The Justification Of Slaveholders

First, one of Frederick’s masters was delusional, because he whipped his woman slave while quoting a bible verse. As he whipped another human being, he would quote, “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes (Douglass 68).” The reason this master would say this quote is because he

Since before the time of Jesus Christ, religious hypocrisy has run rampant throughout those who held power. Countless lives have been affected by others twisting religious interpretation in order to fit their own needs. Slaveholders used religion and scripture to their advantage when disciplining slaves, sometimes even if they did no wrong. Religious hypocrisy is especially relevant in the life of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass’s life story depicts how religious hypocrisy committed by both slaves and slaveholders diminished the rights of slaves, while at the same time allowing injustice to endure.

Both Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs had similar experiences in regards to their owners getting more involved with religion resulting in a change in the treatment of their slaves. Frederick Douglass’ slave-owner in 1832 was a man called “Captain Auld” by his slaves. Douglass describes him as a “slaveholder without the ability to hold slaves”. However, after attending a Methodist camp-meeting and experiencing religion, Auld becomes crueler. Douglass had the slightest hope that Auld’s involvement with religion would incline him to emancipate his slaves or—at the very least—be more humane and kind. Douglass was disappointed. “Prior to his conversion, he relied upon his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his savage barbarity; but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty.” The man became more involved in religious activity; it became a part of his everyday life. Douglass provides an example of his master’s usage of religious sanction for cruelty and brutality. Douglass witnesses Auld tie up and whip a young woman while justifying his actions with a passage of Scripture— “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” Harriet Jacobs had a comparable experience. “When I was told that Dr. Flint had joined the Episcopal church, I was much surprised. I supposed that religion had a purifying effect on the character of men; but the worst persecutions I endured from him were after he

As a young child, Frederick Douglass was introduced to the acts of violence towards the slaves including the all too common whippings. He says, “I have often been awakened at the down of day by the most heart-rendering shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood.” One could only imagine the horrid pictures that slaves would have seen on a daily basis of other slaves nearly being beaten to death by their masters. For the black children growing up on the plantation, the master was seen to be a man of great power and not to be taken lightly. This was exactly

In such inhumane conditions, a nation managed to justify the hell that it put Blacks through. How is it humane to enslave a person yet inhumane for the death penalty to be practiced? Living on a double standard, a nation built on civil rights has managed to justify this hell. In such harsh times, the South was frowned upon for slavery. The North was hypocrites for this accusation. Slavery was justified in the South. Throughout the world, one group subjugated another. With these reasons and lies from the opinion that wants to be heard; a nation is able to justify slavery.

Slave owners used Christianity as an excuse for the awful ways they treated their slaves. Christianity played a major role on the increase of brutality and violence that spirited the slave owners. The scriptures in the Bible were twisted in the eyes of slave owners to how they wanted to interpret them. Douglass had a powerful experience with one of his masters, Thomas Auld. Mr. Auld was not a religious person and treated the slaves very poorly. In August 1832, Auld attended a Methodist camp meeting and that marked the day when he became religious, and suddenly even more cruel. “Prior to his conversion, he relied upon his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his savage barbarity; but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty.” After becoming religious, Auld uses scripture to justify his cruelty. Douglass thought that with discovering religion and using it, Auld would become more polite as how Douglass viewed Christianity. Unfortunately that was not the case. Auld justifies that being affiliated with religion would not change a person for the better. Being a slave, Douglass found that slave owners found religious sanction for their cruelty. “He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.", was what a slave owner had said to justify why he beat

Defending slavery demonstrate the opinions and knowledge that the Southerners held concerning blacks and slavery. Paul Finkelman talks about slave legitimacy in colonial America. He argues that the first defense of slavery became visible after the end of American Revolution; it attempted to justify continuous forced labor with the Declaration of Independence. This essay aims at critically analyzing ideologies and racial theories that Southerners promoted to defend slavery, which included racial, political, legal, economic, and religious ideologies. Most specifically, this essay will discuss the legitimacy of slavery, in the earlier days, and justify this idea by using the religion and

