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Often appears with: trade, markets, and merchants · poverty and wealth · value, price, and exchange · education and the training of the young · public finance and debt · justice as a virtue · agriculture and the land · famine, scarcity, and plenty · taxation, tribute, and revenue · rank, class, and social order · money, coin, and credit · crafts, industry, and manufacture
Usually: argument (636) · detachment (459) · narrative (223) · indignation (184) · curiosity (169) · injustice endured (156) · censure (146) · skepticism (146) · exhortation (107) · reflection (58)
“I reminded the audience of the peril which surrounded this self-emancipated young man at the North,—even in Massachusetts, on the soil of the Pilgrim Fathers, among the descendants of revolutionary sires; and I appealed to them, whether they would ever allow him to be carried back into slavery,—law or no law, constitution or no constitution.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an Amer · observation
“The paper became my meat and my drink. My soul was set all on fire.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an Amer · vivid
“Modern industry has converted the little workshop of the patriarchal master into the great factory of the industrial capitalist.” Karl Marx; Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party · observation
“Inquiry was made after the removers; we were discovered and complained of; several of us were corrected by our fathers; and though I pleaded the usefulness of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was not honest.” Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin · precept
“Tumble up! Tumble up*, and to *work, work,”_ is the cry; and, now, from twelve o’clock (mid-day) till dark, the human cattle are in motion, wielding their clumsy hoes; hurried on by no hope of reward...” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · vivid
“The slave is robbed, by his master, of all his earnings, above what is required for his bare physical necessities; and the white man is robbed by the slave system, of the just results of his labor, because he is flung into competition with a class of laborers who work without wages.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · insight
“To make a contented slave, you must make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate his power of reason.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · insight
“The whole relationship must not only demonstrate, to his mind, its necessity, but its absolute rightfulness. If there be one crevice through which a single drop can fall, it will certainly rust off the slave’s chain.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · insight
“See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude.” Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom · vivid
“Alone of all things they receive and hold Community of offspring, and they house Together in one city, and beneath The shelter of majestic laws they live;” Virgil, The Georgics · insight
“So here we stand among thoughts of human unity, even through conquest and slavery; the inferiority of black men, even if forced by fraud; a shriek in the night for the freedom of men who themselves are not yet sure of their right to demand it.” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · insight
“And men ask this to-day all the more eagerly because of sinister signs in recent educational movements. The tendency is here, born of slavery and quickened to renewed life by the crazy imperialism of the day, to regard human beings as among the material resources of a land to be trained with an eye single to future dividends.” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · observation
Though free, Douglass learns from “Allender’s Jake” (William Dixon) that New York has betrayers and watchers; he struggles for safety, food, and work, and finds help.
nor part; and the other counseled me to manly endeavor to secure my freedom. This contest was now ended; my chains were broken, and the victory brought me unspeakable joy. But my gladness was short-lived, for I was not yet out of the reach and power of the slave-holders. I soon found that New York was not quite so free or so safe a refuge as I had supposed, and a sense of loneliness and insecurity again oppressed me…
Douglass finds work on the wharves, experiences Northern pay and autonomy, recounts a minor misunderstanding with the cost of cord, and contrasts Massachusetts labor with being owned or seized.
me that no slave-holder could take a slave out of New Bedford; that there were men there who would lay down their lives to save me from such a fate. The fifth day after my arrival, I put on the clothes of a common laborer, and went upon the wharves in search of work. On my way down Union street I saw a large pile of coal in front of the house of Rev. Ephraim Peabody, the Unitarian minister. I went to the kitchen doo…
Douglass contrasts New Bedford’s anti-slavery reputation with racial exclusions: he is denied skilled work on a whaling ship despite Mr. Rodney French’s initial offer, and later notes segregated lecture access for Black residents until abolitionists intervene.
work, or more of it, in the same space of time on the plantation for Covey, the negro-breaker, than I did for myself in these earliest years of my freedom. Notwithstanding the just and humane sentiment of New Bedford three and forty years ago, the place was not entirely free from race and color prejudice. The good influence of the Roaches, Rodmans, Arnolds, Grinnells, and Robesons did not pervade all classes of its …
Douglass describes shifting from odd jobs in New Bedford to steady work at Mr. Richmond’s brass foundry, where he reads newspapers while operating bellows and avoids abuse from hostile coworkers.
