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Slave Owners Overview: When people study slavery in the United States, they often wonder, "How could slave owners justify their choice to hold other humans in bondage? What could make them do such a horrible thing?" These questions are important and the answers are complex. Slave owners used many reasons to make their choices seem acceptable to society at large, and to themselves. In looking for answers we might simply say that slave owners were "bad people" too cruel to think that slavery was wrong. There is historical support for this explanation, considering the many stories of slave masters abuse and torture of slaves. At the same time, there have been many examples of extreme cruelty in history that do not involve slaves and masters, or even people of different ancestry. Cruelty alone does not seem to explain the unique experience of slaves in the United States. Another explanation for slavery is racism. This builds on the "bad people" explanation by being more specific about the "badness" of slave owners-they were not just cruel, but practiced their cruelty on people of African ancestry. There is a lot of historical support for this explanation, but there are many stories that complicate such an explanation. For example, we know that there were African-Americans who enslaved other African-Americans, most commonly in Louisiana. There are also examples of Native Americans holding African-American slaves. So racism alone cannot explain slavery's existence. Yet another explanation for slavery is greed. In this case we might say that slave owners were driven mostly by the desire for wealth and power. This too seems to make sense. Historians know that the profits from slavery were large, often as large as the profits made by factories in the North. Furthermore, slave owners held almost every position of political power in the South, as well as important jobs in the Federal government. For example, other than John Adams and John Quincy Adams, every President in the first forty-five years of our nations existence was a slaveholder. To help us understand how slave owners justified holding other humans in bondage we have the chance to read a series of letters between two fictional slave owners. What follows is an imaginary exchange of letters between a plantation owner and small-scale slave owner. The letters show slave owners justifying their actions.Every quotation within each fictional letter is drawn from the actual writing of an actual person who lived in the early 19th century. For example, one letter refers to John C. Calhoun, who was a United States Senator from 1832-1843 and from 1845-1850. The biographical details about each person quoted are also true.1 Their words are harsh, direct and often disturbing. The opinions of the fictional letter writers are also disturbing, but they are written to show you how slave owners spoke and thought about their slaves. Finally, it is important to know that throughout the 1700s, many American slave owners had seen slavery as a "necessary evil." What these letters show is a new, more vicious view of slavery emerging. The fact that beliefs about right and wrong can change so quickly should make us all pay close attention to the values that are changing today. They will influence our future, for the better or for the worse. The Letters Sept. 5, 1848 To the Hon. Col. Williams, Sir, I cannot thank you enough for generously lending me two of your slaves. Casius and Claudius were hard workers and behaved well too. However, I found that I could not understand much of what they said. I relied on my own Negroes to make sense of their speech. They seemed to understand me only with great effort. Are they dim witted? In any case, my two Negroes have benefited from seeing just how productive plantation slaves can be. With the help of your Negroes all the cotton I feared would spoil will now be sent to Charleston in time to fetch the best price. To show my appreciation of your help I have sent you a copy of my new book on the physical and mental characteristics of Africans. I think you will find my ideas well researched and supported by today's science. Of course I have also included the ten dollars rental fee we agreed upon. Humbly Yours, Dr. Simon ElkinsSept. 21, 1848 To Dr. Elkins, Sir, I received your payment and generous gift. I have read it and found it to be most interesting reading. But before I comment on your book, let me answer your questions about the Negroes I lent you. My answer may have some use to your further research. As you know my plantation has some hundred and sixty slaves. They live in their own quarters. The field slaves work under my overseer, Mr. Thomas, from dawn to dusk every day except Sunday. They have the evenings to themselves. Because work must take top priority, the field slaves are not instructed in proper speech. They keep much of their African accents and never learn English properly. This I think explains your difficulty understanding them. They are no more dimwitted than any other African. This leads me to comment on your fine book. I found that your book confirmed my experience working with slaves. I think that your are right, Africans do seem made to be slaves. Their coarse manners and slow wits show that they need our guidance to help civilize them and show them the way to proper morality and religion. I recently heard a speech from Senator Calhoun who observed that, "The African is incapable of self-care and sinks into lunacy under the burden of freedom. It is a mercy to him to give him the guardianship and protection from mental death." On a different note, I was surprised that you drew so little evidence from the Bible. After all it is written that slaves should always obey their masters, as we are to obey God. In addition, why did you not mention how science supports slavery? Are you unaware of Professor Thomas Drew's work? In his research at the University of Virginia he has claimed that, "It is as much in the order of nature that men should enslave each other as that other animals should prey upon each other." This is a minor point though. Overall, I found your book to be very informative indeed. Finally, I was pleased to hear that my laborers made such quick work of your harvest. I was not surprised however. They are an example of the benefits of holding slaves in larger numbers. We plantation owners are able to have work done more efficiently than small-scale owners like yourself. We do not have the inconvenience of living in close contact with our slaves. Because of that greater social distance, I can use the whip much more freely to get the most out of each worker. By whipping each slave once a year, I can be sure that each one sees at least a whipping a week. This helps keep them at their work. As a friend and a fellow man of learning, I await your reply. Yours, Colonel John R. WilliamsOctober 11, 1848 Additional Resources: Living Conditions - an essay giving a historical overview of the various living conditions of slaves throughout slavery.//www.pbs.org/slavery/experience/living/history.html Letter from Robert Edmondson to Mrs. St. George Tucker 10/17/1826 - In this letter, a slave reports to the plantation mistress on the state of affairs in her absence. //www.pbs.org/slavery/experience/living/docs2.html Note: All readings created in the Historical Fiction section were reviewed and approved by the educational advisor, Thomas Thurston, Director of Education at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale Center for International and Area Studies. |