George Fitzhugh Slavery Justified Analysis

Unpaid labor, harsh conditions, severe punishment, and blatant racism make up the institution of slavery. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass writes about his own experiences as a slave. He describes his masters, jobs, and how the institution of slavery negatively affected slaves. Coming from the opposite perspective, George Fitzhugh writes in his essay, Slavery Justified, how slavery was good for slaves and their societies. However, slavery is not justifiable and none of the arguments Fitzhugh makes are legitimate. He argues that slavery bettered the personalities of slaveholders, offered slaves all the necessities to live, and that slaves were reliant and this kept them from rioting in society.

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They were given food, clothes and places to rest, therefore slavery was desirable. Fitzhugh writes, “The slaves are well fed, well clad, have plenty of fuel, and are happy”(3). In his eyes, slavery was a blessing because it gave slaves the things they would’ve been incapable of getting for themselves. This is a logical fallacy called Presuppositions, meaning Fitzhugh is presupposing that the slaves needed the help of a white person to live. He cannot confirm that truth, and therefore his argument is invalid. This point can also be disproved through experiences Douglass writes about. When Douglass is a young child, he lives on a farming plantation and could easily see the treatment of the working slaves. Douglass writes, “The men and women slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal. Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers… one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter… one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes”(26). That amount of food and clothing would be incredibly hard to live on, but slaveholders got away with it by claiming they were still providing something to their slaves. The necessities of life were not given to the slaves, proving Fitzhugh’s argument to be

Slavery didn’t better the lives of the slaveholders; they thought they were good people for helping slaves, but it only made them greedy and filled their lives with negativity. Slaveholders did not provide slaves with the necessities to live. Despite what slaveholders believed, slaves were given insufficient amounts of food and clothing, making life even harder. Slaves did not need to be dependent on their masters, and there are plenty of instances of revolting slaves. There is also no reasoning from Fitzhugh behind why a slave would revolt- a key piece to discuss. Slaves revolted because they were degraded and not treated like humans. Slavery is illegal everywhere, and there is still excessive amounts of it. It pushes us towards a more hateful society and teaches the youth of today that hurting another human being is okay. Society needs to push for equality and