Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I have nowords to bandy about him finding It unprofitable,selling out his slaves, finding it still unprofitableto him going in to break it up. I will maintain the ground that God always intendedthe relation of master and slave to exist; that Christ andthe early teachers of Christianity, found slavery differingin no material respect from American slavery, incorporatedinto every department of society, that slavery havingexisted ever since the first organization of society,it will exist to the end of time.”– Gov. The wheel of fortune is ever revolving, it is nota question of property, it is a question of white supremacy,of State Rights, of freedom from impertinent interferenceof liberty to manage our own affairs; and of duty toretain the trusts that God has given us.”– Unknown, “It occasions no cruelty to captives; on the contrary, it is tobe doubted whether any human institution can so mitigatethe barbarities of savage warfare. Masters darenot take the vote of slaves, as to their government.If they did, constant holiday, dissipation andextravagance would be the result.”– George Fitzhugh, “The child is imperfect, and therefore obviously his virtueis not relative to himself alone, but to the perfect manand to his teacher, and in like manner the virtueof the slave is relative to a master.”– Aristotle, “By what process of reasoning, then, can slavery beshown to be just? Slavery is but a form ofgovernment, and we have shewn it is the duty and practice of everyState to adopt the degree of control and form of government as nearas practicable to the capacity and necessity of each individual.”– George Fitzhugh, “The enlightened citizen of New York daily feels the operation of the laws ofthe Union, the laws of the State, and the laws of the corporation; he is probablya member of a church, a club, of a Masonic society, and of a board of trade-he iscontrolled in his conduct by the rules, regulations and laws of all these institutions;besides, he is the slave of fashion, and cannot, like the savage, dress and appearas he pleases: he has a wife and children to attend to and provide for, and all hisspare moments must be devoted to them. No; every moment has its appropriate duties, which he must slavishlyperform, or he is a disgraced man. The Pro-Slavery Argument. It is the only refuge the law allowsthem. This I freely admit, when the authority of their names is cited. — Henry Charles Carey. Let the young negro thank God forthe past days of slavery without which be would have beenleft In heathenism and would be going backwards Insteadof forward and Africa would have never been redeemed.”– G.W. If human governmentsare necessary to ensure human happiness and social order,there must be men to rule as well as subjects to be ruled;servants to obey, as well as masters to command.”– Unknown, “The negro must be governed, must have a master, the good ofboth races demand it. ISBN: 087805250X . They never take the vote ofthe family as to the labors to be performed, the moneysto be expended, or as to anything else. The conscience of civilization decides both the right tosummon the barbarian, and to hold him subject to itsdictates; to weigh the benefits to civilization againstthe evils resulting from the adoption of the elementof this super-animal force as an aid to civilization.Civilization deciding to take and hold the barbarian,it becomes right by the decision of the highest arbiter.”– T.W. The love of personal libertyand freedom from all restraint, are distinguishing traits of wild men andwild beasts. But Godhas authorized the practice of slavery, not onlyby bare permission of his providence, but by theexpress permission of his word.”– Samuel Dunwoody, “The master is only the master of the slave; he does not belongto him, whereas the slave is not only the slave of his master,but wholly belongs to him. As his Declaration of Independence Stands,it deserves the appropriate epithets.”– George Fitzhugh, “For a northern party to rise up demanding the rightsof white men for negroes, and usurping the commongovernment to enforce such a claim, is of necessitythe most stupendous crime ever attemptedby mortals since the world began.”– Dr. John H. Van Evrie, “Is there any good reason why men should not be allowed to sell theirliberty? Illuminating Anti- and Proslavery quotes from yesteryear to today, THE controversy on SLAVERY, in the United States, has been one of an exciting and complicated character. And verses that reinforced the institution of slavery, including "the most famous pro-slavery verse that many pro-slavery people would have cited," says Schmidt, were kept. Nothing butan approximation to the principle and practice of slavery throughout all theramifications of society can save civilized Christendom from social wreckand chaos. They have the right to the protection and care ofmasters, but the law denies them the exercise of that right in not permittingthem to hire or sell themselves. The law thus murders thousands annually,pretending all the while to guard and protect their rights.The army, the navy and the merchant service are filled withmen of this description. It may be tooearly to oppose a view which is held by so many.Indeed, one of my friends said to me recently;“I fear that our children will grow up to abhorof slavery and condemn us.” I have no such fear.If it was not wrong, history will not say so.”