of work that came to hand. I sawed wood, shoveled coal, dug cellars, moved rubbish from back yards, worked on the wharves, loaded and unloaded vessels, and scoured their cabins. I afterward got steady work at the brass-foundry owned by Mr. Richmond. My duty here was to blow the bellows, swing the crane, and empty the flasks in which castings were made; and at times this was hot and heavy work. The articles produced …
The text concludes Sura XI’s moral exhortation: God is not pleased with unjust destruction, mankind is divided by God’s decree, Muhammad’s heart is strengthened by apostle histories, and the end includes trust in God and ultimate repayment by works.
Have thou no doubts therefore concerning that which they worship: they worship but what their fathers worshipped before them: we will surely assign them their portion with nothing lacking. Of old gave we Moses the Book, and they fell to variance about it. If a decree of respite had not gone forth from thy Lord, there had surely been a decision between them. Thy people also are in suspicious doubts about the Koran. …
Pepys works at the Navy Office with Sir William Penn, dines at the Dolphin by Major Brown’s invitation, then is troubled by busy efforts to find lodgings for Lord Berkeley.
troubled, for fear of being forced to pay the money myself. Called at my father's going home, and bespoke mourning for myself, for the death of the Duke of Gloucester. 16th. My Lord of Oxford is also dead of the small-pox; in whom his family dyes, after 600 years having that honour in their family and name. [This must be a mistake for some other person. Robert, nineteenth earl of Oxford having died in 1632, and Au…
Pepys continues noting Commons’ resistance to indulgence for Papists and Presbyters, including a vote count, then describes a learned medical gathering at Chyrurgeons’ Hall and executions and court-office politics.
late declaration, nor will yield that the Papists have any ground given them to raise themselves up again in England, which I perceive by my Lord was expected at Court. 25th. The Commons in Parliament, I hear, are very high to stand to the Act of Uniformity, and will not indulge the Papists (which is endeavoured by the Court Party,) nor the Presbyters. 26th. Sir W. Batten and I by water to the Parliament-house: …
Across February 1664/65 Pepys attends St. Lawrence church, joins Trinity House and the Royal Society, socializes with scientific and court figures, hears about sea/colonial losses, observes property-building talk, and notes committee debates on pressing men and events at court.
12th. To Church to St. Lawrence to hear Dr. Wilkins, the great scholar, for curiosity, I having never heard him: but was not satisfied with him at all. 15th. At noon, with Creed to the Trinity-house, where a very good dinner among the old jokers, and an extraordinary discourse of the manner of the loss of the Royall Oake coming home from Bantam, upon the rocks of Scilly. Thence with Creed to Gresham College, where…
Pepys records work on a seal and excursions in London, including news of the Queen of Portugal’s death, financial transactions via Lombard Street, arrangements for his brother-in-law to go to sea, and continued plague increases through early April.
W. Coventry did take it very quietly, but yet for all did speak his mind soberly and with reason, and went away, saying that he had done his duty therein. 24th. After the Committee up. I had occasion to follow the Duke into his lodgings, into a chamber where the Duchesse was sitting to have her picture drawn by Lilly, who was then at work. But I was well pleased to see that there was nothing near so much resembla…
On 8th Pepys meets city officials about money, attends the Duke of Albemarle at Gresham College, observes widespread losses and stinginess toward laborers, and reports theft of neighbors’ wine while he fears further fire.
out for markets to be kept at Leadenhall and Mile-end-greene, and several other places about the town; and Tower-hill, and all churches to be set open to receive poor people. 8th. I stopped with Sir G. Carteret to desire him to go with us, and to enquire after money. But the first he cannot do, and the other as little, or say "When we can get any, or what shall we do for it?" He, it seems, is employed in the corr…
On 15th morning, Pepys measures manpower on the Princesse at Chatham and notes severe inefficiency, while sailors of the Cambridge demand payment of tickets and refuse work unless paid, describing them as lawless and debauched.
