Chapter 11: The Peculiar Institution

11.1 Frederick Douglass on the Desire for Freedom (1845)

Douglass’s Intended Audience

• Frederick Douglass’s book influenced a lot of slaves in the nineteenth century
• Douglass was addressing his book to all American slaves
• He was also a slave and lost freedom in America
• He wrote many slaves’ real lives in his book to touch every audience
• He also tried to use his own experience to confirm that freedom was an important thing in a person’s life

The Link between Education & Freedom

• Douglass knows what freedom means to a slave
• Douglass was an American slave in the nineteenth century
• He had the same feeling as other slaves
  • They lived at the bottom of society and never known what their freedom was at that time in America
• Douglass so strongly linked education with freedom because slaves should write their own passes and not control by other people
• Education could make slaves get rid of their poor souls, and know how to find a good chance to fight for their freedom through books

11.2 Rise of the Cotton Kingdom (1836)

Native Americans & White Migrants

• Norcom’s letter mentions the interconnection between the fate of Native Americans and the opportunities open to white migrants to Mississippi
• Norcom said that he had met from 50 to 100 men who five years since could not get credit for a pair of shoes, now worth 100,000 to a million dollars, and he has seen a great number who came rich
  • These were all merchants, who without much capital, went to speculating in cotton
• He mentioned that a poor man here without any aid could finally become rich
  • A few days of labor and lying out in the woods enable them to find out a good body of land
  • They would sell their information to those who were too idle, or too rich to undergo the fatigue of hunting for it
  • By this means, they would obtain money enough to enter one section, then two, and so on;
  • Soon sell that for ten or twenty times as much as they gave for it, and sometimes would absolutely make a fortune in five or six months

Effect on the Slaves

• The demand for all species of property is great, constant, and increasing
• He cannot ascertain what amount of property has been sold in any one country
• More than 6,000 blacks and 10,000 horses and mules have been sold in Yazoo Country alone
• He knows of no point in the world with four times its population which sells so many goods
• All species of labor cost three times as much as Edenton, and as a general rule, most cost about four times as much as in the old states, except the blacks

11.3 William Sewall, The Results of British Emancipation (1860)

British Emancipation: A Success

• William Sewall considered the emancipation of the British West Indies a success despite the decline of sugar production in Jamaica
• 1833 - The British abolished slavery
• 1848 - France abolished slavery
• US, Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico - countries that still use slaves
• Slavery became a hot topic in the United States
  • The American southern states pointed out that sugar production went down in Jamaica after the emancipation of slaves there
  • Abolitionists responded the problem was the plantations failed to convert their labor system properly
• He believed that the country would eventually benefit and prosper once all the people are free
• Having a group of people who were oppressed and dispirited would only hurt the country

Lessons from the British Emancipation

• Sewall believed that the United States could benefit from the abolition of slavery
  • He believed that all countries who did the same would share these benefits
• Having people who were held down by slavery would only hinder the growth of America
• If all had freedom, they could work together to make America grow
  • Just the simple fact that general happiness would spread throughout could provide a positive boost
• All could seek an education
  • They could use their knowledge to choose their occupation
• All the free people could contribute to the advancement of the US

11.4 Rules of Highland Plantation (1838)

Obligations of Slaves vs. Free Laborers

• Barrow believes that slaves have greater obligations to their owners than free laborers do to their employees
• According to Barrow, slaves and free laborers were different
• A free worker and employers have a much simpler relationship
  • Payment for their work ends the arrangement
• Meanwhile, slaves and slaveowners are more complex
  • Slaveowners should pay attention to the details of slaves; lives, and take care of some parts

Barrow on Speaking to Slaves

• Barrow believes that we should prevent “any man“ from speaking with his slaves because he is afraid that his slaves would be affected by other people’s words
• Barrow thinks that slaves should feel comfortable so they don’t want to leave
• Also, they must be treated very well so that they do not want to rebel
• However, it will create a feeling of independence for his slaves when they have conversations with the people outside of the plantation
• After that, they will be out of the control of the owners for a time

11.5 Slavery and the Bible (1850)

Importance of the Bible in Allowing Slavery

• White southerners believed that slavery was accepted by God in the Bible and they had their own interpretation of it
  • Para. 7: We find, then, that both the Old and New Testaments speak of slavery— that they do not condemn the relation, but, on the contrary, expressly allow it or create it; and they give commands and exhortations, which are based upon its legality and propriety. It can not, then, be wrong.
• They explained that slavery existed since early time of humanity and they were not wrong about their ideas

Author’s Interpretation vs. Southerner’s Interpretation

• Everybody knows that slaves were not happy about their conditions and they disagree with southerners’ ideas about keeping slavery
• For plantation owners, this idea was not convenient and they tried to demonstrate the opposite

11.6 Letter by a Fugitive Slave (1840)

Taper Reversing the Rhetoric

• Taper’s experience challenges the idea that the US is a land of freedom and Britain lacks liberty
• Joseph Taper - a successful fugitive, a slave in Frederick Country, who, in 1837 ran away to Pennsylvania with his children and wife. Two years later, he fled to Canada.
• 1840 - he wrote a letter to a white acquaintance in Virginia recounting some of his experiences
  • He said that he was born in a land of liberty, and in good health, but he was assumed like a slave
  • He saw the US as the land of the free, yet, he was treated like a slave
  • He was really happy when he moved to Canada and not having a scare of slavery

Canada and the Elements of Freedom

• As Taper moved to Canada, his life changed totally
  • He and his family no longer feared becoming slaves
  • His son, Edward, began attending school. He learned reading at six.
  • All colored populations were supplied with schools
  • His wife was sitting by a comfortable fire happy knowing that she was free from molestation or fear

11.7 Solomon Northup, The New Orleans Slave Market (1853)

Northup’s Condemnation of the Slave Market

• The slave auction was one of the most barbaric practices of the slavery system
• Northup condemned the inhumane inspection of the slaves; their bodies were inspected like horses
  • They are touched
  • They open their mouths and turn around
  • Marks or physical attributes were inspected depending on what they need
  • Master’s would get good money for the “clean ones“
• Families are separated

Northup on Biblical Arguments for Slavery

• Northup’s narrative offers first-hand evidence of what it was like to be a slave
  • “There never was a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford“
  • He recounts that on Sundays, Master Ford, a slave owner, made it a habit to gather his slaves for church service, preached to them, and encouraged good moral behavior
• Northup develops an internal moral struggle by finding out that William Ford was a man of unquestioned Christian character,
  • “A model master, walking uprightly…and fortunate was the slave that came to his possession“
  • The essential question is, how is it possible for a “good“ Christian to participate so profoundly in the corrupted institution of slavery
• Further, his accounts tell that faith and obedience teach you to follow your master