– H.M. Doak, “In every country where there is an approach to equalitybetween the races, it is in the degradation of the one, andnot the elevation of the other. What is it buta conglomoration of greasy mechanics, filthy operatives,small-fisted farmers, and moon-struck theorists? Man withoutgovernment, without order, without subordination, withoutreligion, without slavery in its every form, from theprison house, the straight jacket, the army, the navy,serfdom, up to the slavery of mere subjection to law,without all those restraints which his peculiar wantsand capacities required, was the cruellestand wildest beast of the field.”– George Fitzhugh, “As an individual, I am willing to adhere to the creed of myfathers; and, in accordance with what I deem the teachingsof that creed, I am a pro-slavery man. Does such a man enjoy one momentof liberty? 1800s Books Religion 1852 Christianity Harriet Beecher Stowe illustrations Mary Eastman Slavery Uncle Tom's Cabin Aunt Phillis’s Cabin, A Pro-Slavery Response to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) “The longest way must have its close - the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning” - Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin I assert that “American Slavery” is a blessing; ablessing to the master, a blessing to the non-slave-holders ofthe South, a blessing to the civilized white race in general,and a blessing to the negro slaves in particular.”– Gov. I believe it fully to accordwith the system of divine economy in the world, that the strongshould rule and protect the weak-else, why are they strong? The white people of the south are the bestmodels for Negro manhood and womanhood; follow theirexamples and you will make a mighty nation.”– W.H. The Americanlaborer goes from door to door begging people to givehim a chance to earn a meal, even enough to keep thespark of life in his almost naked body.”– G.C. That would be foolish,impious, ungrateful toward God. No institutionscan prevent the few from acquiring ruleand ascendency over the many.” – George Fitzhugh, “That some should rule and others be ruled is athing not only necessary, but expedient; fromthe hour of their birth, some are markedout for subjection, others for rule.”– Aristotle, “Slavery is the natural social order. The following quotes come from speeches made in the House and Senate during this time, taken from William Miller's book, Arguing About Slavery: John C. Calhoun , Senator from South Carolina: "The defence of human liberty against the aggressions of despotic power have been always the most efficient in States where domestic slavery was to prevail." Political despotisms will not suffice. If free laborers will use too much grog andtobacco, it proves they are not ripe for freedom.”– George Fitzhugh, “In the natural state war supports war by enslavingthe captured. The first generation reached maturity prior to the rise of abolitionism; the second group near the peak of the … It is an experiment. Humanity is moving towards a doctrine of egalitarianism, The goal of this website is to articulate a modern, pro-slavery point of view while honoring, and presenting ancient, and antebellum pro-slavery arguments, and pro-slavery perspectives. Not till cotton hadremoved the scales from their eyes did theyrealize the divine goodness of slavery.”– Unknown, “Liberty took her flight when land became property.”– George Fitzhugh, “Slave labor, black or white, is right. On thecontrary, I believe it to be the greatest of all the greatblessings which a kind Providence has bestowed uponour glorious region. The free citizen fulfills, “con amore,” his round of social,political and domestic duties, and never dreams that the Law, withits fines and jails, penitentiaries and halters, or Public Opinion,with its ostracism, its mobs, and its tar and feathers, help tokeep him revolving in his orbit. In the caption for the July 1836 image these depictions of slavery are referred to (quoting a pro-slavery critic of the tactic) as "Incendiary Pictures." Here you’ll find pro-slavery music, literature, poems, & much more. The very term, government, implies that it is carriedon against the consent of the governed.”