Ben Franklin Speech

Before I state my opinion, I must confess my past. I owned two slaves George and King that worked as my personal servants. Not only that, it wasn’t uncommon for my newspaper the Pennsylvania Gazette to have information on the sale of slaves and contracts for laborers. I confess, that like many others, I believed African slaves and their offspring were simply inferior to white Europeans. Furthermore it was simply impossible to educate them. But one day I visited a school where I witnessed young Africans being educated. This was a pivotal experience. "I was on the whole much pleased, and from what I then saw, have conceived a higher opinion of the natural capacities of the black race, than I had ever before entertained. Their apprehension seems as quick, their memory as strong, and their docility in every respect equal to that of white children." There is no difference here, a human mind is a human mind. 


Now many of you know, after I returned from France in 1785, I joined an abolitionist group founded by the Pennsylvania Quakers and eventually became president. The group is named the Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Negros Unlawfully Held in Bondage. I cannot believe how much our group has grown from where it started. The mission of our group is that not only slavery but the slave trade itself should be brought to an end. I was brought to the realization that I should free my own slaves, which I did. I could no longer live knowing I had human slave laborers. 


There is so much wrong with this slavery. Which I, herein, will explain. First of all, slavery violates human rights. All humans are born free with equal dignity and privilege. Also, slavery exploits and degrades human beings. Slavery uses force or the threat of force on other human beings. Furthermore, slavery leaves a legacy of discrimination and disadvantage toward a class of people, often based on race or beliefs. As a result slavery is partly why racism exists, in that many cultures show clear racism in their choice of people to enslave. Slavery prays on those least able to defend themselves, especially children. What more is there to say? Is this not already enough? 


I move on saying that even if slavery is abolished, these slaves that will turn to the streets will be unable to fend for themselves. Why? Because they cannot read or communicate and the average white man is not willing to help a released slave to learn. That is why I am petitioning this audience to support the idea of slaves being educated. I think that the only way for any person to help benefit the society is to be educated. I print my newspaper to provide a forum for all to have an equal opportunity for speech, and those freed slaves should be able to enjoy that freedom as well. I even wrote an address to the public in which I gave my opinion on the education of former slaves. Its to “instruct, to advise, to qualify those who have been restored to freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty; to promote in them habits of industry, to furnish them with employment suited to their age, sex, talents, and other circumstances. . . which we conceive will essentially promote the public good, and the happiness of these hitherto much neglected” humans. These humans deserve the right to education. 


Let me finish with this. Slavery is theft. It is robbery of a person's life. And anyone who disagrees with this does not deserve freedom himself.

 



Following Wynn, a prof. calls on Penn to acknowledge Ben Franklin's ties to slavery | The Daily Pennsylvanian

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