A Southside View of Slavery - Softcover

Adams, Nehemiah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692271104 ISBN 13: 9780692271100

Publisher: Confederate Reprint Company, The, 2014

Synopsis

Few who agitated against Southern slavery in the Nineteenth Century had ever seen it with their own eyes. His mind occupied with Abolitionist propaganda, Nehemiah Adams journeyed from Boston to the South to witness the "horrors" of slavery for himself. Instead of the expected scenes of cowing slaves, whose humanity was being crushed by cruel bondage, what he found was a well-ordered society in which the Negroes were mainly content, well-cared for by their masters, and even evangelized. The author warns his Northern brethren that a continued assault upon the South's "peculiar institution" would lead to a destruction of the Union and the ultimate ruin of the Black population. Of particular interest is the chapter written in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's fictional romance, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

About this title

About the Author

Nehemiah Adams (1806-1878) was a native of Salem, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1826, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1829. He served as minister at the First Congregational Church in Cambridge and at Union Congregational Church in Boston, as well as an officer of the American Tract Society. Due to illness, he took leave of his ministerial duties in 1854 to spend three months traveling in parts of Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, where he had opportunity to observe first-hand the institution of Southern slavery. Having imbibed the Abolitionist sentiments so prevalent in his home State, Adams was surprised to find the condition of the Negroes to be very different from what he had anticipated. His book was subjected to hostile criticism for its call for moderation from the North in its opposition to slavery, and for his stated belief that servitude had proven to be generally beneficial to the Negroes' religious character. Shortly after returning from a global voyage, Adams died in Boston at the age of 72.

Edition details

• Publisher: Confederate Reprint Company, The
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0692271104
• ISBN 13: 9780692271100
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 196