– George Fitzhugh, “Fathers do not derive their authority, as heads of families,from the consent of wife and children, nor do they governtheir families by their consent. Those governmentsoriginated in force, and have been continued by force. As illustrated by some of quotations above, proslavery writers typically appealed to some version of utilitarianism, maintaining that slavery serves a greater social good—that it tends to promote the “public weal” (Thompson) and “happiness on the whole,” (Parsons), And lest they concede that the freedom of some should be sacrificed for the welfare of others, many of the defenders of slavery maintained that even slaves … This would be a great threat to democracy, the economy, the government, and the society in general. Under the freeor competitive system, most men’s happiness consistsin destroying the happiness of other people.This, then, is no inalienable right.”– George Fitzhugh, “Human experience shows the universal success of slavesociety, and the universal failure of free society. What a wise and beneficent provision of Heaven, that makesthe selfishness of man’s nature a protecting agis to shield anddefend wife and children, slaves and even dumb animals.”– George Fitzhugh, “If slavery be a sin, it is not yours. Let me distinctlypromise, that I do not dream of affecting the pervertedjudgments of the great anti-slavery party which nowrules, the hour. This started the newworld on the right foundation. All government is slavery. Hence, no two nations canbe governed alike, nor can any one nation be governedsuccessfully without frequent changes in its laws andinstitutions. Despite the mawkish sensibilityof the age, practical men are, without the aid of immediate revelation, pursuing thesame course; they slay the Indians hip and thigh, as in the days of Moses andJoshua, and enslave the negroes. Those who were fitted for liberty would not sell it,or if in some moment of misfortune they did, theywould buy that liberty again by the exerciseof great economy and industry.”– George Fitzhugh, “I hold that in the present state of civilization, wheretwo races of different origin, and distinguished by color,and other physical differences, as well as intellectual,are brought together, the relation now existing in theslaveholding States between the two, is, insteadof an evil, a good-a positive good.”– John C. Calhoun, “The submission to rule, the deprivation of liberty, isthe distinguishing trait of all tame or civilized animals;whilst the inordinate love of liberty, and the readiness tosacrifice everything else in order to enjoy it, is the leadingcharacteristic of wild races of animals, men included.”– George Fitzhugh, “I know it has proven more a blessing than a curse becausethrough slavery the negro got his knowledge of agriculture,the leading occupation of the world upon which all othersdepend. Hence we see what is the natureand office of a slave; he who is by nature not his ownbut another’s man, is by nature a slave.”– Aristotle, “Free society and slave society, so opposite in their characters,cannot both be natural and rightful. Now, slavery is the onlything in the world that can enforce temperance. It will be observedthat this view of the subject justifies, not onlythe perpetuation, but the inception of slavery.”– T.W. This is the sole object of government.”– George Fitzhugh, “The state is made up of households, before speaking of thestate we must speak of the management of the household.The parts of household management correspond to thepersons who compose the household, and a completehousehold consists of slaves and freemen. I do not think that,that has anything to do with the matter. The wrong is, that the African is a barbarian,and devours his kind; the right is, that in his service dueand rendered to civilization, he receives its protection,and is compelled to forego the, to him, exquisitepleasure of devouring his kind. The littleexperiment of free society in Western Europe has been,from the beginning, a cruel failure, and symptoms offailure are abundant in our North. With an argument that was as much a critique of industrialism as it was a defense of slavery, Southern spokesmen contended that chattel slavery, as it was practiced in the American South, was more humane than the system of “wage slavery” that prevailed in the industrial North and Great Britain. Free society, in its variousforms of insurance, in its odd-fellow and temperance societies, inits social and communistic establishments, and in ten thousandother ways, is vainly attempting to attain this never-failing protective,care-taking and supporting feature of slavery. We sicken of the name. When we have done this, thenhave we found the true measure of our civil liberty.”– David Quinn, 1866, “Domestic slavery contributes to form and preserve thechivalrous and high-minded character of our people, andgives to the African race, domesticated among us,Christianity, civilization, and peace.”– Unknown, “Slavery is an established and inevitable condition to humansociety. If then, the condition of theAfrican Slave would be rendered worse by liberation, why thismad crusade against African Slavery? No actor ofthat side will ever think otherwise. One of the most vehement voices in the anti-abolitionist debate was the newspaper the Cincinnati Post and Anti-Abolitionist. Now neither sheep nor any otheranimals can live without a shepherd, nor can children beleft without tutors, or slaves without masters.”