An Excerpt from "Slavery in the Light of Social Ethics," by Chancelor Harper,
printed in Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments: Comprising the Writings of
Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartwright, on This
Important Subject, E.N. Elliott, ed. (Augusta, GA: Pritchard, Abbott & Loomis, 1860):
The first and most obvious effect [of abolition], would be to put an end to the
cultivation of our great Southern staple[s of cotton and rice]. … And what would be
the effect of putting an end to the cultivation of these staples, and thus annihilating, at
a blow, two-thirds or three-fourths of our foreign commerce? Can any sane mind
contemplate such a result without terror? I speak not of the utter poverty and misery
to which we ourselves [southerners] would be reduced, and the desolation which
would overspread our own portion of the country. Our slavery has not only given
existence to millions of slaves within our own territories, it has given the means of
subsistence, and therefore, existence, to millions of freemen in our confederate
States1; enabling them to send forth their swarms to overspread the plains and forests
of the West, and appear as the harbingers2 of civilization. The products of the
industry of those [Northern] States are in general similar to those of the civilized
world3, and are little demanded in their markets. By exchanging them for ours, which
are everywhere sought for, the people of these States are enabled to acquire all the
products of art and industry, all that contributes to convenience or luxury, or gratifies
the taste of the intellect, which the rest of the world can supply. Not only on our own
continent, but on the other, it [slavery] has given existence to hundreds of thousands,
and the means of comfortable subsistence to millions. A distinguished citizen of our
own State… has lately stated that our great staple, cotton, has contributed more than
anything else of later times to the progress of civilization. By enabling the poor to
obtain cheap and becoming clothing, it has inspired a taste for comfort, the first
stimulus to civilization. Does not self-defense, then, demand of us steadily to resist
the abrogation4 of that which is productive of so much good? It is more than self-
defense. It is to defend millions of human beings, who are far removed from us, from
the intensest suffering, if not from being struck out of existence. It is the defense of
human civilization.
1
our confederate States – the northern states (he’s writing before the Civil War and using the phrase “confederate States”
to mean “fellow states” in the North.
2
harbingers – early signs
3
the civilized world - Europe
4
abrogation – abolition
An Excerpt from William John Grayson's The Hireling and the Slave, 2nd edition
(Charleston: John Russell, 1855)
Slavery is the negro system of labour. He is lazy and improvident. Slavery
makes all work, and it ensures homes, food and clothing for all. It permits no
ideless, and it provides for sickness, infancy and old age … I do not say that
Slavery is the best system of labour, but only that it is the best, for the negro, in
this country. In a nation composed of the same race or similar races, where the
labourer is intelligent, industrious and provident, money wages may be better
than subsistence. Even under all advantages, there are great defects in the
hireling labour system5, for which, hitherto, no Statesman has discovered an
adequate remedy. In hireling States [the North] there are thousands of idlers,
trampers, poachers, smugglers, drunkards and thieves, who make theft a
profession. There are thousands who suffer for want of food and clothing, from
inability to obtain them. For these two classes--those who will not work, and
those who cannot--there is no sufficient provision.
Among slaves there are no trampers, idlers, smugglers, poachers, and none
suffer from want. Every one is made to work, and no one is permitted to starve.
Slavery does for the negro what European schemers6 in vain attempt to do for
the hireling. … The master is a Commissioner of the Poor, on every plantation,
to provide food, clothing, medicine, houses, for his people. He is a police
officer to prevent idleness, drunkenness, theft, or disorder. I do not mean by
formal appointment of law, but by virtue of his relation to his slaves. There is,
therefore, no starvation among slaves. There are, comparatively, few crimes.
…
5
hireling labour system – the Northern free labor system
6
European schemers – social reformers
“The Universal Law of Slavery”an excerpt from the book, Cannibals All! (1857) by George
Fitzhugh
We would remind those who deprecate7 … negro slavery, that his slavery
here relieves him from a far more cruel slavery in Africa, or from idolatry
and cannibalism, and every brutal vice and crime that can disgrace humanity;
and that it Christianizes, protects, supports and civilizes him.
