Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09300 Author/Creator: Tathan, Benjamin (fl. 1848) Place Written: New York, New York Type: Printed document Date: 7 February 1848 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 24.9 x 19.5 cm

Summary of Content: A New York Quakers Circular offering an alternative to goods made from slave labor: "The Managers of the Free Produce Association of Friends, of New York Yearly Meeting, have the satisfaction of stating, that a store has been opened for the sale of articles exclusively the result of Free Labor."

Full Transcript: [Draft excerpts]N
"...The Managers of the Free Produce Association of Friends, of New York Yearly Meeting, have the satisfaction of stating, that a store has been opened for the ...sale of articles exclusively the result of Free Labor, at No. 377 Pearl Street, New York City, by Lindley Murray Hoag and George Wood, both of them members of our Religious Society. They offer for sale, at fair prices, a general assortment of GROCERIES, consisting of Sugars, Molasses, Teas, Spices, Dried Fruits, etc. etc. They have also an assortment of FREE COTTON GOODS... If we examine the connection existing between the slave-holder and the consumer of the produce of slave labor, must we not admit, that it is of a very intimate nature, and that its tendency is to support the system of slavery? To hire a slave, and pay the wages of his labor to his master, would be deemed nearly equivalent to slave holding. If this slave toils for his master, and we purchase freely the produce of his labor, do we not contribute as effectually to the gain of the slave-holder, as in the preceding case? If another person purchases this produce for the purpose of traffic, and we buy of him for the purpose of consuming it, is not another link added to the chain; and is not the connection with the slave-holder, as complete as in the first instance? It is true, that we are further removed from the scene of oppression - and it may be that this increased distance has tended to pacify the conscience, in a course that is not consistent with sound reasoning: and thus may we not have contributed too long, to encourage, by our conduct, a system of oppression, the existence of which, we have so sincerely lamented..."See More

People:

Historical Era: National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860

Subjects: QuakersReligionMerchants and TradeSlaveryAfrican American HistoryAbolitionReform Movement

Sub Era: Age of Jackson

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