Throughout the old ages before the Civil War. people from the North and South argued about the establishment of bondage. Blacks wanted to be recognized as worlds and wanted to hold the rights that were given to the Whites. Others saw slavery as a manner of life and thought that slaves were content under the conditions forced upon them. John C. Calhoun and George Fitzhugh make strong. rational statements supporting bondage. but Fredrick Douglass and William Craft supply a compelling challenge to these pro-slavery statements.
In Calhoun’s essay. “A Defense of Slavery. ” written in 1837. he states that bondage is the manner of life for people. and if it is abolished. society will be destroyed. Calhoun thinks that slaves are happier and better away because of Whites and the system of bondage. He says. “there ne’er has yet existed a wealthy and civilised society in which one part of the community did non. in point of fact. populate on the labour of the other. ” Therefore. Calhoun believes that bondage should be left entirely. Calhoun points out that there’s no struggle between labour and capital because of the establishment of bondage. He believes that a stable society is based on this system. and should go on asseverating the “existing dealingss between” Whites and inkinesss.
George Fitzhugh. who wrote “Cannibals All! Or Slaves Without Masters” in 1857. agrees with Calhoun’s pro-slavery positions. and goes on to state that white slaves. or apprenticed retainers. suffered worse conditions than black slaves. Fitzhugh demonstrates his belief by demoing the differences in life styles between white apprenticed retainers and black slaves. When white slaves are done with their work for their Masterss. they are free. but they have to travel place and take attention of their households and families. A white slave’s employer is genuinely free. and uses the slaves difficult work for his ain net income. Fitzhugh believes that the black slave is besides free. When their labour is done. they are provided with nutrient. array. house. fuel. and everything else them or their households needed. When black slaves are done with their work. the work for the maestro begins. White bondage is more profitable. yet they still are non cared for by their employers. Fitzhugh believes that slave holders of black slaves work hard for their slaves to be taken attention of. and slaves should be appreciative.
Fredrick Douglass gives a first-hand description of the abomination of bondage in “Fredrick Douglass’ Description of Life on the Plantation ( 1845 ) . ” He tells us that if a slave ran off. or committed a misdemeanour. he would be whipped. beaten and sold as an illustration or warning to the slaves staying. The slaves got little allowances for their difficult work. They were given monthly allowances of porc or fish and Indian meal. a brace of pants. a shirt. a jacket. stockings and a brace of places. All of this “could non hold cost more than seven dollars. ” Children who didn’t work in the field were given merely two unsmooth shirts per twelvemonth. Some kids. of both sexes. would be seen naked at all seasons of the twelvemonth. Many would acquire ill and die under these conditions. None of the slaves were given beds. Everyone. old and immature. male and female. married and individual “shared a common bed. – the cold. moist floor. ” Some superintendents of the farms were barbarous and profane. and took pleasance in floging slaves. Some were less barbarous. but still whipped their slaves. Douglass describes the slaves wild vocals and music as a testimony against the establishment of bondage. and a supplication for God to liberate them. After hearing these vocals. he genuinely felt the hurting of the dehumanising character of bondage. When Douglass went to the North and heard that Whites thought the vocals showed how happy and content the inkinesss were. Douglass was astonished. Peoples in the North were incorrect ; bondage was seen by Douglass as an animalistic. barbarous establishment that should hold ne’er been legal.
William Craft. writer of “Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom. ” was a popular emancipationist who escaped the inhumanenesss of bondage. Craft lived under the establishment of bondage and gives a position of the inhuman treatment and ferociousness of the pattern.
Slave holders would interrupt up households. and sell hubby and married woman to different people at different times. Slaves were haunted with the fright theat their new born babe would be taken off and sold. There was nil a slave could make to avoid the hurting of losing a love or household member.
William Craft sites a few statements against slavery right out of the bible. “God made fo one blood all states of work forces. ” so all work forces should be treated every bit and reasonably. Craft believes that “God is merely. and will non allow the oppressor of the weak and the spoiler of the virtuous flight unpunished here and hereinafter. ” God knows that America is non “the land of the free and the place of the brave” by seeing the intervention and captivity of inkinesss. Craft sites the 23rd chapter field-grade officer Deuteronomy. 15th and 16th poetries. which says. “thou shalt non present unto his maestro the retainer which is escaped from his maestro unto thee. ” If slave-holders are good Christians. they would recognize they are moving against God’s will by maintaining slaves in bondage.
Another statement Trade brought up is that slave-holders do non follow the Torahs of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence says. “We hold these truths to be axiomatic. that all work forces are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Godhead with certain unalienable rights. that among these are life. autonomy. and the chase of felicity. ” The Declaration of Independence was written by white slave-holders and land proprietors ; the work forces who wrote it don’t even follow it. Under the Torahs in the Georgia Constitution. a slave can be killed by accident in giving moderate rectification. This reasonably much implies that Whites could acquire away with slaying. Craft contradicts Fitzhugh’s thought that inkinesss are free. and Whites must work for nil. by stating that black slaves had to give up all their difficult earning to autocrats. They couldn’t have any belongings or money. Blacks could ne’er be United States citizens or have any rights that Whites have to esteem. In other words. colza. robbery and slaying were non offenses if committed by a white individual on a black individual. The Declaration of Independence should hold said all white work forces are created equal. Trade believes that the United States should be ashamed of the manner they dehumanized inkinesss.
Many people in the South believed that it was a barbarous thing to turn inkinesss free without a maestro to take attention of them. but Craft makes the point that several slaves who were emancipated got along good. Craft besides points out that there are good and bad people of all colourss. so slavery is based on racism and the white’s feelings of high quality over inkinesss. Craft made a batch of strong statements against bondage. while still go forthing out a batch of the inhuman treatments that took topographic point during his captivity. He made a clear. logical statement against the pro-slavery propaganda.
The well-known pro-slavery advocators. John C. Calhoun and George Fitzhugh. do of import statements for the establishment of bondage. Fredrick Douglass and William Craft. who both have first-hand experience of captivity. depict the atrocious life they endured and their frights of get awaying. These anti-slavery narrations contradict the two pro-slavery paperss and supply a vision of how nescient white people were during this clip. and how barbarous inkinesss were treated.
