The Muddsill Theory Analysis

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“The ‘Mudsill’ Theory”, was created by James Henry Hammond. It was in one of his speeches and was first introduced March 4, 1858. Hammond had a clear message in this speech, where he was trying to justify slavery. He was a politician in the south who strongly believed in slavery. He was trying to advocate for it and let everyone know why they needed slavery. Letting everyone know that without slavery there might not be a higher class. And that if they gave Africans any power, or citizenship with the right to vote, that they would be overthrown. He said that allowing African Americans to vote would be stronger than any army. Henry Hammond appears to be scared to give African Americans any sort of power. He is used to them being slaves for the …show more content…

He talks about how a New York Senator mentioned the whole world had abolished slavery. Tensions between the North and the South were building up, and talks about abolishing slavery were on the rise. In 1857 Northern states began granting african americans citizenship. In the Dred Scott case also in 1857, it was ruled that African Americans weren't United States Citizens. It only took two years for Abraham Lincoln to respond back to his speech in a speech of his own in 1859. And only another two more years until the Lincoln was announced President, and the southern states attempted to secede. Which is when the Civil War started in 1861, and four years later slavery was finally abolished. Hammond slanted his speech in a way, he talked about how his slaves were fed well and compensated, although it may be true on his farm it is still very unlikely he was speaking the truth. But it was very clear that he was for slavery. The speech started out with this: “In all social systems there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life. That is, a class requiring but a low order of intellect and but little skill” (Hammond 1). He clearly believes that African Americans aren't as smart, or as skilled as the white person, so they should do the work nobody else wants to do. This was his, and many other southerners perspectives on slavery, although maybe a