Skip to content
quotesby

That the tragical fate of Tom, also, has too many times had its parallel, there are living witnesses, all over our land, to testify. Let it be remembered that in all southern states it is a principle of jurisprudence that no person of colored lineage can testify in a suit against a white, and it will be easy to see that such a case may occur, wherever there is a man whose passions outweigh his interests, and a slave who has manhood or principle enough to resist his will. There is, actually, nothing to protect the slave's life, but the character of the master. Facts too shocking to be contemplated occasionally force their way to the public ear, and the comment that one often hears made on them is more shocking than the thing itself. It is said, 'Very likely such cases may now and then occur, but they are no sample of general practice.' If the laws of New England were so arranged that a master could now and then torture an apprentice to death, would it be received with equal composure? Would it be said, 'These cases are rare, and no samples of general practice'? This injustice is an inherent one in the slave system, - it cannot exist without it.

Harriet Beecher Stowe#36

More from Harriet Beecher Stowe

  1. The longest day must have its close - the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. An eternal, inexorable lapse of moments is ever hurrying the day of the ev…

    Permalink to quote #35
  2. The author hopes she has done justice to that nobility, generosity, and humanity, which in many cases characterize individuals at the South. Such instances sav…

    Permalink to quote #37
  3. Legree had had the slumbering moral elements in him roused by his encounters with Tom, - roused, only to be resisted by the determinate force of evil; but stil…

    Permalink to quote #34