April 29, 1998
ASH 3002y
Some Notes on the Varieties of Anti-Slavery

Principal Pro-Slavery Positions --
1. Divinely sanctioned -- slavery in the Bible (Blacks as children of Esau)

2. Sociologically validated -- George Fitzhugh

3. Politically expedient -- don't dilute impact of white vote

4. Economically functional -- a reasonable means of labor organization

5. Biologically mandated -- as means of avoiding racial amalgamation/mongrelization"

6. Constitutionally permitted

7. Because only massive collective force// huge government effort to overcome it

8. And then there's the disposal problem….

NB -- Need not assume inherent biological or eschatological inequality to be pro-slavery on other counts

Similarly, to be any of several varieties of anti-slavery did not require adherents to be believers in racial equality -- or even to be positively disposed to Blacks

Some pro-slavery advocates were warmly disposed toward blacks -- Some anti-slavery advocates were rabid racists

Anti-Slavery Spectrum --

Tolerating slavery is a sin against God -- because all men are created equal?

    • Because they are God's children, too
    • because slavery is cruel
    •

    •  

    Opposed slavery because it artificially perpetuated the existence of a inferior race otherwise doomed to distinction/ slavery shielded Blacks from the "struggle for survival"

    Opposed slavery because of its corrupting influence upon whites -- men sexually abusing their authority over women slaves

     

    Opposed slavery because of its economic inefficiencies (Tocqueville/Hinto Helper)

    Opposed slavery because it kept blacks in our white midst -- Colonizationist position
    TJ/Hclay/Alincoln…

    Political Postures Available --

    Slavery's destruction more important than the Union's preservation -- Abolitionists of the Garrison stripe -- Damn the Constitution….

    Single-issue or many?? Women's rights// dietary reform// communal living….

    Slavery can be destroyed -- and certainly contained -- using the Constitution
    Liberty Party/Free Soil Party/Republicans -- Frederick Douglass

    Slavery an inherited evil but not subject to political eradication -- its defenders' rights must be acknowledged (they're white, after all) -- Daniel Webster// Stephen Douglas

    Hariet Beecher Stowe -- enlisting otherwise conservative Xian women in the anti-slavery cause -- highlight its corruptibility with respect to the white family

    The many dispositions

    -- Issue is immediate/of highest priority -- to protect/to abolish

     

    Return to Lecture Notes