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Examples Of Paternalism In The Antebellum South

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Beyond all the horrible treatments that slaves received, enslaved women also had to go through master-slave relationships. Women were not just only bought to do housework or labor in the fields, many times they were purchased for male pleasure and reproduction. "Enslaved women were forced to comply with sexual advances by their masters on a very regular basis" (Sonnen 1). The consequences of resistance often came in the form of physical beatings. This wasn't always the case, even that it was very rare there are examples that show ordinary master-slave relationships, were enslaved women were treated good. This being said, we can ask a very important question, " To what extent did the master-slave relationship effect paternalism in the Antebellum South? Looking back to history one of the examples shows a regular relationship between a master and a slave is Thomas Jefferson and Sally …show more content…

Slavery was a big economic supporter of people that had slaves and those who didn't in the antebellum South. The lives of the slaveholders depended on the slaves and slaves were exploited and that way they could benefit from their white masters. Historian Eugene Genovese re-examined the master-slave relationship a few decades ago. He agreed with past historians that slavery was a cruel institution that treated the slaves unfairly. However, he believed that extreme forms of mistreatment were very minor. Genovese introduced slave-owner "paternalism," not a good, painless, or benign slavery, but a slavery in which masters took a personal interest in the lives of their slaves(Cole 1). Genovese believes that paternalism "brought white and black together and welded them into one people with genuine elements of affection and intimacy. So this relationship helped this idea of paternalism and proved that slaves and masters could get along and they

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The institution of slavery that existed in the United States before the Civil War is notorious for the abuse of African-American slaves. James Henry Hammond’s account on the slavery system of the South misrepresents the institution because it fails to acknowledge the callous treatment, negligence, and subjection of African-American slaves, which makes his argument biased. The omission of the slaves’ poor conditions allows for Hammond to embellish the institution of slavery with the false portrayal of generous slaveholders. James Henry Hammond states that slaveholders, including himself, “treat [their] slaves with proper kindness” because it is “necessary [in order] to…

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