March 31, 1843
Under Refuge of Oppression, here are excerpts from an article from the South-western Farmer: “Never threaten a negroe — but if you have occasion to chastise, do it at once. …. Never show passion before your servants; if inflicting the severest punishment, do it in a mild, cool temper. They will at once conclude, by this course, that you act from principle, not from impulse of temper, and they will always expect you to regularly enforce your rules on all …..Do not allow yourselves to be deceived and betrayed by any course of good behavior by your negroes, however long continued, on any account to relax your discipline…. Negroes have very inferior minds and brains; they act from impulse and feeling more than from reason…… The negro is sadly deficient in the organ of consciousness. The only way, therefore, to keep him honest, is never to trust him.”
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