Furthermore, Douglass also had to experience Physical Abuse towards him or to other slaves. As an example Douglass witness physical abuse towards his Aunt Hester when he was young. According to the text ''He commenced to lay on the heavy cow skin and soon the warm red blood come dripping to the floor'' (chapter 1 paragraph 10). Douglass relies how horrifying the abuse slaves get if they disobey their masters and he feared that he might get whipped and he knew that his master wouldn't care about his age. Another example of Physical Abuse is when he was older and his new master who is called Mr. Servere who abuses anybody who doesn't listen him. According to the text '' I have seen him whipping a woman causing the blood to run half an hour and

The movement to eliminate slavery in the United States during the antebellum years was difficult and did not go unchallenged as there were many people who were pro-slavery while others were anti-slavery. Before the Civil War there was debate over the issue of slavery. Slaves were considered property, and were property because they were black. Many people in the South were strong advocates of slavery, while people in the North were opposed to it. In the South, slavery was a social and powerful economic institution. During this period in the south Pro-Slavery activists did not empathize with the system and conditions the

How did slavery continue to exist despite its inhumane practices? Many of these owners employed the ideas of dehumanizing slaves and religion in order to perpetuate their actions. Dehumanization demoted the societal status of slaves, therefore deeming blacks inferior to their white counterparts. Moreover, although directly opposing religious principles of kindness and avoidance of sin, plantation owners used Christianity as a mechanism to mask their inhumanity and encourage their cruelty toward slaves. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass develops themes of dehumanization and religion, which helps readers understand the techniques slave owners utilized to alleviate their guilt, condone malice toward slaves, and preserve supremacy over colored people in Southern society.

Though not prohibiting slavery, it warns slaveholders to manage their lesser men with an upmost vigilance recalling that they themselves are similarly suppressed by an even higher being. Nevertheless, Christian slave holders are deemed to be most unusually cruel. They alter the bible’s teachings in order to support their own practices. “Religion of the South is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,—a justifier of the most appalling barbarity,—a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds… [It is the] dark shelter under, which the foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find their strongest protection” (Douglas, 117). By conjuring the most abstruse interpretations of Christian teachings, they justify their actions thus allowing for their purposeful ignorance. During his bondage under Captain Auld, Frederick Douglas observes his master consoling “religious sanction for his cruelty” (Douglas, 98). When he relentlessly whips a lame young woman and then exhibits her lacerated nude body for countless hours, he justifies his bloody deed with the Scripture quote: “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes” (Douglas, 99). This girl’s supposed disobedience, however, actually proves to be helplessness, as she is impaired with the inefficacy of her hands which were burnt in a fire. Captain Auld finds religious vindications promoting his punishment of the girl’s inabilities while,

During the years of slavery, the population of black slaves usually outnumbered the white population. With that, the white population were paranoid about the slaves revolting and taking over, so they needed a way to control them. They usually controlled the slaves by scaring them into submission through the use of violence. In an excerpt from “The Life of John Thompson, a Fugitive Slave,”  a slave talked about how his master “MR. W. was a very cruel slave driver. He would whip unreasonably and without cause.” He goes on to further explain how his master would forced slaves to whip each other and that his kids were very amused by the this practice. In the sources six titled “Same Old Thing,” and seven titled “Freedom,” slaves were controlled through the use of religion.

In this article journal, Larry makes a “crucial distinction” between self-interested opposition to slaveholder power and moral opposition to slavery as an oppressive institution. He praised his contemporaries for restoring slavery to narratives of the sectional conflict but worried that “the impact of the new scholarship might prove more misleading than helpful.” Recognizing that antiracism and support for African American civil rights informed scholarly interpretations of Civil War causation, Larry warned:

How could slave owners justify their choice to hold other humans in bondage? What could make them do such a horrible thing? These questions are important and the answers are complex. Slave owners used many reasons to make their choices seem acceptable to society at large, and to themselves. The main reason behind this would be greed and power. In the 1800’s white men who owned plantations felt like they owned the world if they had five slaves, especially in the southern states. However, as the years wore on the black population increased no thanks to the lust of their masters. This brought up a big problem. The solution that they came up with was fear itself. If a slave tried to run away and was caught, he or she was severely punished or

My interpretation of the excerpt in relation to this week’s lesson, is that when we study historical events and atrocities we don’t seek to justify them in the sense of a modern context but attempt to understand the contextual justification of the time when they originally occurred. In order to progress we need to understand the underlying causes that lead to actions. Understanding and analyzing cause is an important factor in the prevention of repeating the actions of those before us.