In the 1820s to the 1840s, the Second Great Awakening helped to inspire a reformist impulse across the nation. One of those movements centered on an effort to abolish slavery in the United States; of course, the desire to eliminate slavery did not go unchallenged. Pro-slavery figures such as George Fitzhugh, Dr. Samuel Cartwright, James Henry Hammond and many others all challenged the ideas of abolishing slavery through stereotypical speeches and even science. It was during this period that slavery was the significant issue of the antebellum period that sparked the Civil War. The Southern states depended on slavery because it was a significant part of its growing economy. While northern states had moral and legal concerns over slave labor in a country that was built on liberty and equality among all men. In American history the Antebellum Period would be considered the period after the War of 1812 but took place before the civil war of 1861 to 1865. The Antebellum era was characterized by a rise of abolition and the gradual division of the country between abolitionists and slavery supporters that led to the war between North and South. During the Antebellum period a wealthy senator and plantation owner from South Carolina known as James Henry Hammond believes that slavery was deemed to do more good than it was evil.
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He greatly supports his ideas in a speech he gave to the Senate on March 4, 1858, in this speech he delivers his famous “mudsill theory". The mudsill theory states that "In all societies that must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life" [Hammond]. However it is safe to say that African-Americans were no less of a man than a White man. In writing from W.L Garrison he supports the idea that “...no man has a right to enslave or imbrute his brother—to hold or acknowledge him, for one moment, as a piece of merchandise—to keep back his hire by fraud—or to brutalize his mind, by denying him the means of intellectual, social and moral improvement” [Garrison]. If we were to speak in terms of the British and the colonist; the colonist were considered the lower class that makes it possible for the higher class to move civilization forward. In all fairness when this “mudsill” theory was imposed on the colonist by the British it was viewed as a violation of their human rights, but what about the rights of African- Americans. During this time pro-slavery Americans came with many ways to deny African- Americans their human rights. In the eyes of George Fitzhugh African-Americans were not privileged to these rights because they were “child-like people in need of protection, and that slavery provided a civilizing influence” [Fitzhugh]. Blacks were viewed as biologically inferior to whites and were incapable of assimilating in free society, this idea was supported only because it was illegal to teach blacks to read and write. If blacks had the power of knowledge they were considered a threat to the white community. Therefore negative stereotypes were put into place to justify slavery In attempt to justify slavery, pro slavery political figures came up with stereotypes to promote African Americans in a negative light. In documents such, "Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race" written by Dr. Samuel Cartwright, a well-established doctor, discusses two diseases that he believes plagues the Negro race. The first disease he discusses is "Drapetomania, a disease which causes slaves
He greatly supports his ideas in a speech he gave to the Senate on March 4, 1858, in this speech he delivers his famous “mudsill theory". The mudsill theory states that "In all societies that must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life" [Hammond]. However it is safe to say that African-Americans were no less of a man than a White man. In writing from W.L Garrison he supports the idea that “...no man has a right to enslave or imbrute his brother—to hold or acknowledge him, for one moment, as a piece of merchandise—to keep back his hire by fraud—or to brutalize his mind, by denying him the means of intellectual, social and moral improvement” [Garrison]. If we were to speak in terms of the British and the colonist; the colonist were considered the lower class that makes it possible for the higher class to move civilization forward. In all fairness when this “mudsill” theory was imposed on the colonist by the British it was viewed as a violation of their human rights, but what about the rights of African- Americans. During this time pro-slavery Americans came with many ways to deny African- Americans their human rights. In the eyes of George Fitzhugh African-Americans were not privileged to these rights because they were “child-like people in need of protection, and that slavery provided a civilizing influence” [Fitzhugh]. Blacks were viewed as biologically inferior to whites and were incapable of assimilating in free society, this idea was supported only because it was illegal to teach blacks to read and write. If blacks had the power of knowledge they were considered a threat to the white community. Therefore negative stereotypes were put into place to justify slavery In attempt to justify slavery, pro slavery political figures came up with stereotypes to promote African Americans in a negative light. In documents such, "Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race" written by Dr. Samuel Cartwright, a well-established doctor, discusses two diseases that he believes plagues the Negro race. The first disease he discusses is "Drapetomania, a disease which causes slaves