Slavery - Southern White Slaveholder Guilt - 3179 Words

Guilt is an inevitable effect of slavery. For no matter how much rhetoric and racism is poured into such a system, the simple fact remains that men are enslaving men. Regardless of how much inferior a slaveholder may perceive his slaves, it is obvious that his property looks similar, has similar needs, and has similar feelings. There is thus the necessary comparison of situations; the slaveholder is free, the slaves in bondage - certainly a position that the slaveholder would find most disagreeable. So there is no doubt that any slaveholder with any measure of humanity within himself would feel guilt. And in fact, as the evidence is considered - including the proslavery propaganda - the reality of southern guilt is overwhelmingly†¦show more content†¦The only answer for this can be because Leubal was motivated by some internal need to help her because of her humanity. He felt it was somehow his duty to keep her because she was a human being and he identified with her sufferi ng. She suffered because she was a slave, and because he was a crucial element of the system that hurt her so, Leubal felt obliged to make amends. At his personal economic expense, he decided to ease his conscience and do something that would be out-of-the-ordinary for any slaveholder of the time. To alleviate his guilt, he offered humanity. Leubal was a slaveholder whose conscience would not let him treat humans as property.2 It is possible to argue that Leubal was simply a kind man, an aberration to the society of slaveholding men. However, if we examine him closely, we will see that his kindness toward Jeanette could not be applied universally, because it would cause an economic disaster. So his action is most realistically viewed as a special circumstance. Leubal kept slaves to make money, but he certainly deplored certain aspects of slavery, and because he contributed to the system, those aspects were partly his responsibility. To accept the peculiar institution, he had to redeem it by easing the weight of its pain upon him - the pain of guilt. Likewise, a letter from a slave, Eavans McCrery, to his mistress shows that he is being treated more as an equal than as property. 3 He has been taught to read by aShow MoreRelatedThe Slavery Of The South1561 Words   |  7 Pages was highly dependent upon the institution of slavery. It was still primarily an agricultural society that needed as many laborers as possible in order for the plantation owners to make ends meet. According to historian Douglas Harper, â€Å"In 1793 came the cotton gin, which brought a 50-fold increase in the average daily output of short-staple cotton, promoted the rapid expansion of a ‘cotton kingdom’ across the Deep South, and made large-scale slavery profitable.† Because of this, the slave becameRead MoreWhy Slavery Is Deeply Rooted Within The South Essay1715 Words   |  7 Pagesknow why slavery is deeply rooted within the South. There are many reasons for this, down south, slavery is a way of life for economic standards and has b een a way of life for many generations that are on the plantations and farms. Since it is one of the main sources of income, alongside exporting materials such as, cotton, tobacco, rice, and lumber (p.84). There are also other justifications as to why there is a need to keep slavery down in the Southern. Those justifications to keep slavery in theRead MoreSlavery And Politics : Celia, A Slave1091 Words   |  5 PagesSlavery and Politics Celia, a Slave was a truthful elucidation of one disengaged episode that delineated basic slave dread amid the prior to the war time of the United States. Melton A. McLaurin, utilized this record of a youthful slave lady s battle through the undeserved hardships of assault and unfairness to disclose to today s guileless society a superior delineation of what servitude could have been similar to. 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