nineteenth
century when freed in Hayti, returning to that state of civilization.
From this fact it was argued that, inasmuch as the Negroes belonged to
an inferior race, it was only natural that men should enslave them and
that they should be controlled by their superiors. Chancellor Harper
said: "It is the order of nature and of Heaven that the being of
superior faculties and knowledge, and therefore of superior power,
should control and dispose of those who are inferior."

The planter argued, secondly, that the Negro was happy and contented
in slavery; for he was secure, working for the master, and in return
receiving good care all of his life. He was relieved of all worry of
sickness or old age, for he knew his master would have to care for
him. In time of business depression it was not he who suffered, but
the master. On the other hand, the free worker of the North labored
for his employer during the best part of his life and then, when no
longer able to work, or during business depression, was turned away
and obliged to suffer from lack of care. It was maintained that the
assertion that the Negro was not happy when he might be whipped was
"pathos misappl