Fitzhugh's Views On Slavery

In his article, “The Blessings of Slavery,” George Fitzhugh brings about an argument against the abolitionist movement. In his writings, he speculates on the feelings of a black man under slavery, something that he will never feel or understand without personally going through it.He asserts that slavery is truly good for both white and black men. Along with the idea that black men are inherently lazier, he claims that racism is actually placed on the backs of the white man. These claims are false and rooted in a purposeful misunderstanding of the true nature of slavery.

The emancipation of slavery is an issue that I feel most strongly about. Slavery is an evil, and the treatment of these people is the vilest. A man taking it upon himself to own and force into labor another man, and control his every move, is not one that has a high understanding of ethics and morals. We might fight to cease this cruel treatment and allow these people equality and liberty, just like what we bravely fought for against the British. A pro-slavery supporter, George Fitzhugh, makes the claim that slavery is beneficial for both the slaves and white people, and makes a comparison between slavery and white factory workers. The flaws in this are apparent, and slavery is not something to ignore and deem acceptable with no insight to the truth.

The freedom of America’s slaves has always been accredited to Abraham Lincoln, but he was not always the complete abolitionist as he is commonly portrayed. The “house divided”, as Lincoln depicts it in his famous ‘House Divided’ speech, of the United States during the Civil War, was not always lead towards the freedom of all mankind, and there is sufficient evidence to support this claim. The sixteenth president is most commonly remembered for inducing the courage and determination to end the Civil War, with the Emancipation Proclamation, although when it more closely studied he did not cross the great divide of enslavement vs. freedom with the submittal of that fabled document. When following the many famous quotes and speeches of Lincoln’s life, it appears that he was against all slavery and bondage. At the same time, when more closely examined, the quotes and speeches actually leaned towards his lack of strong opinion on the outcome of slavery. Lincoln is perceived as the most famous revolutionary of American history, but he does not live up to his legacy of being the eradicator of forced servitude.

During the 1840s, America saw increasingly attractive settlements forming between the North and the South. The government tried to keep the industrial north and the agricultural south happy, but eventually the issue of slavery became too big to handle, no matter how many treaties or compromises were formed. Slavery was a huge issue that unraveled throughout many years of American history and was one of the biggest contributors leading up to the Civil War (notes, Fall 2015). Many books have been written over the years about slavery and the brutality of the life that many people endured. In “A Slave No More”, David Blight tells the story about two men, John M. Washington (1838-1918) and Wallace Turnage (1846-1916), struggling during American slavery. Their escape to freedom happened during America’s bloodiest war among many political conflicts, which had been splitting the country apart for many decades. As Blight (2007) describes, “Throughout the Civil War, in thousands of different circumstances, under changing policies and redefinitions of their status, and in the face of social chaos…four million slaves helped to decide what time it would be in American History” (p. 5). Whether it was freedom from a master or overseer, freedom from living as both property and the object of another person’s will, or even freedom to make their own decisions and control their own life, slaves wanted a sense of independence. According to Blight (2007), “The war and the presence of Union armies

American’s who live in the 21st century know that slavery is terrible and also a touchy subject. But Americans used to rely heavily on slavery, how we perceive slavery in today’s society can either be the same or different from how others thought of slavery living within mid 1800s. People who resided in the northern region of American found slavery wrong as we do today. Americans who lived farther south however liked, and relied on slavery. In today’s world, we Americans almost all agree that slavery had been a negative factor of our country. But within the 1840s and 1870s, Americans had been divided by slavery. People that were against slavery created the union as the pro slavery citizens created the confederates. Today, we can see why people of the mid 19th century either supported slavery or rebelled against it by reviewing sources.

The book, “The Radical and the Republican” by James Oakes, explores the different steps that Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas take towards the issue of slavery and emancipation of slaves. Lincoln being republican and Douglas being a radical reformer, they both have different mind sets on slavery. “Their minds worked differently. Though they both hated slavery, they hated it for different ways and not always for the same reasons.” Oakes focuses on the different positions regarding slavery of both men as well as their views on abolition and emancipation.

George Fitzhugh’s sociological opinion about slavery were irrational; he stated that slavery was the most perfect institution ever created

While many have described the civil war as simply the war between the States, Bruce Levine in his book “Half Slave and Half Free: The Roots of Civil War” has put together an 80 year survey from around 1773 the pre-revolutionary era to the Civil War with well documented evidence of the social, cultural and political idealisms of our once divided nation. This book review will emphasize points on each of the book’s chapters which are put chronologically and particularly comparing the southern slave labor system to the free labor system in the north. Levine’s thesis statement on page four of his book reads as follows, “What impelled so many-rich, middling, and poor; white and black; native-born and immigrant- to risk and sacrifice so much? To answer such questions, this book reexamines the antebellum political history in the light of the broader economic, social, cultural, and ideological developments that shaped the lives of the American people”. (p. 4) Clearly the author of the book has researched numerous historical papers and has placed them in the direction his thesis will be provided with hard evidence from the founding fathers’ letters, written memos and of course the laws put into the United States constitution.

