Greeley, Horace (1811-1872) to J. S. Foy re: politics, slavery and morality in North and South
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06837 Author/Creator: Greeley, Horace (1811-1872) Place Written: New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1856/07/29 Pagination: 4 p. 17.7 x 11.2 cm Order a Copy
"I am quite aware that the people of the South are not all 'slave drivers' or 'slave holders,' but the non-slaveholders allow the slave drivers to rule them and rule us by means of them.... We have prostitution and other evils here, but our laws are not on the side of the vices but against them: Is it so with yours?... My friend our house has many windows...."
New York,
July 29th,'56.
Mr. Foy,
I am quite aware that the people of the South are [struck: to] [inserted: not] all "slave drivers" or "slave-breeders", but the non-slaveholders allow the slave-drivers to rule them and rule us by means of them. I think they should not persist in this timid, truckling, unworthy course.
We have prostitution and other evils here, but our laws are not on the side of the vices but against them: [2] Is it so with yours?
We have brothel-keepers here, but we do not elect them for our selves: Is it so with your slave breeders?
We have some seduction here; but no woman is at the mercy of any man's lust. Is it so with yours?
Sometimes a human brute violates a woman; but she cannot be so poor and humble that the law is not on her side and its penalties swift on the track of her ravisher! Is it so with you?
We have some abortion here; because no man [3] is empowered by law to sell his bastard children for life - perhaps to be the harlots of the buyer. How is it with you?
We have prostitutes here; but they have chosen their way of life - none were forced into it by these whom the Law made their masters. And our lewd men, when tired of one [illegible], desert her for another; but they cannot legally sell her. How is this in Georgia?
My friend, our house has many windows; and we count the gift. Show us wherein we are wrong, [4] we will thank you and try to profit by your faithfulness. How is it with you?
Yours,
Horace Greeley.
J.S. Foy, Esq.
Savannah,
Ga.
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