The Problem of Slavery in Christian America: An Ethical-Judicial History of American Slavery and Racism

by Joel McDurmon

the first ever printed protest against slavery in America, in fact. This brief tract appeared from the hand a Quaker, George Keith, in Philadelphia in 1693—four score and three years before Jefferson penned his immortal words, “all men are created equal.” The exhortation spans only five modern book pages, and contains as many arguments, each from the Bible. All five are literal applications of a biblical principle. Three are direct applications of the Law of Moses, and a fourth—the golden rule—is derived from it. The fifth is also an application of that law in Bible prophecy. These included: 1) Quakers are not to receive or buy stolen goods, and slavery has at its root manstealing which is a far greater crime than merely buying stolen goods (Ex. 21:16). 2) The golden rule. If we ourselves do not desire to be in bondage and slavery against our consent, neither should we keep anyone else so, let alone those who have done no harm. 3) Because fugitive slaves ought to be given their freedom and live at liberty among us (Deut. 23:15–16). If this was true under the Mosaic dispensation, how much more ought it to be true under the Gospel? 4) Because immigrants ought not to be oppressed in our land, neither should the poor and needy (Deut. 24:14, 15; Ex. 12:21). Yet while the blacks are all of the above, they are oppressed by us more greatly than anyone has been oppressed! Not only are they stolen captive, and whipped, but families are ripped apart, “Husband from the Wife, and the C...