And as an evidence of that, just now, being the 15th day in the morning that I am writing yesterday's passages, one is with me, Jacob Bryan, Purser of the Princesse, who confesses to me that he hath but 180 men borne at this day in victuals and wages on that ship lying at Chatham, being lately brought in thither; of which 180 there was not above five appeared to do the King any service at this late business. And this…
Pepys works on a Council order about discharging seamen by ticket due to lack of wage money, argues against borrowing via the East India Company/City, and later hears of Grebus’s concert for Peace that Pepys dislikes.
here. This I am mighty glad of; and is the first and only piece of good news, or thing fit to be owned, that this nation hath done several years. 28th. All the morning at the office busy upon an Order of Council, wherein they are mightily at a loss what to advise about our discharging of seamen by ticket, there being no money to pay their wages before January. After dinner comes Sir Fr. Hollis to me about business…
Pepys begins work at the Durham Yard commissioners for accounts, hears complaints from seamen about tickets, describes the commissioners’ method and staff, then later records business disputes and extensive administrative duties, including Tangier accounts.
standing as there were taverns left standing in the rest of the City that was not burned, being, I think, thirteen in all of each: which is pretty to observe. FEBRUARY 1, 1667-8. To the office till past two o'clock; where at the Board some high words passed between Sir W. Pen and I, begun by me, and yielded to by him, I being in the right in finding fault with him for his neglect of duty. Home, my head mighty full…
The editor explains Pepys’s lack of naval and accounting experience, his rapid self-training, his move to the Navy Office between Crutched Friars and Seething Lane, and his early appointments under Lord Sandwich and as justice of the peace.
was only the ancient "fee out of the Exchequer," which had been attached to the office for more than a century. Pepys's salary had been previously fixed at L350 a-year. Neither of the two qualifications upon which particular stress is laid in the above Instructions was possessed by Pepys. He knew nothing about the navy, and so little of accounts that apparently he learned the multiplication table for the first time…
Ulysses tells the women to go inside and he holds the light by the braziers, while Melantho insults him and Ulysses threatens to report her; Eurymachus then mocks his appearance and offers him farm labor work, condemning his begging.
which glistened most beautifully; while king Pisander son of Polyctor gave her a necklace of the rarest workmanship, and every one else brought her a beautiful present of some kind. Then the queen went back to her room upstairs, and her maids brought the presents after her. Meanwhile the suitors took to singing and dancing, and stayed till evening came. They danced and sang till it grew dark; they then brought in th…
Penelope orders that Ulysses be washed and warmed by proper hands, praises his propriety, and calls the old nurse Euryclea to wash his feet instead of servants.
spoken shall surely come to pass. Ulysses will return in this self same year; with the end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will be here.” “May it be even so,” answered Penelope; “if your words come true you shall have such gifts and such good will from me that all who see you shall congratulate you; but I know very well how it will be. Ulysses will not return, neither will you get your escort hence, fo…
At dawn the family performs a detailed heifer sacrifice to Athene—gilding horns, pouring barley and wine, cutting and roasting—then bathes and clothes Telemachus, and finally yokes horses and supplies the travelers for travel.
and speak to the handmaids within that they make ready a banquet through our famous halls, and fetch seats and logs to set about the altar, and bring clear water.” Thus he spake and lo, they all hastened to the work. The heifer she came from the field, and from the swift gallant ship came the company of great-hearted Telemachus; the smith came holding in his hands his tools, the instruments of his craft, anvil and h…
He explains how human perception of small novelties, large breeding populations, careful breeding attention, and practices like enclosure and selective mating enable the formation and stabilization of new domestic breeds.
more than the turbit now does the upper part of its oesophagus,—a habit which is disregarded by all fanciers, as it is not one of the points of the breed. Nor let it be thought that some great deviation of structure would be necessary to catch the fancier’s eye: he perceives extremely small differences, and it is in human nature to value any novelty, however slight, in one’s own possession. Nor must the value which …
He concludes that natural selection acting on fertile parents could produce two distinct worker forms by driving out intermediates, leading to well-defined castes analogous to a division of labor.
the same condition with those of Myrmica. For the workers of Myrmica have not even rudiments of ocelli, though the male and female ants of this genus have well-developed ocelli. I may give one other case: so confidently did I expect to find gradations in important points of structure between the different castes of neuters in the same species, that I gladly availed myself of Mr. F. Smith’s offer of numerous specimen…
He describes how the Freedmen’s Bureau emerged from wartime efforts—Pierce’s Port Royal work, aid societies, leased plantations, and army-ordered settlements like Field-order Number Fifteen in Florida.
