Question/Problem 3: How did ideas and events contribute to the conflict between North and South?

George Fitzhugh, a writer from Virginia, was the most articulate defender of the institution of slavery. Read the following excerpts from his pamphlet entitled "Sociology For The South" and answer the questions below.

...slaves are always dependent, never the rivals of their master. Hence, though men are often found at variance with wife or children, we never saw one who did not like his slaves, and rarely a slave who was not devoted to his master. 'I am thy servant !' Disarm me of the power of master. Every man feels the beauty, force and truth of this sentiment of Sterne. But he who acknowledges its truth, tacitly admits that dependence is a tie of affection, that the relation of master and slave is one of mutual good will.... The slave always has a home, always an interest in the proceeds of the soil.... At the slaveholding South all is peace, quiet, plenty and contentment. We have no mobs, no trades unions, no strikes for higher wages, no armed resistance to the law, but little jealousy of the rich by the poor. We have but few in our jails, and fewer in our poor houses. We produce enough of the comforts and necessaries of life for a population three or four times as numerous as ours. We are wholly exempt from the torrent of pauperism, crime, agrarianism, and infidelity which Europe is pouring from h er jails and alms houses on the already crowded North. Population increases slowly, wealth rapidly....Wealth is more equally distributed than at the North, where a few millionaires own most of the property of the country.

From Eric L. McKitrick, ed., Slavery Defended--The Views of the Old South
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc., 1963), pp. 34-50.

1. What reason does Fitzhugh offer for a slave's loyalty to his master?

2. What kind of picture does Fitzhugh offer of life in the South?

3. What justification does he give for his remarks?

4. The majority of Southern whites did not own slaves. Why do you think Fitzhugh made the statement "Wealth is more equally distributed?"