Justifications for Slavery

Justifications for Slavery

God, in the Bible permits the owning of slaves and gives specific instructions for purchasing a slave (Exodus 21:1-4). According to the bible, humanity is allowed to own slaves. This provided the backbone for the popular conception of a racial-based slave system. In addition, the success of tobacco planting led to African Slavery being legalized in Virginia and Maryland. This became the foundation of the Southern agrarian economy. Although the number of African American slaves grew slowly at first, by the 1680s they had become essential to the economy of Virginia. Slavery proved to be a valuable principle for a demanding economy. Production rates increased, the price of labor was at an all time low, and profits were gradually growing. As time progresses, more and more men are abusing the privileges of slavery. This racial-based slave system was increasingly vulnerable to being exploited. Thomas Jefferson, William John Grayson, John Wesley, and Richard Watson were a few of many prominent slaveholders, whom, proven through various publishing, were defenders of slavery. False statements regarding African American's ability to comprehend: bonds of family and friendship, mathematics, literature, and Art were stated in attempt to justify the restrictions, inhumane conditions, and irresponsibility implicated upon them. Through Frederick Douglass and his Publication of Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, he contributed to the raise of the undeniable truth regarding an African American's potential to learn, read, write, think, and create on a higher level.

Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia poses Jefferson's observations and prejudices about the character, intelligence, and physical attributes of blacks.

In this piece, he states "They are more ardent after their female: but love seems with them to be more an eager desire, than a tender delicate mixture of sentiment and sensation." His view of African Americans not having the ability to love is contradicted by Fredrick Douglass's marriage to Anna Murray, a free black woman from Baltimore. This marriage is a symbol of a bond between two people, and signifies love and affection toward each other. Therefore Jefferson's statement is nullified. By Douglass assuming that it is the custom intended to break the natural bond between mother and child, he demonstrate his ability comprehend love and affection in this natural bond. He recalls only seeing his mother on the rare occasions, when she could walk twelve miles after dark to lie next to him at night. A mother that is willing to surfer hardships such as fatigue and severe exhaustion after a long day of labor to be with her child, undeviatingly know the inexplicable concepts of love and affection.

Thomas Jefferson statement "Comparing them by their faculties of memory, reason, and imagination, it appears to me, that in memory they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior, as think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid; and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous" is illogical. The fact that Frederick Douglass has successfully planned and executed his escape from his oppressors alone voids Jefferson's claim. His book is written in such a way that is not subjective to his northern readers, through flawless use of diction and syntax. This achievement further tramples Jefferson's fictitious argument. Above all, Douglass is able to comprehend the abstract idea of freedom, and produces connections between his situation and that of Patrick Henry. A slave who demonstrates the ability to think, comprehend, and reason is certainty superior in imagination, and reason. Fredrick's actions imply that African Americans are able to comprehend the investigations of Euclid; and that in imagination they are insightful, tasteful, and normal.

An Excerpt from William John Grayson's The Hireling and the Slave, second edition (Charleston: John Russell, 1855) is another decisive example of false assertion upon the African race. In this piece, William's proclamation, "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," suggest that African Americans are untamed and wild unless they are nurtured and disciplined in the form of slavery. Again Frederick Douglass contradicts this assumption by depicting the events after his miraculous escape. According to his narrative, he worked for three years in miscellaneous jobs at the docks in New Bedford. After several months, he earns enough money to subscribe to the Liberator, an abolitionist magazine. In August 1841, Douglass attends an antislavery convention in Nantucket and is urged to speak