– Plato, “The great object of government is to restrict, controland punish man “in the pursuit of happiness.”– George Fitzhugh, “Barbarity is not humanity, but its opposite, and the right ofthe one to control the other is supported by law, foundedupon the immutable principles of justice.”– T.W. Of all rules it is the mostunnatural, irrational, incapable and degrading.That it does not utterly destroy is because itis overruled by the universal law, that themasses are always led by the few.”– Unknown, “It is the duty of society to protect the weak;”but protection cannot be efficient without thepower of control; therefore, “It is the duty ofsociety to enslave the weak.”– George Fitzhugh, “When the day breaks, the time has arrived for youth to goto their schoolmasters. Andwhy is this, except upon the supposition that the bestshould govern? The slavetrade has been the greatest sourceof permanent blessing to him.”– Jefferson Davis, “The abolition notion of the incompatibility of slaverywith equal natural rights, and with natural liberty asone of lthose rights, is an error. More lawand government is needed in time of war than peace. The very things necessary to the overthrow of American slavery, were left undone, Should the immediate Abolitionists ever succeed, Slavery is the great test question of our age and nation. Understanding. Yet it was profitable to the godliness ofthe masters, and the African slave trade was the onlytruly successful foreign missionary enterprisethat was ever undertaken.”– Unknown, “The conscience of civilization is the tribunal at whichto try barbarism, as well as every other grade of inferiorsubjective existence. Sheis his property and his slave.”– George Fitzhugh, “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, culminated when theGoddess of Reason usurped the seat and the sceptre ofDeity, and sent forth her high priests, Banton, Marat,St. Is it not a curtailment ofliberty to deny the right? I hope not. Slavery is eminentlyscriptural. Selected Writings of Henry Hughes antebellum, Southerner, Slavocrat, Sociologist by Henry Hughes. Wife and children, although notfree, are relieved from care and anxiety, supported andprotected, and their situation is as happy and desirableas that of the husband and parent. Most of the images dramatized the evils of slavery, from the desperate mother who killed her infants rather than lose them down the river to the slave shot by his master to recurring scenes of whipping. Pro-Slavery Argument The main issue in America politics during the years of the late 1840’s to the late 1870’s was slavery. At the time of Christ slavery was the norm much as it is today, in fact there is more slavery today than at anytime in human history. He prepared your country for a greatpurpose, brought it forth at the proper period of time, and madeit the joint recepticle of two great species of the genus man—theone a race of masters, the other a race of subordinates or slaves.”– David Quinn, 1866, “There never can be a perfect and permanent written constitutionof government, for all such constitutions assume to have masteredthe science of government, and to contain a truthful and perfectprogramme of national conduct for future times. Benjamin Lay, a. Slavery did not only make the negro a agriculturist,the occupation for which he was born, but it gives us accessto the intelligence of the world. Barbarians and savages need and will submit to butfew and simple laws, and little of government. But the South wanted to keep slaves because more than four million African-American slaves worked in the huge plantation fields there. I answer, that itis right that barbarism should subserve civilization.I assert that barbarism is wrong, and civilization isright; that the former conduces to the miseryand the latter to the happiness of mankind.”– T.W. The soldiers andsailors of the revolution had aliened both liberty and life, thewives in all America had aliened their liberty, so had theapprentices and wards at the very moment this verbose,new-born, false and unmeaning preamble was written.”– George Fitzhugh, “The fact is, if man in the social state necessarily surrendersa portion of his individual rights, in order to obtain greatersecurity and protection for the remainder, then the best formof human government is not that which is the most lax, or whichexercises the least restraint upon the governed, or, in otherwords, which offers the most freedom, but the one that securesas much as is consistent with the actual circumstances of thecase, in short, the one which most exactly adapts and proportionsthe amount of surrendered freedom, to the neededamount of security, and protection.”– Unknown, “The negro slavery was a blessing to what we enjoy today.He had a price, was worth 1000$ or 2000$ and had to beclothed and fed. 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