Clotel, or The Presidents Daughter | Page 7

slaves were first placed upon the auction block,
one after another, and sold to the highest bidder. Husbands and wives

were separated with a degree of indifference that is unknown in any
other relation of life, except that of slavery. Brothers and sisters were
torn from each other; and mothers saw their children leave them for the
last time on this earth.
It was late in the day, when the greatest number of persons were
thought to be present, that Currer and her daughters were brought
forward to the place of sale.--Currer was first ordered to ascend the
auction stand, which she did with a trembling step. The slave mother
was sold to a trader. Althesa, the youngest, and who was scarcely less
beautiful than her sister, was sold to the same trader for one thousand
dollars. Clotel was the last, and, as was expected, commanded a higher
price than any that had been offered for sale that day. The appearance
of Clotel on the auction block created a deep sensation amongst the
crowd. There she stood, with a complexion as white as most of those
who were waiting with a wish to become her purchasers; her features as
finely defined as any of her sex of pure Anglo-Saxon; her long black
wavy hair done up in the neatest manner; her form tall and graceful,
and her whole appearance indicating one superior to her position. The
auctioneer commenced by saying, that "Miss Clotel had been reserved
for the last, because she was the most valuable. How much, gentlemen?
Real Albino, fit for a fancy girl for any one. She enjoys good health,
and has a sweet temper. How much do you say?" "Five hundred
dollars." "Only five hundred for such a girl as this? Gentlemen, she is
worth a deal more than that sum; you certainly don't know the value of
the article you are bidding upon. Here, gentlemen, I hold in my hand a
paper certifying that she has a good moral character." "Seven hundred."
"Ah; gentlemen, that is something like. This paper also states that she is
very intelligent." "Eight hundred." "She is a devoted Christian, and
perfectly trustworthy." "Nine hundred." "Nine fifty." "Ten." "Eleven."
"Twelve hundred." Here the sale came to a dead stand. The auctioneer
stopped, looked around, and began in a rough manner to relate some
anecdotes relative to the sale of slaves, which, he said, had come under
his own observation. At this juncture the scene was indeed strange.
Laughing, joking, swearing, smoking, spitting, and talking kept up a
continual hum and noise amongst the crowd; while the slave-girl stood
with tears in her eyes, at one time looking towards her mother and

sister, and at another towards the young man whom she hoped would
become her purchaser. "The chastity of this girl is pure; she has never
been from under her mother's care; she is a virtuous creature."
"Thirteen." "Fourteen." "Fifteen." "Fifteen hundred dollars," cried the
auctioneer, and the maiden was struck for that sum. This was a
Southern auction, at which the bones, muscles, sinews, blood, and
nerves of a young lady of sixteen were sold for five hundred dollars;
her moral character for two hundred; her improved intellect for one
hundred; her Christianity for three hundred; and her chastity and virtue
for four hundred dollars more. And this, too, in a city thronged with
churches, whose tall spires look like so many signals pointing to
heaven, and whose ministers preach that slavery is a God-ordained
institution! What words can tell the inhumanity, the atrocity, and the
immorality of that doctrine which, from exalted office, commends such
a crime to the favour of enlightened and Christian people? What
indignation from all the world is not due to the government and people
who put forth all their strength and power to keep in existence such an
institution? Nature abhors it; the age repels it; and Christianity needs all
her meekness to forgive it. Clotel was sold for fifteen hundred dollars,
but her purchaser was Horatio Green. Thus closed a Negro sale, at
which two daughters of Thomas Jefferson, the writer of the Declaration
of American Independence, and one of the presidents of the great
republic, were disposed of to the highest bidder!
"O God! my every heart-string cries, Dost thou these scenes behold In
this our boasted Christian land, And must the truth be told?
"Blush, Christian, blush! for e'en the dark, Untutored heathen see Thy
inconsistency; and, lo! They scorn thy God, and thee!"

CHAPTER II
GOING TO THE SOUTH
"My country, shall thy honoured name, Be as a bye-word through the
world? Rouse! for, as if to blast thy fame, This keen reproach is at thee

hurled; The banner that above the waves, Is floating o'er three million
slaves."
DICK WALKER, the slave