I find it extremely interesting that during the reform movement against slavery the white people were trying to find a reason that slavery could be beneficial to the black culture. The view of the rich white man was very different than that of the slave I am quite sure. In reading George Fitzhugh’s and James Hammond’s arguments about the good points of slavery I was shocked by how much they seemed to really believe what they said (Fitzhugh, n.d.)(Hammond, 1858).
Fitzhugh especially seems very disillusioned as he states that the women “do little hard work, and are protected from the despotism of their husbands by their masters”. This we have found to be completely false as women were the primary field workers on the rice plantations and the women were often raped by the masters who felt the women were their property and could do with them as they wanted. In all actuality it was the negro men who could not protect their women from the white men (Foner, 2005).
Slave women’s lives had to be extremely difficult. They worked very hard often from before sunrise until long after sunset and not only were they being physically and sexually abused by their masters, but they were torn apart from their children as either punishment or simply for the master’s profit. The children were bought and sold like cattle and the women were expected to work hard and not show any remorse over this. If they showed any type of rebellion they would be beaten. Even though the women faced the threat of losing their families they still most often married in a ceremony called “jumping the broomstick” and attempted to have some peace and harmony in their family life when possible. These weddings were not honored by the white and the women lived in constant fear of the family being torn apart (Foner, 2005).
Fitzhugh describes a vision of the slaves working only when they want too and having time to sit around and lay in the sun, perfectly happy and content (Fitzhugh, n.d.). His vision is so far from what we know the truth to be today that you have to wonder if he really was delusional or just a complete lunatic. For the sake of argument, if the slaves were so happy in there confinement why did so many strive to be free? Why were so many families split up and why were they afforded no civil rights?
Hammond answers that question with a statement he makes at the end of his prose even though he intends it to be meant for the white slaves,
“If they knew the tremendous secret, that the ballot-box is stronger than "an army with banners," and could combine, where would you be? Your society would be reconstructed, your government overthrown, your property divided, not as they have mistakenly attempted to initiate such proceedings by meeting in parks, with arms in their hands, but by the quiet process of the ballot-box." (Hammond, 1858)
Hammond foresaw the power of the vote and was very aware that if any liberty was given to the people in our country that they could raise up and fight. I am not sure that he felt the slaves were actually capable of the intellectual strength to achieve this, but it had to be a question that was always under the surface even if it wasn’t spoken aloud, at least not in public.
It would seem there would be a general consensus in the United States at that time, even in the North, to want to believe this train of thought. The Northern States, even though they claimed to be liberated and against slavery, was profiting highly from the labor of the slaves in the south. The factories were bustling and the railroads and steam lines were growing astronomically (Foner, 2005). It is difficult to believe that the men that were getting rich from the processing of these goods would wish for their livelihood to come to an end.
I have to think that I have heard similar stories today in regards to the illegal Mexicans coming over the border. We get upset that they come over illegally yet I don’t see any white or black people lining up to go out and work in the fields. The majority of housekeepers and gardeners are Hispanic in my area and since they are often illegal they live in constant fear of deportation and have no say in the countries politics as they cannot vote. I don’t believe in illegal immigration myself, but I do think we should make it easier for people to come to our country and work here.
References
Fitzhugh, G. (n/d). George Fitzhugh advocates slavery. Retrieved from http://webct.dvc.edu/SCRIPT/HIST120_5183_FA11/scripts/student/serve_page.pl?1219012956+readings120_onlinea.htm+OFF+readings120_onlinea.htm
Foner, E. (2005). Give me liberty! An American history (2nd ed). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co.
Hammond, J. (1858). James Henry Hammond advocates slavery. Retrieved from http://webct.dvc.edu/SCRIPT/HIST120_5183_FA11/scripts/student/serve_page.pl?1219012956+readings120_onlinea.htm+OFF+readings120_onlinea.htm
