How Did George Fitzhugh Contribute To The Abolition Of Slavery

As Frederick Douglass once said, “there is not a nation on earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody, than the people of the United States.” Before the Civil War, America created the most monstrous form of oppression ever known to man. She invented generational slavery. For about four hundred years, African Americans were subjected to a life of submission and involuntary servitude. Most of the Americans supported the lifestyle and objected the idea of abolition. Southern slave-owners thought that northerners abolishing slavery would lead to them being “overthrown” by the negroes. However, there were groups of whites that dissented against slavery and fought to make it illegal in the South. Those in favor in slavery, like George Fitzhugh, attempted to justify their beliefs by saying Africans resemble “grown-up children.” Thus, masters must take the role of a “parent or guardian.” On a social scale, children are inferior to their parents. So, when taking that role, they must control the slaves because the “negro race is inferior
George Fitzhugh states that “slavery[in America] relieves [Africans] from a far more cruel slavery in Africa.” Despite them still being enslaved, whites thought it was better to be a slave in America. However, a slave is still a slave. It was also thought that God’s plan for blacks was to be nothing more than primitive savages. Nevertheless, due to slavery, the Africans were “elevated from God’s original purpose.” Anti-slavery supporters propose the question: where in the Bible does it say that negroes are inferior and subject to slavery? The American Anti-Slavery Society searched the Bible to find out that every American who owns a slave is a “man-stealer.” People should never be forced to be “bought and sold like cattle.” Slaves question how ministers can preach a gospel of peace then turn around and whip a negro woman until her back