Victoria Hernandez

Professor Lubisich
History 7A / #73086
27 November 2015
George Fitzhugh: The Blessings of Slavery
Fitzhugh tries to argue that slavery is a good thing compared to the white slavery of his
day. The white slavery he is talking about is the unfair working conditions of free people, who
work very hard and get little in return. He claims that the employers were the ones who took
advantage of the white laborers. Free people worked hard during holidays while slaves had those
days off, including the Sabbath. From what is seen in the excerpt, Fitzhugh mostly tried to justify
slavery and explain that it is not as bad as it seems. He tries to explain that it is natural and it is
common among other cultures. He explains that slavery prospers more when different races are
involved because servitude under a master of the same race is not very well practiced. He gave
the example of the Jews who also have slavery laws, but not that many people take advantage
of them, which is what leads to importing servants from other countries.
Fitzhugh continues with his comparisons by saying that the Romans and the Greeks had
their slaves who were educated and helped with the economy of those empires. They were
skillful in ways that they could make goods and even sell them if they could while the masters
sat idly by and had them do the work for them. Though, in his day, slaves did not have many
skills that can be put to use and they were also not very well educated. In which case, it left the
market wide open for free people to make profit and monopolize if they could. Overall, the
excerpt explains that slaves do not have much of an option when it comes to being free or
enslaved. They are better off being slaves because they do not have an education that can help

them economically and they are taken care of by their owners. Fitzhugh tries to show slavery in a
kinder light that shows that owners are not very abusive. Owners let slaves live on their property
and have the freedom to work on the land and enjoy the sun. They do not work more than 9
hours a day, the children are free to be in the field and watch their parents work, women are not
forced to work in such rough conditions, husbands usually take the punishment of their wives if
needed, and all slaves usually work in good weather. On the other hand, free workers have to
deal with the stress of working hard and not getting much pay for it in return. The author seems
to think of slaves as large children who cannot take care of themselves and are better off staying
enslaved.