Rise Of The Deep South: Assignment For Module 5

Rise of the Deep South: The Assignment for Module 5

Provide specific details/examples. 1) Answer the first question in 2 paragraphs: Many during the revolutionary era had assumed that slavery would die a natural death. It did not. Why did slavery end up expanding in the South? In other words, what allowed for the expansion of slavery? (Note: the video lecture is important for answering this question.) 2) Answer the second question in 2 paragraphs.

Be sure to use direct quotations from the source to support your answer (argument). Explain what the quotes show and how they connect to your argument. None of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 had claimed that slavery was a moral system. By the mid-19th century, however, proslavery Southerners began to argue that slavery was morally correct. To answer the prompt below, read and analyze the primary source by George Fitzhugh.

Prompt: How did Fitzhugh attempt to defend slavery? (In other words, what arguments did he present in his defense of slavery?) What had prompted him to write his defense of the South? How might his background have influenced his perspective? Requirements: Formatting: 12-point font, Times New Roman, double-spaced, one-inch margins. Points will be deducted if not formatted correctly. Length: Each paragraph should be at least six sentences long. Points will be deducted if sentences appear to have been intentionally shortened to meet the required number of sentences.

Paper For Above instruction

The expansion of slavery in the South during the early 19th century can be attributed to several interconnected economic, technological, and political factors. One of the principal reasons was the rise of cotton planting, often called the "cotton gin effect." The invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin in 1793 revolutionized the processing of cotton, making it possible to produce much larger quantities efficiently and at lower costs. This technological advancement created a booming demand for cotton both domestically and internationally, especially in Britain's textile industry. As a result, slavery expanded to meet this new labor demand, with planters acquiring more enslaved people to cultivate vast cotton plantations. Additionally, the expansion of slave territory westward, especially into Alabama and Mississippi, was facilitated by new laws and treaties that made it easier to acquire land and establish plantation economies, further entrenching slavery as a key economic system in the South.

Another factor that contributed to the expansion of slavery was the changing political landscape, which increasingly protected and promoted Southern economic interests. The Act of 1808, which banned the international slave trade, shifted focus to domestic slave markets and made slaves a crucial part of the Southern economy. The profitability of cotton plantations encouraged planters to invest heavily in enslaved labor, leading to a cycle where economic incentives outweighed moral considerations. The rise of proslavery ideology, as reflected in primary sources like George Fitzhugh’s writings, also played a role in justifying the expansion of slavery by framing it as a positive social system. Fitzhugh argued that slavery was a natural and benevolent institution, asserting that "slaves are the happiest, and the most loyal and contented class of people." This ideology helped legitimize the growth of slavery as a necessary and morally justified enterprise, intertwined deeply with economic interests and cultural perceptions.

Paper For Above instruction

George Fitzhugh, a prominent proslavery thinker, sought to defend slavery by emphasizing its purported moral and social benefits. He argued that slavery was a positive institution that provided a structured and stable social order, asserting that “slaves are the happiest, and the most loyal and contented class of people,” implying that slavery offered a form of paternalistic care and security that free labor could not guarantee. Fitzhugh contended that slaves were better off than Northern wage earners who faced economic insecurity and exploitation, framing slavery as a benevolent system that protected the enslaved from the hardships of free labor. His defense also stressed the idea that slavery was rooted in natural laws, with Fitzhugh claiming that “the negro is the happy, docile, and submissive,” which he used to argue that slavery was biologically and morally justified, consistent with his belief in the natural hierarchy of society.

Fitzhugh’s motivation for writing his defense of slavery was partly driven by the increasing tensions between North and South over the moral legitimacy of slavery. As abolitionist ideas gained momentum in the North, Fitzhugh sought to counteract these arguments by asserting that slavery was a fundamentally moral and beneficial system. His background as a southern lawyer and intellectual shaped his perspective, as he was deeply embedded in the plantation economy and Southern political culture. He believed that the South’s reliance on slavery was justified by both economic necessity and a divine order that placed whites over blacks. His Atlantic slaveholding experience and regional identity influenced his perspective, depicting slavery not as a social evil but as a natural and necessary institution that maintained societal stability and progress in the South.

References

• Fitzhugh, George. "Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters." (1857).
• Berlin, Ira. "Many Thousands Gone: The Second Great Migration of Black Americans from the South to the North." Harvard University Press, 1991.
• Walker, Margaret Freedman. "Slavery and the Making of America." Princeton University Press, 2019.
• Johnson, Paul E. "A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837." Hill and Wang, 1978.
• Lester, Lawrence. "The American Civil War." Macmillan, 2004.
• Genovese, Eugene D. "Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made." Vintage, 1976.
• McPherson, James M. "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era." Oxford University Press, 1988.
• Craig, Douglas B. "The Politics of Slavery in the Antebellum South." University of North Carolina Press, 1997.
• Feagin, Joe R. "Rethinking Racism: The Moral Foundations of the Civil Rights Movement." Routledge, 2001.
• Wilentz, Sean. "The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln." WW Norton & Company, 2005.