Slavery

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses ideas presented by the anti-slavery activist, Frederick Douglass, who wrote in active defense against Southern voices who defended slavery, like William Harper in "A Defense of Slavery" and Solon Robinson in "Blessings of Slavery". These writers saw it fit that inferior slaves work in bondage without a care for their own freedom. The paper examines how Southern slaveholders during the 19th century defended slavery by reasons of political, economic, moral, and social justification. Douglass's writings stressed the human, emotional, and moral costs of slavery.

From the Paper:

"According to conventional wisdom today, 'everyone' knows that slavery is wrong, a human atrocity. But what seems obvious to us today as a moral and inhuman atrocity was not nearly so obvious to the eyes of individuals living in the Southern United States of 19th century America. In fact, anti-slavery activists such as Frederick Douglass had to write in active defense against Southern voices who would defend slavery, like William Harper and Solon Robinson, who saw it fit that inferior slaves work in bondage without a care for his or her own freedom. Robinson said that there would be nothing worse for slaves in America to be free, because they could not cope with freedom-a charge dismissed by Douglass' attempts to learn to read and write, and Stowe's depiction of Uncle Tom."

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