7
deprecate – to strongly disapprove of
“The Universal Law of Slavery”an excerpt from the book, Cannibals All! (1857) by George
Fitzhugh
A common charge preferred8 against slavery is, that it induces
idleness with the masters. The trouble, care and labor, of providing
for wife, children and slaves, and of properly governing and
administering the whole affairs of the farm, is usually borne on small
estates by the master. On larger ones, he is aided by an overseer or
manager. If they do their duty, their time is fully occupied. If they do
not, the estate goes to ruin. … The rich men, in free society [like the
Northern states], may, if they please, lounge about town, visit clubs,
attend the theatre, and have no other trouble than that of collecting
rents, interest and dividends of stock. In a well constituted slave
society, there should be no idlers. … The master labors for the slave,
they exchange industrial value. But the [Northern] capitalist, living
on his income, gives nothing to his subjects. He lives by mere
exploitations.
8
preferred – leveled against
Professor Thomas R. Dew, and excerpt from, The Pro-Slavery Argument: As Maintained by the
Most Distinguished Writers of the Southern States, Containing the Several Essays, on the Subject,
of Chancellor Harper, Governor Hammond, Dr. Simms, and Professor Dew (Charleston: Walker,
Richards, 1852)
… With regard to the assertion that slavery is against the spirit of
Christianity, we are ready to admit the general assertion, but deny most
positively that there is anything in the Old or New Testament which would
go to show that slavery, when once introduced, ought at all events to be
abrogated9, or that the master commits any offense in holding slaves. The
children of Israel themselves were slaveholders and were not condemned for
it. All the patriarchs themselves were slaveholders; Abraham had more than
three hundred, Isaac had a "great store" of them; and even the patient and
meek Job himself had "a very great household." When the children of Israel
conquered the land of Canaan, they made one whole tribe "hewers of wood
and drawers of water," and they were at that very time under the special
guidance of Jehovah10...
When we turn to the New Testament, we find not one single passage at all
calculated to disturb the conscience of an honest slaveholder. No one can
read it without seeing and admiring that the meek and humble Saviour of the
world in no instance meddled with the established institutions of mankind ...
He was born in the Roman world, a world in which the most galling slavery
existed, a thousand times more cruel than the slavery in our own country; and
yet he nowhere encourages insurrection, he nowhere fosters discontent; but
exhorts always to implicit obedience and fidelity.
9
abrogated - ended
10
Jehovah - God
Professor Thomas R. Dew, and excerpt from, The Pro-Slavery Argument: As Maintained by the
Most Distinguished Writers of the Southern States, Containing the Several Essays, on the Subject,
of Chancellor Harper, Governor Hammond, Dr. Simms, and Professor Dew (Charleston: Walker,
Richards, 1852)
It has been contended that slavery is unfavorable to a republican spirit; but
the whole history of the world proves that this is far from being the case. In
the ancient republics of Greece and Rome, where the spirit of liberty
glowed with the most intensity, the slaves were more numerous than the
freemen. Aristotle and the great men of antiquity believed slavery
necessary to keep alive the spirit of freedom. … In modern times, too,
liberty has always been more ardently desired by slaveholding
communities
. . . The menial and low offices11 being all performed by the blacks, there is
at once taken away the greatest cause of distinction and separation of the
ranks of [white] society. The man to the north will not shake hands
familiarly with his [white] servant, and converse and laugh and dine with
him, no matter how honest and respectable he may be. But go to the south,
and you will find that no white man feels such inferiority of rank as to be
unworthy of association with those around him. Color alone here is the
badge of distinction, the true mark of aristocracy, and all who are white are
equal in spite of the variety of occupation. . . . And it is this spirit of
equality which is both the generator and preserver of the genuine spirit of
liberty.
11
offices - jobs
Excerpts from The Rights and Duties of Slaveholders: Two Discourses Delivered on
Sunday, November 27, 1836, in Christ Church, Raleigh, North-Carolina, By George
W. Freeman, (Charleston: A.E. Miller, Printer to The Protestant Episcopal Society for the Advancement of
Christianity in South-Carolina, 1837):
… Slavery, it appears, is of great antiquity. It has existed in the world, in some
form or other, even from the times immediately following, if not before the flood.12
… Subordination in society existed everywhere. Servitude was recognized as a
necessary condition, and patiently, if not cheerfully, submitted to, in every variety
of form.
