Richard Furman's The Biblical Justification For Slavery

Improved Essays
Slavery has been in existence for almost the entire extent of human history. During the first years of this industry no one seemed to care much about the cruelty and immoral treatment slaves were forced to endure. During the 1800’s opinions began to be spoken, and questions about the morality of slavery came into question. Contrary to the beliefs of Richard Furman and George Fitzhugh that slavery was morally good and used even in biblical times, slaves such as Sally Thomas and Harriet Jacobs tell their horrific stories that give a different view of the brutal institution of slavery. One supporter of slavery was a South Carolina Baptist minister named Richard Furman. He wrote the address, The Biblical Justification for Slavery, to display the church’s views on slavery and how it was supportive of the state on the matter. Furman declares that the practice of slavery is “clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example in the Old Testament.” He uses the story of the Israelites being directed by God to purchase bondsmen and women from rebellious nonbelieving nations. The bondsmen and bondmaids were declared to be their “bondmen forever” and were not allowed …show more content…
Sally Thomas and Harriet Jacobs are just two of the many slaves who suffered in the bondage and industry of slavery. The pro slavery arguments made by slave holders were justified by out of context biblical scriptures and views only made by the master. The master sees no wrong doing in owning slaves because he is not the one being subjected to violence, lifelong servitude, and immoral treatment. However, some slaves found dignity by owning their own businesses, buying their freedom, or even learning to read and write. The firsthand accounts of these slaves show us how obvious it is that there is no excuse or justification for the awful life they were required to tolerate based on the complexion of their

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The institution of slavery in America harbored much violence in order to maintain its existence in the South through physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. Slavery was a profusely profitable business for the Southern plantation owners who profited from slave labor and did everything in their hands to maintain it. Violence in its variety was a form of a conservation force for slavery, which was initiated by the slave owners against the African American slaves. The slaves found various ways to cope with this violence in order to maintain their livelihood and humanity. They balanced their lives by avoiding punishment, finding comfort in Christianity, and maintaining their humanity through education, all while working hard for…

    • 1316 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The book, “American Slavery: 1619-1877” written by Peter Kolchin and published first in 1993 and then published with revisions in 2003, takes an in depth look at American slavery throughout the country’s early history, from the pre-Revolutionary War period to the post-Civil War period. The first chapter deals with the origins of slavery within the United States. It discusses the introduction of slavery to the nation even before it was officially a nation. The colonies in the United States were agricultural and the cultivation of crops required labor.…

    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Frederick Douglass argues in his narrative that slavery dehumanizes both the slave and the slave master generating a dependency for each other. For slave’s, this dehumanization came in the form of having their name, culture and personal identity stripped away from them and for the slave master, the inability to function when deprived of slave assistance. In this essay, I will use Frederick Douglass’s narrative; along with, first-hand accounts to demonstrate how both the slave and the slave master became dehumanized through the institution of slavery. Using Frederick Douglass’s narrative, I will explain how slaves became exploited for cheap labor by the slave master creating a society depended on slaves.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Life Of A Slave Girl

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Harriet Jacobs’ recounting of her life through Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl has not only exposed the great pains she suffered through during her time in slavery but has exposed deep rooted ideologies of black women in American society. Although the actions perpetuating these ideologies have since been abolished, the ideals themselves have been retained through multiple generations of teaching. Jacobs’ story has successfully exposed where the ideologies may have come from through her explanations of sexual corruption, mental manipulations, and power dynamics. Jacob’s made it clear that these struggles were not unique to her but were dealt with by all black women during slavery and in the ‘free world’. These struggles have been most notably re exposed through the Women’s Liberation movement which actively excluded black women.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Slave Religion