During the 19th century, slavery expanded geographically and demographically in the South and Southwest of America, generating a wave of abolitionist movements. These events provoked a different response in the country’s society, since not everyone shared the same definition of slavery and freedom. These concepts started to get involved in almost every part of American sociopolitical life, creating differing points of view that would later conform the two sides in the Civil War of America: The Union in the north, and Confederacy in the south.

The “Narratives of the Life of Frederick Douglass” is the story of Frederick Douglass’ life from the time he was born into slavery, to the time he escaped to freedom in the north. When Douglass wrote this book, slavery was still legal in a large portion of the United States. After Douglass’ escape to freedom and his continuation of his education, he became an abolitionist through his works of literature and speeches. In “The Blessings of Slavery”, by George Fitzhugh he states that southern slaves for the most part are the freest and happiest people in the world. He also goes on to say a number of other things that basically establish that slaves live an easy and good life compared to others. Frederick Douglass’ pure story telling in the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” directly goes against any argument for slavery from Fitzhugh, by revealing the harshness of the institution of slavery and the individuals behind it. In each piece of literature both authors also unknowingly touch on topics of early American history such as free labor ideology and paternalism therefore deepening our knowledge of popular understandings during this time period. Douglass refutes Fitzhugh’s pro-slavery argument of the average slave living an ideal life, by disproving early ideas of the free labor system and paternalism through real life encounters of the physical oppression slaves faced on the day to day basis in the forms of inhumane treatment and violence, as well as the true harsh

Slavery was always a controversial issue in America. Many people saw slavery as an essential part of life in every aspect, while others saw it as immoral and an injustice to humanity. In the 1840s when Manifest Destiny started to thrive, things began to heat up. New territories meant a possibility for a new slave or free state in America. Because the new territories were allowed the right of popular sovereignty to determine whether they would have slaves or not, abolitionists and non-abolitionists were at a constant battle to gain a new state.

In a state of independence there is more jealousy and hostility towards one another. There are no mobs, trade unions, strikes for increase in wages, armed resistance to law, jealousy of rich by the poor, few people in jail and fewer people in poor houses. George Fitzhugh took a very radical approach in making the argument for pro slavery, he is clear with his point and never once agreed or suggested positive points about emancipation. When comparing the North and the South he states that wealth is better distributed in the south where slaves are abundant than in the North. He alludes to the fact that economies in France, England, and New England always keep famine close because it leaves no room to “retrench”. Where as in the South they have a wasteful mode of living which in result leaves room for retrenchment. George Fitzhugh fails to recognize the fact that the one’s enslaved have been confined and forced into a system of living that they know no better than. They were taken from their homes and forced to work for an owner who couldn’t recognize that they were individuals who would one day realize the true reality of the situation they were forced into. He is taking a side that only focuses on the want and belief of the slave-owner without accounting for the actual slaves. This being the key in the “sociology of the South”, they were so entrenched in the idea that slaves were the key to a successful economy that

Frederick Douglass was many things; a man, an orator, a writer, an avid abolitionist, a presidential advisor and a slave. Douglass lived the majority of his life as a free man after escaping his bondage at age 20. However, everything he did and accomplished over the course of his life was influenced and affected by his past as a slave. Just as slavery shaped Douglass’s existence, the politics of the 19th century would not escape the pressure of the debate over slavery. From the American Revolution to the Civil War, slavery embedded itself into the Southern economy and culture to the point where the argument over its expansion would necessitate complex political workarounds, and break up the national political parties of the last few decades down sectional lines.

Harper can be compared to all of the writers that we have read on the topic of slavery, but Harper gave us the imagery of slavery through her rhyme scheme of poetry. Harper was more descriptive in how she portrayed the reality of slavery than the other writers we discussed because the other writers focused on the history of slavery and were straight forward, and Harper made you feel as if you were actually there to witness what she was playing out in her poems through her usage of figurative language. Harper mainly discussed freedom of slaves and what women had to endure in slavery. Jacobs and Stowe did the same in discussing what women slave went through by using the examples of the factor of

Frederick Douglass spoke to a group of white Northerners and said, “To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless” (Document G). Douglass, who was an escaped slave from Maryland, gave the honest truth to white Northerners. His speech opened the eyes of Northerners, calling them hypocrites for speaking against slavery without any action. This inspired white people in the North to stand up against the South for the rights of slaves, ultimately leading them to war. On the other side of the spectrum, a white man from the South, George Fitzhugh, justify slavery in his opinion, saying, “White men, with so much of license and liberty, would die of ennui; but Negroes luxuriate in corporeal and mental repose” (Document H). This justification for slavery shows how many Southerners believed that white people were not slaves because they would get bored of it, and black people were meant to be slaves. Fitzhugh, along with many other pro-slavery advocates, showed opposite morals compared to people from the North when it came to the morality of slavery. As more territory was claimed by the US, dispute erupted between the North and South: “A bitter contest followed between proslavery and antislavery supporters for the control of