Go Down, Moses

Composed in the years leading up to the Civil War, the lyrics decry the abomination of chattel slavery in the American South. But the lyrics’ anger is subtle. Although it was used as a rallying cry for abolitionist organizations in the North, the song lacks the fiery exhortations or the incendiary rhetoric typical of abolitionist literature.

The horrors of slavery are dramatized indirectly through the use of the Exodus narrative. As Moses leads the Israelites to freedom from oppression, physical abuse, and horrific conditions under the Egyptians, listeners are meant to draw a parallel between their suffering that that of enslaved men, women, and children in the American South. “Oppressed so hard, [the enslaved] could not stand” (Line 2) suggests, but does not dwell on, the physical and psychological toll of backbreaking field work, inhumane conditions, and the constant threat of brutal punishment. 

The powerful imagery of the Israelites fleeing their bondage gives weight to the song’s insistence on the immorality of slavery—a wrong so great that God directly intervened to stop it. The “chains” described in the closing stanza are not symbolic, but rather the very real iron shackles that hung about the necks and legs of enslaved people to remind them of their captivity, to underscore their dehumanization into possessions, and to prevent them even attempting to escape to freedom.