southward. All they did was needed, for the destitution of the freedmen was often reported as “too appalling for belief,” and the situation was daily growing worse rather than better. And daily, too, it seemed more plain that this was no ordinary matter of temporary relief, but a national crisis; for here loomed a labor problem of vast dimensions. Masses of Negroes stood idle, or, if they worked spasmodically, were …
Du Bois narrates the early operation of the Freedmen’s Bureau under Oliver O. Howard in May 1865, listing its intended relief, labor, schooling, courts, and marriage policies, then noting early logistical and land-related obstacles.
ever be written which does not throw out in bold relief, as one of the great landmarks of political and social progress, the organization and administration of the Freedmen’s Bureau.” On May 12, 1865, Howard was appointed; and he assumed the duties of his office promptly on the 15th, and began examining the field of work. A curious mess he looked upon: little despotisms, communistic experiments, slavery, peonage, bu…
Du Bois describes the log schoolhouse, its rough furniture and unreliable benches, then portrays the first day of class with children eager to learn, alongside absences caused by work and domestic duties.
reality was rough plank benches without backs, and at times without legs. They had the one virtue of making naps dangerous,—possibly fatal, for the floor was not to be trusted. It was a hot morning late in July when the school opened. I trembled when I heard the patter of little feet down the dusty road, and saw the growing row of dark solemn faces and bright eager eyes facing me. First came Josie and her brothers a…
Du Bois tours changed farms and cabins, notes missing families and “Progress” replacing his log schoolhouse, and retells a violent labor conflict where Doc Burke prevents a murder and lynching.
into Carlon’s corn; and when the hard-fisted farmer set upon him, the angry boy flew at him like a beast. Doc Burke saved a murder and a lynching that day. The story reminded me again of the Burkes, and an impatience seized me to know who won in the battle, Doc or the seventy-five acres. For it is a hard thing to make a farm out of nothing, even in fifteen years. So I hurried on, thinking of the Burkes. They used to…
Du Bois argues that three streams of thought—from global cooperation, the older Southern belief in Negro inferiority, and black Americans’ demands for liberty—create a tangle that Education must solve by using labor without oppression.
founding the common school on the university, and the industrial school on the common school; and weaving thus a system, not a distortion, and bringing a birth, not an abortion. When night falls on the City of a Hundred Hills, a wind gathers itself from the seas and comes murmuring westward. And at its bidding, the smoke of the drowsy factories sweeps down upon the mighty city and covers it like a pall, while yonder…
He challenges the idea that industrial schools alone can uplift Black Americans, warning against treating people as material resources for profit, and insisting that education should also pursue culture and character.
brought it in direct touch with the South’s magnificent industrial development, and given an emphasis which reminded black folk that before the Temple of Knowledge swing the Gates of Toil. Yet after all they are but gates, and when turning our eyes from the temporary and the contingent in the Negro problem to the broader question of the permanent uplifting and civilization of black men in America, we have a right to…
He reports that about two thousand Black students earned bachelor’s degrees and that graduate outcomes showed large proportions becoming teachers and clergy, which he presents as evidence higher education fits Black communities’ needs.
land, in both college and secondary training, be counted, Commissioner Harris assures us “it must be increased to five times its present average” to equal the average of the land. Fifty years ago the ability of Negro students in any appreciable numbers to master a modern college course would have been difficult to prove. To-day it is proved by the fact that four hundred Negroes, many of whom have been reported as br…
Du Bois depicts July heat, countryside travel along the Flint, tenant farming after war, decayed plantation estates, and the effect of a system of mortgages and debt that leaves mainly Black tenants on the land.
far and wide over three hundred lonesome square miles of land, without train or trolley, in the midst of cotton and corn, and wide patches of sand and gloomy soil. It gets pretty hot in Southern Georgia in July,—a sort of dull, determined heat that seems quite independent of the sun; so it took us some days to muster courage enough to leave the porch and venture out on the long country roads, that we might see this …
He links county labor conditions to the legacy of convict leasing, describing a log prison and tenants’ rents as grim, and contrasting men like an embittered veteran with Sears, who still lacks resources despite years of work.
