Quote #49196
O come the time, and haste the day,
When man shall man no longer crush,
When Reason shall enforce her sway,
Nor these fair regions raise our blush,
Where still the African complains,
And mourns his yet unbroken chains.
When man shall man no longer crush,
When Reason shall enforce her sway,
Nor these fair regions raise our blush,
Where still the African complains,
And mourns his yet unbroken chains.
Philip Freneau
About This Quote
This quote needs no introduction—at least for now. We're working on adding more context soon.
Interpretation
In these lines, Freneau voices an explicitly abolitionist hope that an enlightened future will end slavery and the broader pattern of human oppression (“When man shall man no longer crush”). The appeal to “Reason” reflects an Enlightenment moral framework: rational justice, not custom or profit, should govern society. The phrase “these fair regions raise our blush” frames slavery as a national shame that stains an otherwise “fair” land, while “the African complains” and “unbroken chains” emphasize the ongoing, unresolved suffering of enslaved people. The stanza functions as both prophecy and exhortation—imagining moral progress while implicitly urging readers to hasten it.
