Iman Ahmed

11/28/2014

Documented Research Essay: Slavery In The Eyes Of Its Defenders

"I shall never forget that night. Never before, in my life, had I heard hundreds of blows

fall, in succession, on a human being. His piteous groans, and his 'O, pray don't, massa,' rang in

my ear for months afterwards." Harriet Jacobs describes in her autobiography, Incidents in the

Life of a Slave Girl (1861), the most common punishment for ninteenth- century Southern

American slaves: a whipping. Other ghastly forms of punishment existed, were practiced and

approved. America hosted the largest population of slaves on this side of the world, yet claimed

to have been founded upon the ideals of liberty, equality, and freedom. This contradiction in

values was justified as a better means to equality, allowable in other countries, preordained in the

Bible, and necessary for social peace.

Equality in America, "all men are created equal", is defined today to include men and

women of all races, ablities (or disabilities), ages, sizes and sexualities. Historian Edmund

Moran, however, found that black slavery was the basis for white freedom and equality. The

degradation of enslaved African Americans dissolved class divisions; lower- class whites could

take pride in their skin color and use it to feel 'equal' to aristocratic, wealthy, and powerful white

men. David Brion Davis summarizes, in his book, Inhuman Bondage (2006), this effect of

slavery as "the most extreme instance of inequality... [thus helping] make other relationships

seem relatively equal."

Even Morris Birkbeck, an English immigrant in 1818, realized the extreme cruelty in

slavery. Here, he describes a slave woman and her two children's sale: "I could hardly bear to see
them handled and examined like cattle; and when I heard their sobs, and saw the big tears roll

down their cheeks at the thought of being seperated, I could not refrain from weeping with

them." Not all Englishmen shared Brikbeck's sentiments. Although England had banned its own

slave trade in 1808, private British firms still supplied ships, manacles, insurance, chains and

goods to both legal and illegal slave traders. Defenders of slavery pointed this out as further

support for the condoning of slavery.

Some arguments weren't of ninteenth century origin; in fact, they were much older. In the

Old Testament, Noah's son, Ham, sins when he "saw his father's nakedness and told his two

brothers outide." As punishment, Noah curses Ham's son: "Cursed be Canaan; the lowest of

slaves shall be to his brothers [and their descendants]." The 'Curse of Ham' was used as biblical

support of Southern Americans' claim that slavery could control mankind's inclination to do evil

and sin.

This idea that slavery can be used as a restraint on evil is further illustrated by a

prominent agricultural reformer: "the excess of his [Negro's] animality are kept in restraint and

he is compelled to lead an industrious, sober life, and certainly a more happy one than he would

if he was left to the free indulgences of his indolent savage nature." Abolitionists tried to counter

this but were quickly silenced when Nat Turner led a slave revolt in 1831, killing 60 whites,

mainly women and children. Even non-slaveholders agreed that slavery was beneficial in

maintaining social order, peace, and safety by preventing the disastrous possibility of blacks

running wild.

Southern American slave owners justified the horrors of slavery with its establishment of

equality between white socioeconomical classes, approval from private British firms, and
maintaining social peace by restraining the inherent evil within man, evident from the 'Curse of

Ham.' Their argument became so convincing that even non- slave owners rallied behind pro-

slavery leaders, and prepared to give up their lives in the Civil War. Unfortunately, they refused

to accept that no matter the justification, people should not be used as property.