that system, and now, turned day-laborer, is supporting his wife and boarding himself on his wages of a dollar and a half a week, received only part of the year. The Bolton convict farm formerly included the neighboring plantation. Here it was that the convicts were lodged in the great log prison still standing. A dismal place it still remains, with rows of ugly huts filled with surly ignorant tenants. “What rent do…
He describes shifting farming systems across Dougherty County—overseers, ownership patterns, and labor—highlighting Sanford’s inability to sell acres, Moses-like “Pa Willis” and other farmers, and hardships in Russian-Jewish-owned lands and Gillonsville.
worked fourteen years as overseer on the Ladson place, and “paid out enough for fertilizers to have bought a farm,” but the owner will not sell off a few acres. Two children—a boy and a girl—are hoeing sturdily in the fields on the farm where Corliss works. He is smooth-faced and brown, and is fencing up his pigs. He used to run a successful cotton-gin, but the Cotton Seed Oil Trust has forced the price of ginning s…
Du Bois introduces a chapter on the Golden Fleece, arguing that cotton industry wealth masks exploitation, and he sets out to study the debt-driven condition of Black farm laborers in one Georgia county.
But the Brute said in his breast, “Till the mills I grind have ceased, The riches shall be dust of dust, dry ashes be the feast! “On the strong and cunning few Cynic favors I will strew; I will stuff their maw with overplus until their spirit dies; From the patient and the low I will take the joys they know; They shall hunger after vanities and still an-hungered go. Madness shall be on the people, gh…
He provides historical-economic context for Dougherty County’s debt, linking slavery-era property values, war collapse, cotton price decline, and widespread poverty to the structure of Black housing and crowded one- and two-room cabins.
To-day, then, my reader, let us turn our faces to the Black Belt of Georgia and seek simply to know the condition of the black farm-laborers of one county there. Here in 1890 lived ten thousand Negroes and two thousand whites. The country is rich, yet the people are poor. The keynote of the Black Belt is debt; not commercial credit, but debt in the sense of continued inability on the part of the mass of the populati…
Du Bois explains why cabins stay poor and crowded—legacy of slavery, low demands shaped by habit, landlords’ failure to invest, and the labor incentives produced by tenancy—then describes how labor and economics break family groups.
a cabin kept scrupulously neat, with merry steaming fireplaces and hospitable door; but the majority are dirty and dilapidated, smelling of eating and sleeping, poorly ventilated, and anything but homes. Above all, the cabins are crowded. We have come to associate crowding with homes in cities almost exclusively. This is primarily because we have so little accurate knowledge of country life. Here in Dougherty County…
Du Bois characterizes the county’s Black population as poor and largely illiterate, explains that most people are hardworking farmers rather than lazy, and lists their limited occupational variety and lack of a leisure class.
now most marriage ceremonies are performed by the pastors. Nevertheless, the evil is still deep seated, and only a general raising of the standard of living will finally cure it. Looking now at the county black population as a whole, it is fair to characterize it as poor and ignorant. Perhaps ten per cent compose the well-to-do and the best of the laborers, while at least nine per cent are thoroughly lewd and viciou…
Du Bois asks who is to blame for widespread tenant debt and claims some merchants and employers believe only “slavery of debt” keeps Black labor working, leading to insecurity, crime, and peonage.
majority of tenants end the year even, or in debt, which means that they work for board and clothes. Such an economic organization is radically wrong. Whose is the blame? The underlying causes of this situation are complicated but discernible. And one of the chief, outside the carelessness of the nation in letting the slave start with nothing, is the widespread opinion among the merchants and employers of the Black …
Du Bois rejects the “shiftless” stereotype offered by white “car-window sociologists,” portraying careless field behavior as rooted in lack of incentives under tenant terms, and frames conflict over responsibility to build a path toward economic classes.