Such were the nature and extent of slavery in the world, when our Saviour
appeared, to proclaim "peace on earth, and good will to men"--to preach the glad
tidings of salvation to a ruined world--to redeem us from sin and everlasting death,
and to "open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers." And how did he regard it?
What had he to say of this institution, as he found it existing among the people he
came to save? Did he condemn it as anti-scriptural and unjust? Did he enjoin13 on
his disciples an immediate emancipation of their slaves? Did he so much as caution
his followers against purchasing them in the future? Not a word, disapproving the
practice, ever fell from his lips. As a settled civil institution of the Empire, he
meddled not with it, of course--for his "kingdom", as he declared "was not of this
world." He came not to remodel the governments--he came not to reform the civil
institutions of the world--he came "to seek and to save that which was lost." But in
the course of his ministry, he must have come in contact with many individuals
who were holders of slaves; and surely, had he regarded them as living in the
habitual commission of a 'moral wrong,' he would scarcely have forborne,14 on
some occasion, to express his indignation. And did he never rebuke them for
holding their fellow-men in bondage? Did he never give them to understand that, if
they would be his disciples, they must set their slaves at liberty? No, Brethren,
nothing of the kind occurs in his whole history. On the contrary, it appears that he
habitually inclined to discountenance the dissevering15 of those ties which he found
binding society together. He sought to reform the hearts and lives of men, and to fit
them for Heaven; not to change their relative condition on earth. Indeed, so far
was he from anathematizing16 those who were owners of slaves, it seems he once
passed a very high encomium17 on one of this class--on a Heathen Slave-holder! Of
the Centurion--an officer in the Roman army--who applied to him on behalf of a
sick servant, upon his declining the honor of a personal visit from our Lord, and
arguing, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof; but speak
the word only, and my servant (slave) shall be healed… Jesus "said … verily I say
unto you, I have not found so great faith; no, not in Israel.
12
the flood – the flood in the story of Noah’s ark
13
enjoin - demand
14
scarcely have forborne – would not have hesitated
15
discountenance the dissevering – disapprove of breaking
16
anathematizing - condemning
17
encomium - praise
An Excerpt from: Richard H. Colfax's Evidence Against the Views of the
Abolitionists, Consisting of Physical and Moral Proofs, of the Natural Inferiority of
the Negroes (New York: James T. M. Bleakley Publishers, 1833)
… [The negro’s] chin [is] retreating,--his forehead low, flat and slanting, and (as a
consequence of this latter character,) his eyeballs are very prominent,--apparently larger
than those of white men;--all of these peculiarities at the same time contributing to reduce
his facial angle18 almost to a level with that of the brute--Can any such man become great
or elevated?--the history of the Africans will give a decisive answer. Even the ancients
were fully aware of this kind of mutual coincidence, between the facial angle, and the
powers of the mind: consequently, in their statues of heroes and philosophers, they
usually extended the angle to 90 degrees,--making that of the Gods to be 100: beyond
which, it cannot be enlarged without deformity. Modern anatomists have fixed the
average facial angle of the European at 80--negro 70,--ourang outang 58--all brutes
below 70, the average angle of quadrupeds being about 20 …
If then it is consistent with science, to believe that the mind will be great in proportion to
the size and figure of the brain: it is equally reasonable to suppose, that the acknowledged
meanness19 of the negroe's intellect, only coincides with the shape of his head; or in other
words, that his want of capability to receive a complicated education renders it improper
and impolitic, that he should be allowed the privileges of citizenship in an enlightened
country! It is in vain for the Amalgamationists20 to tell us that the negroes have had no
opportunity to improve, or have had less opportunities than European nations; the public
are well aware that three or four thousand years could not have passed away, without
throwing advantages in the way of the Africans; yet in all this time, with every advantage
that liberty, and their proximity to refined nations could bestow, they have never even
attempted to raise themselves above their present equivocal station, in the great zoological
chain.
18
his facial angle – the angle from the chin to the forehead
19
meanness – small size
20
Amalgamationists – a negative term for abolitionists that suggested they were in favor of interracial marriage (i.e.,
amalgamation) – a very controversial idea at the time.