The document I will be interpreting this week is called, The Blessings of Slavery written by George

Fitzhugh. He is known as an American social theorist who published slave-based theories in the
nineteenth century. The passage that we are interpreting is an excerpt from Fitzhughs book titled,
Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters. This would indicate that this document is a primary source
with only one author, because it was written firsthand by Fitzhugh. The writings of Fitzhugh attempt to
explain to and convince the public of the necessity of slavery while trying to paint the average white
laborer as the real victim of human enslavement. This document was published in 1857, nearly four
years before the Civil War. Possibly, Fitzhugh expressed these theories to retain the institution that was
slavery during a time when enslavement became a real social issue. According to this weeks lecture,
most Southerners saw slavery as an unnatural and un-American, yet average white males insisted on
race supremacy. However, John Green video #24 titled, The Atlantic Slave Trade, reminds viewers that
slavery was not a result of racism alone, but economic factors played a significant role as well. In my
opinion, Fitzhugh was very radical and out of touch with the public with his views on slavery as a benefit
to the enslaved individual. The regional perspective outlined in chapter 11s lecture implied that most
white southerners felt remorse for human enslavement, but justified it as a necessary evil.

John Greens video #24 briefly touches on prior enslavement models showed by different factions of
people such as the Greeks, Romans, and Judeo-Christians. (1) Nevertheless, Fitzhugh critiques the
slavery models of the Greeks and Romans because of the enslaved individuals freedom to practice arts,
mechanics and business. According to Fitzhugh, this type of freedom would bring the industry into
disrepute, because blacks were unfitting for such crafts. Slavery in Fitzhughs time differed from slavery
in Rome and Greece primarily in how much freedom enslaved people had to practice trades.

Nonetheless, the situation regarding blacks and freedom to practice mechanical arts was not a
critical issue to Fitzhugh. (2) His concern throughout the excerpts continually lies on the suffering of the
free white laborers. He views capitalist and/or capitalism as persecutors of the free white laborer. For
example, Fitzhugh explains that a white man cannot be independent if he is working for someone else
instead of an individual working to support the white man. True success in the eyes of Fitzhugh was
becoming slave owner, because this is the only way a white man could become independent.

There is, however a key factor in terms of slavery according to Fitzhugh. For him, slavery could not
operate naturally if both ethnicities were the same. (3) Fitzhugh believed that if the enslaved person saw
their master as being a different race then they would not be ashamed about their position which could
lead to rebellion. This idea reminded me of what John Green said regarding the process of enslavement.
The only way slavery could work was with the dehumanization of the enslaved individual to make them
believe that slavery was their destiny.

In conclusion, George Fitzhugh shared his theories with the public with the hopes of having them
understand the vitalness of slavery. Furthermore, he tries to focus on the truly oppressed in his eyes
which is the average working white male. This leads me to believe that Southerners and potentially even
Northerners did not quite see slavery from the perspective in which we do now.