Pro-Slavery Thought in the Old South

Pro-Slavery Thought (in the Pre-Civil War American South) refers to a wide array of political, economic, legal, spiritual, biblical, sociological, and racial justifications for slavery as an institution in the Southern States. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with "Southern Defense of Slavery" as the terms are similar in origin. This association can be problematic, however, as the South did not feel it needed a "defense" of slavery until the mid eighteenth century.

Need for a Defense

Until the mid eighteenth century, slavery had been accepted by many as part of the human condition. Slaveholding Southerners were only compelled to begin their quest for a defense of slavery when a large portion of the free populace in America, Great Britain, and Western Europe reached the collective sociological conclusion that slavery was in error on moral, political, or economic grounds.

Pro-Slavery Political Thought

The famous "Mudsill Speech (1858)" of James Henry Hammond and John C. Calhoun's "Speech in the US Senate (1837)" describe the pro-slavery political argument during the period at which the ideology was the most mature (late 1830s - early 1860s). These pro-slavery theorists championed a class sensitive view of American Antebellum society. They felt that the bane of many social hierarchies down through the ages was the existence of the class of the landless poor (whom often occupied the lowest level of society, such as serfs or peasants). Southern pro-slavery theorists felt that this class of landless poor was inherently transient and easily manipulated, and as such often destabilized society as a whole. Thus, the greatest threat to democracy was seen as coming from class warfare that destabilized a nation's economy, society, government, and threatened the peaceful and harmonious implementation of laws.

This theory proposes that there must be, and supposedly always has been, a lower class for the upper classes to rest upon. The inference being a mudsill theory, the lowest threshold that supports the foundation for a building. This theory was used by its composer Senator/Governor James Henry Hammond, a wealthy southern plantation owner, to justify what he saw as the willingness of the lower classes and the hegemony of non-whites to perform menial work which enabled the higher classes to move civilization forward. With this in mind, any efforts for class or racial equality that ran counter to the theory, would inevitably run counter to civilization itself.

Southern pro-slavery theorists asserted that slavery eliminated this problem by: elevating all free people to the status of "citizen", and removing the landless poor class of society -"the mudsill"- from the political process entirely by means of enslavement. Thus, those who would most threaten economic stability and political harmony were not allowed to undermine a democratic society because they were not allowed to participate in it. So, in the mindset of Southern pro-slaverites, slavery was all a part of protecting the common good of the slaves, the masters, and society as a whole.

These and other colloquials were used as rhetoric in what has been dubbed "the Marxism of the Master-Class" which fought for the rights of the propertied elite against what were perceived as threats from the abolitionists, lower classes and non-whites to gain higher standards of living. It was directly used to advocate slavery in the rhetoric of John C. Calhoun and other Pre-Civil War Democrats, that were struggling to maintain their grip on the Southern economy. They saw the abolition of slavery as a threat to their powerful new Southern market. A market that revolved almost entirely around the plantation system and was supported by the use of black slaves and destitute whites.

Pro-slavery Economic Thought

Slavery, as an institution was immensely profitable for Southern Planters. Many Southerners felt the sheer profitability of Slavery immunized it from political/social debate and censure. As a labor source, Africans were available, cost-effective, and profitable. Slave owners often made sizable returns on their original investment in human capital.

Pro-Slavery Legal Justifications

Slavery seemed to at odds with America's legal structures. It undermined the "more perfect Union" created by the Constitution by dividing the country along North-South lines. Slavery also seemed contrary to the new nation's common law traditions. But, by the time at which Pro-Slavery thought coalesced as an ideology, slavery as a legally binding practice had already manifested itself within the South's legal system in the form of Fugitive Slave Laws. Stiff legal penalties also existed for such crimes uprising and open rebellion.

piritual/Biblical Justifications

To the modern viewer, slavery seemed to run contrary to the evangelical Protestant faith that most white Southerners shared before the Civil War. In the eighteenth century, however, the most convincing pro-slavery argument for the Southern populous as a whole was biblically based. Many Southern scholars, such as John C. Calhoun, pointed to the Bible as the ultimate justification for slavery.

No where in the scriptures is slavery condemned, but it does give slaves some entitlements. The Southern theologian Robert Lewis Dabney said that masters attempted in every aspect of their relationships with slaves to exercise the golden rule and Colossians 4:1. "Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a master in heaven."

ee also

* Thomas Roderick Dew
* William Harper (South Carolina)
* James Henry Hammond
* George Fitzhugh