The author delivers a moral and political critique of slavery as a profound inconsistency with professed principles of human equality and national liberty. He catalogs harms including denial of legal and civil rights, obstruction of education and religious instruction, and the frequent severing of family ties by sale. While urging abolition as necessary, he also criticizes harsh tactics used by some opponents and advocates a more gentle, scripturally guided strategy that emphasizes moral persuasion, religious instruction, and sustained efforts to secure the intellectual, moral, and spiritual improvement of the enslaved.