cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/45348900
https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/thomas-jefferson-slavery-wrath-of-god
This is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labour. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.
There’s this common idea that “Oh but nobody back then saw slavery as wrong” and quotes like this demonstrate just how false that statement is even if you exclude the slaves themselves from “nobody.”