George Fitzhugh on the Blessings of Slavery

Artifact #2

The Blessings of Slavery Read pg. 29-30 and Chapter XXI (pg. 294-299)

The author of this text, "Cannibals All! Or, Slaves Without Masters." was George Fitzhugh, who wrote and published it in 1857. His main message in this work was that the institution of slavery is not only a useful practice, but it is a necessary and good practice that must be continued. Fitzhugh's main audience was foremost those who were on the fence about whether to support slavery or abolition, and through his defense, he sought to sway opinions to favor "negro slavery." As a source of information on the thought process behind the defense of slavery, Fitzhugh is definitely valuable. He gives an incredibly detailed outline of the reasons for why slavery should continue and even downplays how negative of a practice it actually is. In terms of credibility on the subject of slavery, however, Fitzhugh is neither credible nor accurate. Every description he provides waters down how enslaved African Americans were actually treated because he wants to encourage its continuation. If he were actually honest about the livelihoods of enslaved people, his audience would sooner rush to abolish it than support it.

In chapter twenty-one of his work, Fitzhugh compares the slavery of his day to the slavery of ancient Rome and Greece by saying that an enslaved African American is unfit "for the mechanic arts, for trade, and all skillful pursuits" (297). Thus, by remaining enslaved and "leaving those pursuits to be carried on by the whites," he doesn't embarrass or bring shame upon the white craftsman of those trades, like in Rome and Greece, where enslaved people carried out those professions. This, he argues, is a solid point favoring the continuation of slavery.

Fitzhugh sees race as an especially important, even advantageous factor in terms of slavery. He argues that, "in some respects, the wider the difference [in race] the better, as the slave will feel less mortified by his position" (295-6). That is, the closer in ethnicity the master and the enslaved are, the more discord will occur because this similarity will cause the enslaved to feel as though they are within the same social status as their masters, rather than subservient to them. He further posits that even though whites prefer the "mulatto" to the "negro," darker-skinned enslaved people are much more comfortable and pleased with their position and are much more reliable because of this.

He then changes the argument a bit by saying that abolitionists are supporting a form of institutionalized racism through only attempting to abolish "negro slavery." Fitzhugh questions why they seem only concerned with African American slavery of the southern states, but do not concern themselves with the slavery practices of Western Europe, where enslaved peoples are treated with much worse brutality than enslaved African Americans. He entrenches this idea that darker-skinned enslaved people are entirely satisfied with their roles in Southern society. That to expect them to perform tasks outside of their social station would upset this communal balance, and is almost selfish.

According to Fitzhugh, free white laborers are in an even worse position than enslaved African Americans. He asserts that free white laborers are not free at all; they are enslaved to their employers who pay them and do not have the same liberties that enslaved people do. He equates being an employer to being "a master, without the obligations of a master" (29). In the same way that enslaved African Americans labor for their masters to retain financial independence, white laborers create the income and amass the capital of their employer in order for him to also gain financial independence (29). Fitzhugh calls this the White Slave Trade and thinks it theoretically worse than the conditions of African American slavery, because "the slaves to capital work harder and cost less," while enslaved African Americans "enjoy liberty, because they are oppressed neither by care nor labor" (29). Enslaved African Americans have the freedom to relax, according to Fitzhugh, while the free white laborer "works longer and harder for less allowance than the slave, and has no holiday" (30). According to the excerpt, the free white laborer, without property who works for an exploitive capitalist, is in every way in a worse station than an enslaved African American.

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