Slavery as “Positive Good”

In the Refuge of Oppression column of the Liberator, September 22, 1854, there is this word from the Charleston Mercury:  “The South no longer regards slavery as a necessary evil  — it no  longer dreams of emancipation as a pleasing prospect.  But, soberly and laboriously, in the lights of religion, morals, politics and a growing experience, the question has been examined, and she now stands up before the world, and asserts her institution to be a positive good.”