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<title> "The argument has commenced. . . . Slavery will every where be abolished, or every where be re-instituted." </title>
A much used argument for slavery comes from the Bible (Genesis 9:25-27) where Noah's son Ham (from whom the peoples of Africa are said to have descended) is cursed by his father and condemned to be but a slave to his brothers. Frederick Douglass refers to this passage on page 8, but also disputes it, saying that with the great amount of children being born of mixed parentage, it can hardly be claimed that only the linear descendants of Ham are being enslaved.

The Biblical argument for slavery is, however, not the only one. George Fitzhugh has three main arguments for why it is not only right, but commendable for whites to enslave blacks. His first is that the negro "is but a grown up child and must be governed like a child . . . The master occupies towards him the place of parent or guardian." (p.9) Secondly, he continues, like a child the slave would, were it not for his master's care, soon starve to death because of his improvidence, since he "will not lay up in summer for the wants of winter; will not accumulate in youth for the exigencies of age." His third argument is simply that the white race is far superior to the black one. Embellishing his final statement, Fitzhugh describes how "[t]he African cannibal, caught, christianized and enslaved, is . . . elevated by slavery". He also states that the reason for slavery not being changed to, for instance, serfdom, is that the black race lacks the necessary intelligence to manage a farm without supervision.

Fitzhugh's arguments meet resistance in William Lloyd Garrison, who quotes Frederick Douglass's statement that "slavery was a poor school for the human intellect and heart" (page 1). Garrison later continues by saying: "Nothing has been left undone to cripple their intellects, darken their minds, debase their moral nature, obliterate all traces of their relationship to mankind" (3). He praises Mr Douglass profoundly and states early on that the former slave was "[c]apable of high attainments as an intellectual and moral being", thus disputing Fitzhugh's argument that the black race is inferior to the white race in terms of intellect. Later on he states that "the white slave can sink as low in the scale of humanity as the black one." (3)

Another argument for slavery that shines through in Fitzhugh's writings is that there are other kinds of slavery, just as cruel, that get no attention from abolitionists, such as the "enslavement" of wives and apprentices, soldiers and children. So why should one kind of slavery be abolished, when others are not? This view is echoed in William J. Grayson's poem The Hireling and the Slave, where the slave's life is described as joyful compared to the English pauper's, something which the wealthy of Britain fail to notice. On page 16 we can read:

"The tear of sympathy forever flows, 
Though not for Saxon or for Celtic woes;
. . .
But that the distant black may softlier fare,
Eat, sleep and play, exempt from toil and care" 

Grayson also agrees with Fitzhugh that blacks are better off as slaves, since they lack the intelligence and providence to manage as freemen, and adds that the blacks are happy in their enslavement, something that white paupers cannot be said to be. He describes the hireling's life as follows (14):

"Free but in name - the slaves of endless toil
. . . 
In squalid hut - a kennel for the poor,
Or noisome cellar, stretched upon the floor,
His clothing rags, of filthy straw his bed"

He then compares it to the life of the slave (page 17):

"Light daily labour, and abundant food,
The sturdy health, that temperate habits yield,
The cheerful song, that rings in every field,
The long, loud laugh, that freemen seldom share"

Frederick Douglass's narrative of his life contradicts the views put forth by Fitzhugh and Grayson on the slave's easy life. He describes the custom of separating mother from child one year after its birth and writes: "For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child's affection towards its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the inevitable result." (7) He also states that the punishment for not being in the field at dawn was a whipping, and physical punishment for disobedience appears to be common. Garrison tells of an incident in Maryland, where a slave got shot for disobedience and the white master responsible for his death went unpunished.

As for the kindness of the masters - whom Fitzhugh refers to as 'guardians' and whose rule Grayson calls light - Douglass tells of an incident involving an aunt of his and their master after she had disobeyed him: "He then said to her, 'Now, you d-d b-h, I'll learn you how to disobey my orders!' and after rolling up his sleeves, he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red, blood (amid heart-rending shrieks from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor." (21) The master's sexual abuse of Douglass's aunt is left unsaid, but well understood in the surrounding paragraphs.
* * *
	 Lastly, Pollard and Fitzhugh seem to draw a comparison between ancient Greece and the Roman Empire on one hand and the American South of the 19th century on the other, since slavery was used in all three societies. Pollard states that "[s]lavery established in the South a peculiar and noble type of civilization", and then goes on describing the many noble traits of that society, many of which are typical of the Romantic view of ancient Greece, for instance chivalry, an elevated culture and education (20). Fitzhugh writes the following: "We need never have white slaves in the South, because we have black ones. Our citizens, like those of Rome and Athens, are a privileged class." Of course, this argument is only valid when black people are regarded as inferior to white people.
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