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages

    New interpretations of religion also developed from the influence of African slaves. Due to their captors being largely Methodist many African slaves coverted to Christianity, however they assimulated many of their own beliefs into the religion putting an emphasis on Jesus being one who liberates (the context behind being the scripture where Jesus liberates the Hebrew people). "Cut off from their native African religions, most slaves became Christians but fused elements of African and Wesern traditions and drew their own conclusions from Scripture. White Christains might point to Christ 's teachings of humility and obeidiance to encourage slaves to "stay in their place," but black Christians emphasized God 's role in freeing the Hebrews…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the United States, there is a common assumption that the Civil War marked the end of the slavery era. However, Douglas Blackmon’s book Slavery by Another Name dispels this supposition. It uncovers chilling evidence that slavery went into the 1900s. Blackmon explains that the form of slavery that was prevalent in the early 1900s is synonymous with that of the earlier years. In this regard, the book distances itself from discussions regarding institutionalized racism; it tackles the grim nature of human bondage, forced labor, cruelty, and poor living circumstances that persisted legally to the mid-twentieth century.…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “He found religious sanction and support for his slaveholding cruelty… His activity in revivals was great and… his house was the preachers’ home. He starved us, he stuffed them” (33). Mr. Auld, Douglass’s owner, is a clear hypocrite in that he practices religion so devotedly, yet ‘stuffs’ other preachers and ‘starves’ his own slaves, also proving the consequences of hypocrisy. The starvation that his slaves were forced to endure, under justification of religion, confirms the motif, that pious slaveholders were the most brutal.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the Antebellum Era, slave narratives were prominent historical sources that gave great insight to the first-hand experience of slaves in America. As they signified to white America the true horrors and exploitation of the institution of slavery from the witness accounts of enslaved African Americans who actually experienced it. In the narratives, the enslaved stressed the horrors of slavery through their various life experiences in the south with their slaveholders and their great will to escape their bondage. Thus, demonstrating the immorality of such an institution to their intended audience of white America in order to not only tell their story but move their audience to see the demeaning and inhumane institution for what it is to hopefully abolish it. Through Frederick Douglass’s Narrative and the story of Harriet Jacobs documented in the documentary Slavery in the Making of America’s “Seeds of Destruction,” their struggles reveal the horror and triumph of surviving and escaping such…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The southern part of America believed strongly about the issue of slavery. Southerners felt as if slavery was a “positive good” rather than a “necessary evil”. The north on the other hand held slavery at the perspective of cruel and evil. The southerners defended slavery using the Bible, the church, and popular political views.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The hardest part of what I have read about slaves and Harriet Jacobs is how slave owners were so hard hearted toward other people not of the same color. They were treated like dogs, and many slave owners viewed slaves as not having feelings. It is because of this many slaves had to go through so much abuse and…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a portion from the Exposition, Furman says: That, taking all things into account, the Citizens of America have all in all acquired the African slaves, which they have, on standards, which can be advocated; however much remorselessness has without a doubt been practiced toward by numerous, who have been worried in the slave-exchange, and by other people who have held them here. That subjugation, when tempered with mankind and equity, is a condition of fair bliss: parallel, if not unrivaled, to what numerous poor appreciate in nations presumed free. That an expert has scriptural right to oversee his slaves in order to keep them in subjection; to request and get from them a sensible administration; and to right them for the disregard of obligation, for their indecencies and transgressions; yet that to force on them absurd, religious administrations, or to cause on them remorseless discipline, he has neither a scriptural nor an ethical right.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harriet Jacobs narrative stressed the importance of family, home and love. Her narrative was more sentimental than Douglass’s. As a slave she did not really suffer the hardships that most slaves would. Even though her “kind mistress sickened and died” (821), she was fortunate enough to be sent to spend a week with her grandmother. Harriet showed some hope thinking that she would be set free because of how respected and faithful her mother was instead she was bequeathed to a different mistress.…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the video Slavery and the Making of America I was shocked to learn in detail what slaves had to go through. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable Harriet Ann Jacobs must have felt with her master lusting over her, and with her mistress feeling jealous because of this. It must have been really hard for her to endure. Besides this, I truly admired Harriet’s love for her children. It is true when people say that a mother’s love has no limits, and this was clear for Harriet.…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The implementation of Christianity in slavery proved to be controversial and mind puzzling as the peaceful ideas derived from the Bible juxtaposed with the cruel treatment and intentions exercised by slave owners and masters. Consequently, slave owners and overseers stood blind to how their tyrannical exercise of power devastated the mentality and experience of an African American in the 18th to 19th century United States of America. Slave narratives as a literary genre enhanced towards the middle of the 19th century as the sentiment of abolition and freedom started to rise. A multitude of slaves scribed and reflected on their times in enslavement, which includes Olaudah Equiano, Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, and Phyllis Wheatley. Although…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The angles which attempted to justify slavery was based off of ignoring and the manipulation of facts or religious beliefs, which still did not fully make slavery ethically acceptable. Those who were slaves and witnessed or experienced the actuality of the situation were able to uphold the wrong that was conducted through slaveries existence, which ultimately aided their racial freedom. The enslavement of African Americans was looked upon through multiple angles and those who attempted to perceive it as a benefit found reasons to justify it, such as Richard Furman and George Fitzhugh. However, through their justification the masking of reality was unobjectionable, as the actuality of the slave situation was described through the harsh experiences…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays