slavery is, indeed, a summary
of the literature of the world on the subject. The Bible was made a
standard text-book both for and against slavery. Hebrew and Christian
experiences were exploited in the interest of the contending parties
in this crucial controversy. Churches of the same name and order
were divided among themselves and became half pro-slavery and half
anti-slavery.

Greek experience and Greek literature were likewise drawn into the
controversy. The Greeks themselves had set the example of arguing both
for and against slavery. Their practice and their prevailing teaching,
however, gave support to this institution. They clearly enunciated the
doctrine that there is a natural division among human beings; that some
are born to command and others to obey; that it is natural to some men
to be masters and to others to be slaves; that each of these classes
should fulfill the destiny which nature assigns. The Greeks also
recognized a difference between races and held that some were by
nature fitted to serve as slaves, and others to command as masters. The
defenders of American slavery therefore found among the writings of the
Greeks their chief arguments already stated in classic form.

Though the Romans added little to the theory of the fundamental problem
involved, their history proved rich in practical experience. There were
times, in parts of the Roman Empire, when personal slavery either
did not exist or was limited and insignificant in extent. But the
institution grew with Roman wars and conquests. In rural districts,
slave labor displaced free labor, and in the cities servants multiplied
with the concentration of wealth. The size and character of the
slave population eventually became a perpetual menace to the State.
Insurrections proved formidable, and every slave came to be looked upon
as an enemy to the public. It is generally conceded that the extension
of slavery was a primary cause of the decline and fall of Rome. In
the American controversy, therefore, the lesson to be drawn from Roman
experience was utilized to support the cause of free labor.

After the Middle Ages, in which slavery under the modified form of
feudalism ran its course, there was a reversion to the ancient classical
controversy. The issue became clearly defined in the hands of the
English and French philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. In place of the time-honored doctrine that the masses of
mankind are by nat