You must read those letters of Governor Hammond to Clarkson, the English Abolitionist.

The tenth commandment, your mother taught you, no doubt: 'thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife nor his _man-servant_ nor his _maid-servant_, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.' These are the words of God, and as such, should be obeyed strictly.

In the most solemn manner, the man-servant and the maid-servant are considered the _property_ of thy neighbor.

Generally the word is rendered slave.

This command includes all classes of servants; there is the Hebrew-brother who shall go out in the seventh year, and the hired-servant and those 'purchased from the heathen round about,' who were to be bondmen forever.