Introduction and Context
In 1753, Lemuel Haynes was born in to a white mother and a father of "some form of African extraction" in West Hartford, Connecticut. At the age of 5 months, Haynes was given to indentured servitude in Granville, Massachusetts until his release in 1774. While a servant to a pious white family, Haynes began his ministerial training while attending family worship and Sabbath readings. He also briefly attended a district school, learning the basics of reading and writing.
After his release at the age of 20, Haynes joined a militia in Massachusetts and fought during the American Revolution. Even as a young man, Haynes considered the inconsistencies of the fight for liberty from the white colonists and the simultaneous perpetuation of slavery in the colonies. According to biographer Ruth Bogin, "the cause of freedom was indeed his "call." After leaving the army after short stints due to illness, Haynes focused on the development of his ministry. In this endeavor, his race was not considered an issue as many white Congregational ministers fostered his development. |
Though he would go on to produce many pamphlets and pieces of writing, Haynes penned an unfinished draft entitled Liberty Further Extended, around 1776. Although the document is undated, Ruth Bogin suggests this as the date according to her exploratory work on the document. The work was never published, but its contents contain significant features of African American authors of this time. Though it was not uncommon for blacks to file petitions outlining the injustices of slavery, there were very few that possessed the literary skills to create a "theoretical statement" of their beliefs as Haynes did with Liberty Further Extended.
Despite his apparent struggles to maintain original thoughts and his obvious issues with spelling, the thoughts and sentiments produced by Haynes reinforce the belief in the natural rights of man as the basis for racial equality.
Despite his apparent struggles to maintain original thoughts and his obvious issues with spelling, the thoughts and sentiments produced by Haynes reinforce the belief in the natural rights of man as the basis for racial equality.
Document - Excerpts from Liberty Further Extended: Or Free Thoughts on the Illegality of
Slave-Keeping
…Liberty, & freedom, is an innate principle, which is unmovebly placed in the human Species; and to see a man aspire after it, is not Enigmatical, seeing he acts no ways incompatible with his own Nature... Liberty is a Jewel which was handed Down to man from the cabinet of heaven, and is Coaeval with his Existance. And as it proceed from the Supreme Legislature of the univers, so it is he which hath a sole right to take away; therefore, he that would take away a mans Liberty assumes a prerogative that Belongs to another, and acts out of his own domain.
One man may bost a superorety above another in point of Natural previledg; yet if he can produse no convincive arguments in vindication of this preheminence his hypothesis is to Be Suspected. To affirm, that an Englishman has a right to his Liberty, is a truth which has Been so clearly Evinced, Especially of Late, that to spend time in illustrating this, would be But Superfluous tautology. But I query, whether Liberty is so contracted a principle as to be Confin'd to any nation under Heaven; nay, I think it not hyperbolical to affirm, that Even an affrican, has Equally as good a right to his Liberty in common with Englishmen.
I know that those that are concerned in the Slave-trade, Do pretend to Bring arguments in vindication of their practise; yet if we give them a candid Examination, we shall find them (Even those of the most cogent kind) to be Essencially Deficient. We live in a day wherein Liberty & freedom is the subject of many millions Concern; and the important Struggle hath alread caused great Effusion of Blood; men seem to manifest the most sanguine resolution not to Let their natural rights go without their Lives go with them; a resolution, one would think Every one that has the Least Love to his country, or futer posterity, would fully confide in, yet while we are so zelous to maintain, and foster our own invaded rights, it cannot be tho't impertinent for us Candidly to reflect on our own conduct, and I doubt not But that we shall find that subsisting in the midst of us, that may with propriety be stiled Opression, nay, much greater opression, than that which Englishmen seem so much to spurn at. I mean an oppression which they, themselves, impose upon others….
… And the main proposition, which I intend for some Breif illustration is this, Namely, That an African, or, in other terms, that a Negro may Justly Chalenge, and has an undeniable right to his Liberty: Consequently, the practise of Slave-keeping, which so much abounds in this Land is illicit. Every privilege that mankind Enjoy have their Origen from god; and whatever acts are passed in any Earthly Court, which are Derogatory to those Edicts that are passed in the Court of Heaven, the act is void. If I have a perticular previledg granted to me by god, and the act is not revoked nor the power that granted the benefit vacated, (as it is imposable but that god should Ever remain immutable) then he that would infringe upon my Benifit, assumes an unreasonable, and tyrannic power.
