Copy of a letter from Samuel May, to William James, [1847?]

Martineau writes to James the reasons that he did not sign the "Reply to the Invitation of the Friends of Unitarian Christianity in Boston to their Brethren in a Common Faith in England and Scotland." He says that he thinks slavery is a crime of the state and that it can only be destroyed by law, adding that if he inherited slaves he would turn them over to the state. Martineau believes ordinary private manumission is detrimental to the best interests of the slaves for it allows a slaveholder to salve his conscience and does not call for any attempt on the part of the slaveholder to rehabilitate the slave. He thinks that refusing an invitation because of the personal conduct of a member of the inviting organization is a "somewhat farfetched scrupulosity." He doubts that the recipients of the reply will think well of it.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library