"In general the faculties of the mind must be expanded to a certain degree, before religion will take root, or flourish among a people; and a certain proportion of civil liberty is necessary, on which to found that expansion of the mind, which moral or religious liberty requires."
— Ramsay, James (1733-1789)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed and Sold by James Phillips
Date
1784
Metaphor
"In general the faculties of the mind must be expanded to a certain degree, before religion will take root, or flourish among a people; and a certain proportion of civil liberty is necessary, on which to found that expansion of the mind, which moral or religious liberty requires."
Metaphor in Context
In general the faculties of the mind must be expanded to a certain degree, before religion will take root, or flourish among a people; and a certain proportion of civil liberty is necessary, on which to found that expansion of the mind, which moral or religious liberty requires.* By this assertion I exclude not particular instances; but such neither form nor confute general rules. To bring this home to the case of our slaves: the great obstacle to government in bringing about this point, setting aside its own carelessness in such things, is the alteration that it would at first make in private property. This it is true we have in chap. 2, sect. 3. shewn to be more in appearance than in fact. But such are our prejudices, that any law to improve the condition of our slaves, or to instruct them in the principles of religion, would be too apt to be considered as an incroachment on their masters property, and an hinderance of their profit.
*When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, he was under the necessity of training them up to be an independent people, by multiplied forms and strict discipline, for the space of forty years. And it is apparent, from their behaviour during this long period, that slavery had so thoroughly debased their minds, as to have rendered them incapable of the exertions necessary for their settlement in the promised land, till all those who had grown up as slaves in Egypt, had fallen in the wilderness, and laws and regulations worthy of a free people had taken place among them. This is a case full in point, and may suggest hints worthy of the legislature.
(pp. 279-80)
*When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, he was under the necessity of training them up to be an independent people, by multiplied forms and strict discipline, for the space of forty years. And it is apparent, from their behaviour during this long period, that slavery had so thoroughly debased their minds, as to have rendered them incapable of the exertions necessary for their settlement in the promised land, till all those who had grown up as slaves in Egypt, had fallen in the wilderness, and laws and regulations worthy of a free people had taken place among them. This is a case full in point, and may suggest hints worthy of the legislature.
(pp. 279-80)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in Google Books
Citation
James Ramsay, An Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies (London: printed and sold by James Phillips, 1784). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
07/29/2011