It hath pleased god to make of one Blood all nations of men, for to dwell upon the face of the Earth. Acts 1 7, 26. And as all are of one Species, so there are the same Laws, and aspiring principles placed in all nations; and the Effect that these Laws will produce, are Similar to Each other. Consequently we may suppose, that what is precious to one man, is precious to another, and what is irksom, or intolarable to one man, is so to another, consider'd in a Law of Nature. Therefore we may reasonably Conclude, that Liberty is Equally as pre[c]ious to a Black man, as it is to a white one, and Bondage Equally as intollarable to the one as it is to the other: Seeing it Effects the Laws of nature Equally as much in the one as it Does in the other. But, as I observed Before, those privileges that are granted to us By the Divine Being, no one has the Least right to take them from us without our consen[t]; and there is Not the Least precept, or practise, in the Sacred Scriptures, that constitutes a Black man a Slave, any more than a white one.
Shall a mans Couler Be the Decisive Criterion whereby to Judg of his natural right? or Becaus a man is not of the same couler with his Neighbour, shall he Be Deprived of those things that Distuingsheth [Distinguisheth] him from the Beasts of the field?...
One man may bost a superorety above another in point of Natural previledg; yet if he can produse no convincive arguments in vindication of this preheminence his hypothesis is to Be Suspected. To affirm, that an Englishman has a right to his Liberty, is a truth which has Been so clearly Evinced, Especially of Late, that to spend time in illustrating this, would be But Superfluous tautology. But I query, whether Liberty is so contracted a principle as to be Confin'd to any nation under Heaven; nay, I think it not hyperbolical to affirm, that Even an affrican, has Equally as good a right to his Liberty in common with Englishmen.
I know that those that are concerned in the Slave-trade, Do pretend to Bring arguments in vindication of their practise; yet if we give them a candid Examination, we shall find them (Even those of the most cogent kind) to be Essencially Deficient. We live in a day wherein Liberty & freedom is the subject of many millions Concern; and the important Struggle hath alread caused great Effusion of Blood; men seem to manifest the most sanguine resolution not to Let their natural rights go without their Lives go with them; a resolution, one would think Every one that has the Least Love to his country, or futer posterity, would fully confide in, yet while we are so zelous to maintain, and foster our own invaded rights, it cannot be tho't impertinent for us Candidly to reflect on our own conduct, and I doubt not But that we shall find that subsisting in the midst of us, that may with propriety be stiled Opression, nay, much greater opression, than that which Englishmen seem so much to spurn at. I mean an oppression which they, themselves, impose upon others….
… And the main proposition, which I intend for some Breif illustration is this, Namely, That an African, or, in other terms, that a Negro may Justly Chalenge, and has an undeniable right to his Liberty: Consequently, the practise of Slave-keeping, which so much abounds in this Land is illicit. Every privilege that mankind Enjoy have their Origen from god; and whatever acts are passed in any Earthly Court, which are Derogatory to those Edicts that are passed in the Court of Heaven, the act is void. If I have a perticular previledg granted to me by god, and the act is not revoked nor the power that granted the benefit vacated, (as it is imposable but that god should Ever remain immutable) then he that would infringe upon my Benifit, assumes an unreasonable, and tyrannic power.
It hath pleased god to make of one Blood all nations of men, for to dwell upon the face of the Earth. Acts 1 7, 26. And as all are of one Species, so there are the same Laws, and aspiring principles placed in all nations; and the Effect that these Laws will produce, are Similar to Each other. Consequently we may suppose, that what is precious to one man, is precious to another, and what is irksom, or intolarable to one man, is so to another, consider'd in a Law of Nature. Therefore we may reasonably Conclude, that Liberty is Equally as pre[c]ious to a Black man, as it is to a white one, and Bondage Equally as intollarable to the one as it is to the other: Seeing it Effects the Laws of nature Equally as much in the one as it Does in the other. But, as I observed Before, those privileges that are granted to us By the Divine Being, no one has the Least right to take them from us without our consen[t]; and there is Not the Least precept, or practise, in the Sacred Scriptures, that constitutes a Black man a Slave, any more than a white one.
Shall a mans Couler Be the Decisive Criterion whereby to Judg of his natural right? or Becaus a man is not of the same couler with his Neighbour, shall he Be Deprived of those things that Distuingsheth [Distinguisheth] him from the Beasts of the field?...
Questions for Discussion and Document Based Analysis
- In the first paragraph, where does Lemuel Haynes argue that freedom comes from? Cite the text in your answer.
- In the second paragraph, Haynes refers to something occurring "especially of late." To what event or events is Haynes referencing? How do you know? Cite the text.
- In the third paragraph, what is the "greater opresion" to which Haynes is referring? How do you know?
- According to Haynes, why should blacks be equal to whites? Provide two quotes that outline Haynes' argument for racial equality.
Sources Referenced
James Basker, ed, American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2012), 66.
Bogin, Ruth, "Liberty Further Extended": A 1776 Antislavery Manuscript by Lemuel Haynes, The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Jan., 1983), pp. 85-105
Bogin, Ruth, "Liberty Further Extended": A 1776 Antislavery Manuscript by Lemuel Haynes, The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Jan., 1983), pp. 85-105