Proponents_Of_Slavery

Proponents Of Slavery Proponents of Slavery The debate over slavery began with the first importation of African Americans to America, and still continues today among historians. Because the Southern economy depended on slave labor, pro slavery arguments were common throughout the nation. While many Northerners as well as the British thought slavery to be morally wrong, the proponents of this “peculiar institution” cited numerous reasons why slavery was in fact beneficial to Africans in America. The articles “Thomas R. Dew, The Virtues of Slavery, The Impossibility of Emancipation” (1831) and “John C. Calhoun, Defending Slavery to the British Minister in Washington” (1844) in the American History text relay the points of view of two esteemed men pertaining to slavery in the South, and their reasoning on the matter. In his argument, Dew makes four main points. The first is that slave labor is a better investment than free labor, and that if emancipation were to occur the country’s economy would suffer. This, however, is the most obvious and self-explanatory rationale of them all. Not only is it more economically sound to have slaves, some argue that it is also more humane than free labor. He slavery, slave, labor, dew, america, slaves, proponents, free, felt, calhoun, blacks, between, two, races, points, institution, however, conditions, british, africans, working, whites, under, throughout, thought, south, slavery’s, say, same, relations, pro, point, out, opposed, one