Early American proslavery arguments invoked divine order and innate Black character traits.

Evidence

Before the end of 1701, John Saffin had printed A Brief and Candid Answer, to a Late Printed Sheet, Entitled, The Selling of Joseph. “God hath set different Orders and Degrees of Men in the World,” Saffin declared. No matter what Sewall said, it was not an “Evil thing to bring [Africans] out of their own Heathenish Country” and convert them. Saffin, well known among literary historians as a leading seventeenth-century poet, ended his pamphlet in verse with “The Negroes Character”: “Cowardly and cruel are those Blacks Innate, Prone to Revenge, Imp of inveterate hate.” — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 168

Categorization

• XREF: Saffin’s ‘Negroes Character’ verse is an early specimen of the anti-Black racist idea that Kendi’s causal inversion will later reinterpret — he will argue such ideas arose to defend a slavery policy, not to cause it. — connects to: Christian nationalism originated in proslavery theology of the American slave republic. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 450; Pro-slavery theology classified Black people as pre-Adamite creatures rather than humans — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 555; Abolitionism and proslavery theology shared a paternalist denial of Black self-determination — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 220 (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Christian nationalism originated in proslavery theology of the American slave republic. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 450; Pro-slavery theology classified Black people as pre-Adamite creatures rather than humans — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 555; Abolitionism and proslavery theology shared a paternalist denial of Black self-determination — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 220 (+1 more)