Fitzhugh's Views On Slavery

In American Slavery 1619-1877 written by American Historian Peter Kolchin, he wrote “south developed as a true slave society, in which slavery served as the bedrock of the economy and of the social order” (Kolchin, Pg 29). This shows that the south relied on Slavery as a means to help run their society because being that the South was prominently farm country they needed to rely on slave labor to grow and sell their crops like cotton, tobacco and wheat which supply majority of their financial income. The south was never evolved into a more practical and modern way of life thus, the demand for slave labor in the south became increasingly more frequent, even when the need for slave labor according to the rest of the world was no longer a necessity. Just like the South, the northern states used slavery as their main source of income at first, however what set the North apart from the south is their advanced thinking. Slavery in the North while legal was not as excessive, in fact according to Kolchin, “ In most of the north, lack of substantial commercial agriculture preclude a demand for large scale forced labor; slaves served in a variety of capabilities, from house service to skilled crafts and day labor, but slavery did not serve as the basis for the economy” (Kolchin, Pg 27.) This depicts that while slaves did serve a purpose in the North’s financial

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.

As we already noted – in the 1800s expediency of slavery was disputed. While industrial North almost abandoned bondage, by the early 19th century, slavery was almost exclusively confined to the South, home to more than 90 percent of American blacks (Barney W., p. 61). Agrarian South needed free labor force in order to stimulate economic growth. In particular, whites exploited blacks in textile production. This conditioned the differences in economic and social development of the North and South, and opposing viewpoints on the social structure. “Northerners now saw slavery as a barbaric relic from the past, a barrier to secular and Christian progress that contradicted the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and degraded the free-labor aspirations of Northern society” (Barney W., p. 63).

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

Slavery was a system of forced labor popular in the 17th and 18th century that exploited and oppressed blacks. Slavery was an issue in the US that brought on many complex responses. Slave labor introduced to the United States a multitude of issues that questioned political, economical, and social morals. As slave labor increased due to the booming of cottage industries with the market revolution, reactions to these issues differed between regions, creating a sectional split of the United States between industrial North and plantation South. Historiographers Kenneth Stampp, Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, and Eugene Genovese, in their respective articles, attempt to interpret the attitudes of American slaves toward their experiences of work as well as the social and economic implications of slave labor.

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

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.

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.

George Fitzhugh argues that slavery is justified because although they are not free, they are taken care of by their masters and have no outside worries or cares as a result of that. He paints an inaccurate picture of them, one that makes it seem acceptable, almost a preferred lifestyle. The issue with that is that it is not reality. The horrors of slave culture are ones that cannot easily be matched. The vilest acts are done to these people, and all because they have a different skin color. Families have been torn apart, mothers separated from children and children suddenly without their parents. They are unlikely to ever see their families again. Fitzhugh argues that "the master 's interest prevents his reducing the slave 's

He believed that slaves were less intelligent and would never survive in a capitalist society such as Northern states which he thought is more likely free and more respectable states. According to Fitzhugh he thought that the blacks very inferior to white in any aspects. George Fitzhugh believed that the children, elderly and ill people do not worry about labor since their masters provided them with everything that satisfies their needs. In addition he also mention that slaves lives a comfortable life and enjoy liberty because in his argument he thinks that women do not have to engage in hard labor and are protected by their husband by salve owners.

Slavery was one of the most horrific acts ever instilled on a race of people in world’s history. The history paints a truly horrific picture when blacks were stolen from their homelands, taken away from their families, enslaved and suffered from harsh punishments. The first opposition of practicing slavery in antebellum America takes its origins from the beginning of nineteenth century. The most recognizable abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson, David Walker and Frederic Douglass were the first who unfolded the antislavery debates in transnational ways. Their persistent eagerness and appeal to public opinion helped to sow seeds of abolishing slavery in America.

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

During the eighteenth century, slavery was already well-established section of the American labor system. As the amount of slaves grew in size, they did not receive rights, and were mostly separated from their families. They were mostly needed for agricultural labors and had to work mostly from dusk to dawn. Frederick Douglass’s experiences as a slave was different than that other colonial labor because of the strict treatment he received from his masters, the inferiority to other humans that he felt, and the harsh conditions he lived in.

In the early years of the 19th century, slavery was more than ever turning into a sectional concern, such that the nation had essentially become divided along regional lines. Based on economic or moral reasoning, people of the Northern states were increasingly in support of opposition to slavery, all the while Southerners became united to defend the institution of slavery. Brought on by profound changes including regional differences in the pattern of slavery in the upper and lower South, as well as the movement of abolitionism in the North, slavery in America had transformed from an issue of politics into a moral campaign during the period of 1815-1860, ultimately polarizing the North and the South to the point in which threats of a Southern disunion would mark the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 (Goldfield et. al, The American Journey, p. 281).