George Fitzhugh's Argument Analysis

The South was as secure in their conviction that slavery was a proper institution as the Minutemen who turned the British back at the Old North Bridge were in theirs. The insulation of the South allowed these convictions to thrive without serious opposition in local communities. With everyone thinking and therefore voting the same way it was easy to keep slavery alive for decades. Insomuch as they believed the proslavery position was unfounded in reality putting forward idealized and sometimes fantastical ideas of Southern society and slave holding. The slave’s perspective was very much real where even in the best position slaves still felt the fear of sale and control by whites.
One such example of the fantastical idea of southern society was from George …show more content…
In this work Fitzhugh claims that a state of dependency is required in order for reciprocal love to exist between people, allowing for a kind of paternalist care between the master 's family and their slaves. This argument leads many in the South to believe that slavery was justified since the slaves were dependent on whites for care alleviating them of stress and worry. Another argument Fitzhugh makes is about the existence of slavery throughout time and civilization comparing the South to the ancient Greeks and Romans pointing to them as a defense of the institution and trying to prove how alike and noble the South is to these societies. Richard Furman touched on an argument that was very important to the South as well as the North. God’s views on slavery. Furman argues that nowhere in the bible is slavery expressly forbidden. He added that in fact in some parts of the bible it is even encouraged sighting passages where slavery is mentioned but not condemned. Every Southerner bought this explanation and used it as self-defense against attacks from Northern Christians who tried to claim that slavery was immoral using the same book. While the people in the North may have