is this? Why do not the Negroes become land-owners, and build up the black landed peasantry, which has for a generation and more been the dream of philanthropist and statesman? To the car-window sociologist, to the man who seeks to understand and know the South by devoting the few leisure hours of a holiday trip to unravelling the snarl of centuries,—to such men very often the whole trouble with the black field-hand…
Du Bois turns to economic relations, saying Americans imagine exploiting Black labor, but Emancipation left Black workers unprepared and without guidance, capital, land, or legal protection, making them vulnerable to ruthless competition.
man’s best interests at heart has been intensified in later years by this continual daily contact of the better class of blacks with the worst representatives of the white race. Coming now to the economic relations of the races, we are on ground made familiar by study, much discussion, and no little philanthropic effort. And yet with all this there are many essential elements in the cooperation of Negroes and whites…
Du Bois describes Southern labor exploitation as patterned on early nineteenth-century industrial England before factory acts, blaming New South industrial captains and laws like the crop-lien system for trapping Black workers and farmers in debt.
with the best of modern workingmen under an economic system where every participant is fighting for himself, and too often utterly regardless of the rights or welfare of his neighbor. For we must never forget that the economic system of the South to-day which has succeeded the old regime is not the same system as that of the old industrial North, of England, or of France, with their trade-unions, their restrictive l…
John Jones, initially boisterous and undisciplined at Wells Institute, is suspended for repeated disorder, then—after being warned to leave—returns serious, working hard and teaching himself through difficulty.
John, and he was black; and the white folk thought of another John, and he was white. And neither world thought the other world’s thought, save with a vague unrest. Up in Johnstown, at the Institute, we were long puzzled at the case of John Jones. For a long time the clay seemed unfit for any sort of moulding. He was loud and boisterous, always laughing and singing, and never able to work consecutively at anything. …
Jacob proposes a new wage arrangement: only speckled/party and black among lambs and kids; he uses peeled rods to influence breeding, becomes exceedingly wealthy with flocks, servants, camels, and asses.
If I have found favour in thy sight (for I suppose that the LORD {|God|} hath blessed me for thy sake) appoint what thy reward shall be, and I will give it thee. But he said unto him, thou knowest what service I have done thee, and in what taking thy cattle have been under me: For it was but little that thou hadst before I came, and now it is increased into a multitude, and the LORD hath blessed thee for my sake. But…
With Joseph dead, a new Pharaoh enslaves Israel, orders harsh brick-and-field labor and building treasure cities (Phithom and Raamses), and commands Hebrew midwives to kill boys but spare girls.
These are the names of the children of Israel, which came to Egypt with Iacob, every man with his household: Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Iuda, Isachar, Zabulon, Ben Iamin, Dan, Nephtali, Gad and Aser. All the souls that came out of the loins of Iacob, were seventy, and Ioseph was in Egypt already. When Ioseph was dead and all his brethren and all that generation: the children of Israel grew, increased, multiplied and waxed …
Moses and Aaron tell Pharaoh to release Israel, but Pharaoh increases their workload by removing straw supplies, causing Israelite officers to be beaten and complain, while Moses appeals to the LORD about cruel bondage.
Then Moses and Aaron went and told Pharao, thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel. Let my people go, that they may keep holy day unto me in the wilderness. And Pharao answered: what fellow is the LORD, that I should hear his voice for to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will let Israel go. And they said: the God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go (we pray thee) three days' journey into the desert, that…
God commands Israel not to exploit poorer brothers through usury or harsh bondage, but to treat them as hired servants until jubilee, while allowing purchases from surrounding peoples.
Thou shalt not lend him thy money upon usury, nor lend him of thy food to have advantage by it for I am the LORD your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. If thy brother that dwelleth by thee wax poor and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not let him labour as a bondservant doeth: but as an hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall…
Jesus blesses children, confronts a wealthy young man about keeping commandments and selling possessions, teaches that wealth hinders entry to the kingdom, promises rewards to his followers, and tells the parable of vineyard workers.
which be made chaste of men. And there be chaste, which have made themselves chaste for the kingdom of heavens' sake. He that can take it let him take it. Then were brought to him young children, that he should put his hands on them and pray. And his disciples rebuked them. Iesus said unto them: suffer the children, and forbid them not to come to me, for unto such belongeth the kingdom of heaven. And when he had put…
In Capernaum Jesus teaches that people seek him only because they ate, urging labor for everlasting life, and he identifies himself as “bread of life,” provoking Jewish murmuring about heaven and his origin.
from heaven: but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For he is the bread of God, which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him: Master ever more give us this bread. And Iesus said unto them: I am that bread of life. He that cometh to me, shall not hunger: and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you: that ye have seen me, and yet believe ye…
Paul instructs the Corinthians to give generously for an equalizing relief of other churches, sends Titus and appointed brothers to manage the collection honestly, and emphasizes cheerful giving by God’s power.
and after unto us by the will of God: so that we could not but desire Titus to accomplish the same benevolence among you also, even as he had begun. Now therefore, as ye are rich in all parts, in faith, in word, in knowledge, in all ferventness, and in love, which ye have to us: even so see that ye be plenteous in this benevolence. This say I not as commanding: but because other are so fervent, therefore prove I you…
The passage condemns rich people for hoarding wealth and harming laborers, calls for patient endurance before the Lord, and instructs believers on swearing, prayer for healing, and restoring those who stray.
The .v. Chapter. Go to now ye rich men. Weep, and howl on your wretchedness that shall come upon you. Your riches is corrupt, your garments are motheaten. Your gold and your silver are cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness unto you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together in your last days: Behold the hire of the laborers which have reaped down your fields (which hire i…
The fraud of the revenue farmers ends; Rome elects Marcus Cornelius Cethegus as chief pontiff, struggles to levy soldiers, appoints triumvirs for recruitment, and reads a letter about Cannae survivors serving in Sicily.
did not give bail, and afterwards even such as could; upon which the greater part of them went into exile, to avoid the danger to which this proceeding exposed them. 5. The knavery of the revenue farmers, and their subsequent audacious conduct to screen themselves from its effects, thus terminated. An assembly was then held for the creation of a chief pontiff. The new pontiff, Marcus Cornelius Cethegus, presided. Th…
After capturing New Carthage, Scipio takes captives and restructures them as citizens, artisans for the Romans, and rowers/slaves for the fleet, while cataloging vast military stores and treasure.
to afford a passage to the Romans, ordered them to follow Neptune as their guide, and passing through the middle of the lake, make good their way to the walls. 46. Those who renewed the assault by land experienced great difficulty; for they were baffled not only by the height of the walls, but also because they exposed the Romans, as they approached them, to the missiles of the enemy from different quarters, so that…
Phillips recounts the convention reaction to Douglass, compares his liberty speech to Patrick Henry, and explains Douglass’s subsequent work as a lecturing agent under the Massachusetts or American Anti-Slavery Society.
the land, by the voice of the people, by the terms of the slave code, he was only a piece of property, a beast of burden, a chattel personal, nevertheless! A beloved friend from New Bedford prevailed on Mr. DOUGLASS to address the convention. He came forward to the platform with a hesitancy and embarrassment, necessarily the attendants of a sensitive mind in such a novel position. After apologizing for his ignoranc…
On January 1, 1833, Douglass begins field work for Covey, is whipped after oxen run and the cart crashes, and is later stripped and repeatedly lashed for “trifling” and refusing.
I had left Master Thomas’s house, and went to live with Mr. Covey, on the 1st of January, 1833. I was now, for the first time in my life, a field hand. In my new employment, I found myself even more awkward than a country boy appeared to be in a large city. I had been at my new home but one week before Mr. Covey gave me a very severe whipping, cutting my back, causing the blood to run, and raising ridges on my flesh …
During his year with Covey, Douglass describes constant work and frequent beatings, exhaustion at daybreak to midnight, and Covey’s surprise tactics likened to a “snake.”
cutting me so savagely as to leave the marks visible for a long time after. This whipping was the first of a number just like it, and for similar offences. I lived with Mr. Covey one year. During the first six months, of that year, scarce a week passed without his whipping me. I was seldom free from a sore back. My awkwardness was almost always his excuse for whipping me. We were worked fully up to the point of endu…
In Baltimore Frederick is hired to William Gardner on Fell’s Point to calk, but shipbuilding rush and harsh supervision leave him constantly ordered about.
to my old home at Baltimore. My master sent me away, because there existed against me a very great prejudice in the community, and he feared I might be killed. In a few weeks after I went to Baltimore, Master Hugh hired me to Mr. William Gardner, an extensive ship-builder, on Fell’s Point. I was put there to learn how to calk. It, however, proved a very unfavorable place for the accomplishment of this object. Mr. Ga…
Frederick Douglass describes applying to Master Hugh to hire his time, agreeing to weekly payments and work tools, then losing the privilege after a missed payment caused by attending a camp meeting.
slavery. But in spite of him, and even in spite of myself, I continued to think, and to think about the injustice of my enslavement, and the means of escape. About two months after this, I applied to Master Hugh for the privilege of hiring my time. He was not acquainted with the fact that I had applied to Master Thomas, and had been refused. He too, at first, seemed disposed to refuse; but, after some reflection, he…
He finds work stowing a sloop with oil, struggles with prejudice against Black calkers, takes up other labor, and soon becomes a subscriber to The Liberator, whose anti-slavery attacks energize him.
not been seen in New Bedford since. I believe there have been no more such threats, and should there be hereafter, I doubt not that death would be the consequence. I found employment, the third day after my arrival, in stowing a sloop with a load of oil. It was new, dirty, and hard work for me; but I went at it with a glad heart and a willing hand. I was now my own master. It was a happy moment, the rapture of which…
Herzl argues that persecuted Jews have become a unified historic group strong enough to found a “model” Jewish State, outlining a plan where a Society of Jews prepares work and a Jewish Company executes land and economic projects over decades.
Thus, whether we like it or not, we are now, and shall henceforth remain, a historic group with unmistakable characteristics common to us all. We are one people--our enemies have made us one without our consent, as repeatedly happens in history. Distress binds us together, and, thus united, we suddenly discover our strength. Yes, we are strong enough to form a State, and, indeed, a model State. We possess all human …
Herzl details planned construction: workmen’s dwellings in attractive detached groups, schools and amusements, limits on cost and wages via labor arrangements, and the “seven-hour day” combined with shifts to reach fourteen hours of joint labor.
BUILDINGS The Company will thus barter houses and estates. It must be plain to any one who has observed the rise in the value of land through its cultivation that the Company will be bound to gain on its landed property. This can best be seen in the case of enclosed pieces of land in town and country. Areas not built over increase in value through surrounding cultivation. The men who carried out the extension of Par…
Herzl says pregnant women are relieved from all arduous work, describes relief by labor as used in Paris and elsewhere, and argues that a new society allows large-scale unskilled work and profit-taking by the Company.
of good conduct. In this way we shall secure energetic and able men, and these men will be practically trained for life by three years of labor under good discipline. I said before that the Company would not have to pay these unskilled laborers. What will they live on? On the whole, I am opposed to the Truck system,[A] but it will have to be applied in the case of these first settlers. The Company provides for them…
Herzl proposes centralized labor agencies for short-term hiring and disciplined work terms, prohibits work-slavery through boycotts, and outlines a “Society of Jews” that approves financing, with capital raised via big banks, small banks, or public subscription.
The three methods of raising capital are: (1) Through big banks; (2) Through small and private banks; (3) Through public subscription. The first method of raising capital is: Through big banks. The required sum could then be raised in the shortest possible time among the large financial groups, after they had discussed the advisability of the course. The great advantage of this method would be that it would avoid th…
Herzl contrasts systemic work-based relief with almshouses, proposes workhouse discipline for those refusing labor, supports education and tasks by age and ability, and plans town layouts through local groups with strict centralization.
to the assistance of indigent Christians in the forsaken towns. The local groups will receive compensation by obtaining free building sites and every facility for reconstruction in the new country. This transfer of philanthropic institutions will give another of those opportunities, which occur at different points of my scheme, for making an experiment in the service of humanity. Our present unsystematic private phi…
Herzl argues that in the Jewish State immigrants will convert small traders and peddlers into workers through a seven-hour day, training by the Society of Jews, and replacing small commerce with large department stores.
human forces. The new tasks and prospects that await our people in the new country will satisfy our present handicraftsmen, and will transform many present small traders into manual workers. A peddler who travels about the country with a heavy pack on his back is not so contented as his persecutors imagine. The seven-hour day will convert all of his kind into workmen. They are good, misunderstood people, who now suf…