"The Negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world. The children and the aged and infirm work not at all, and yet have all the comforts and necessaries of life provided for them. They enjoy liberty, because they are oppressed neither by care nor labor. The free laborer must work or starve. He is more of a slave than the Negro, because he works longer and harder for less allowance than the slave, and has no holiday, because the cares of life with him begin when his labor ends."
— George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All!, 1857
Which of the following historical developments in the 1850s most directly contributed to the creation of the argument described in the excerpt?
- The growing political influence of northern Free Soil advocates who argued that the expansion of slavery threatened the economic status of free white laborers.Answer
- BThe implementation of federal tariffs that Southern planters argued disproportionately harmed the agrarian economy of the South.
- CThe transition of the Southern labor system from indentured servitude to chattel slavery following regional labor shortages.
- DThe introduction of popular sovereignty, which Southerners feared would allow the federal executive to unilaterally ban slavery in newly organized territories.
Answer
The correct answer is the option stating that the argument was a response to the growing political influence of northern Free Soil advocates who argued that the expansion of slavery threatened the economic status of free white laborers.
The correct answer is correct because Fitzhugh's writing represents the southern 'positive good' defense of slavery, which arose as a direct counter-argument to the free-labor arguments of the Free Soil movement. By arguing that northern industrial workers ('free laborers') were treated worse than southern slaves, Fitzhugh attempted to undermine the moral and economic superiority claimed by northern critics.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Ideological and Legal Debates over Slavery