George Fitzhugh (1806–1881)

George Fitzhugh pens an antebellum, sophistic justification for slavery. Prior to reading his works, I understood him to be a Socialist; this however is inaccurate. On a scale of societal arrangements, according to Fitzhugh, socialism is a failed attempt at a perfect structure.

Taking many shots at the North, Adam Smith and free trade (being the same as "liberty"), the 19th Century sociologist works hard to claim mankind needs chattel slavery to progress. He reasons that nothing is more altruistic than a master and his slaves. Likewise, usurpation of chattel slavery is an attempt to deconstruct the institution of family, which is basically a microcosm of plantation slavery.

I don't blame the one time slave-owner from coming at this topic from a selfish perspective, I do the same for freedom from a limited government. Yet he explains that leaving Negroes to their own devices, they will either revert to animalism or die. Unlike an honest philosopher, he evades exploration that personal responsibility is a trait capable of those of African descent.

Digging deep, he uses Biblical and Roman history as examples that chattel slavery is innate in human nature.… (more)