The proslavery argument Flashcards
Proslavery argument arose in the antebellum south
As a reaction to abolitionist movements in the north
George Fitzhugh
Contemporary social theorist
Wrote racist and slavery based social theories
View that the African American was
Less than the white American
Helped the slavery argument
Fitzhugh suggested
The African American was “but a grown up child”
The Curse of Cham
Biblical illusion
Cham’s sons would be the servant or servants (meaning slaves)
5 major components to proslavery argument
Christianity
History
Racial inferiority
Work
Cotton and the west
Christianity argument
Slaves as heathens but slaveholders brought them to Christianity
Taught the slaves to accept their position
Many slaves read the bible/interpreted it for themselves
Historical argument
Slavery had always existed (e.g existed in Ancient Greece)
New world slavery was about profit
Racial inferiority argument
Africans and their descendants had less deficient brains
George Fitzhugh’s work supported this
Work argument
Poor conditions of northern industrial workers
Free labour was not so free
South argued they were better than the north
Anti-capitalist
Cotton and the west argument
Slavery supporters argued the west was a symbol of the future
Needed cotton to expand into the west - needed someone to pick it
Cotton was necessary for human civilisation progression
Can’t have progress without cotton; can’t have cotton without slavery
Economic argument
The sudden end to slavery would kill the south
Their economy relied on the slave
Differences in views between
North and South
North moving towards a modern world view
South remained tied
To older social order
Hierarchy
Not different opinions on slavery
2 different ways of looking at life
Outlooks bound to clash - slaveholders were aware of this
