Under these circumstances, it is due to the age--to the friends of humanity--to the cause of liberty--to the safety of the Union--that we should review the movements made in behalf of the African race, in our country; so that errors of principle may be abandoned; mistakes in policy corrected; the free colored people taught their true relations to the industrial interests of the world; the rights of the slave as well as the master secured; and the principles of the constitution established and revered. It is proposed, therefore, to examine this subject in the light of the social, civil, and commercial history of the country; and, in doing this, to embrace the facts and arguments under the following heads:
1. The early movements on the subject of slavery; the circumstances under which the Colonization Society took its rise; the relations it sustained to slavery and to the schemes projected for its abolition; the origin of the elements which have given to American slavery its commercial value and consequent powers of expansion; and the futility of the means used to prevent the extension of the institution.
2. The relations of American slavery to the industrial interests of our own country; to the demands of commerce; and to the present political crisis.
3. The industrial, social, and moral condition of the free colored people in the British colonies and in the United States; and the influence they have exerted on public sentiment in relation to the perpetuation of slavery.
4. The moral relations of persons holding the _per se_ doctrine, on the subject of slavery, to the purchase and consumption of slave labor products.
THE EARLY MOVEMENTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY; THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY TOOK ITS RISE; THE RELATIONS IT SUSTAINED TO SLAVERY AND TO THE SCHEMES PROJECTED FOR ITS ABOLITION; THE ORIGIN OF THE ELEMENTS WHICH HAVE GIVEN TO AMERICAN SLAVERY ITS COMMERCIAL VALUE AND CONSEQUENT POWERS OF EXPANSION; AND THE FUTILITY OF THE MEANS USED TO PREVENT THE EXTENSION OF THE INSTITUTION.
Emancipation in the United States begun--First Abolition Society organized--Progress of Emancipation--First Cotton Mill--Exclusion of Slavery from N. W. Territory--Elements of Slavery expansion--Cotton Gin invented--Suppression of the Slave Trade--Cotton Manufactures commenced in Boston--Franklin's Appeal--Condition of the Free Colored People--Boston Prison-Discipline Society--Darkening Prospects of the Colored People.