James Henry Hammond was a popular slave owner and legislator in South Carolina from1835 to 1860 1 . He owned about 300 slaves in his plantation in the south of about twenty-two miles, largely producing cotton 2 . He adversely supported the use of slaves through his numerous speeches; how he treated slaves in his plantation he regarded as the model plantation. Hammond also co-authored a book The Pro-Slavery Argument that enhanced his sentiments and perspectives on slavery justification 3 . Thus, it is essential to examine the reasons why he supported and defended slavery based in South Carolina, United States.
Declining the View That All Men Are Equal
James Hammond as governor and later senator constantly argued and considered absurd, the notion of equality in the division of labor. He propagated that menial duties be done by a specific section of people in society 4 . On the other hand, he emphasized that there should be a social class that governed, managed, and made laws for the rest to ensure organization and order. These perspectives were the mudsill of society, a theory that supported the upper class and lower class levels of society.
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The Economy of South Carolina Was Boosted By the Plantations
Hammond sought slavery as a form of the cheap labor force, owning 300 slaves himself. The oppression ensured maximum yields and long working hours, aimed at maximizing productivity and eventually profit. Henry Hammond further justified slavery stating that it was the control of inferior human beings. He defended this reliance on slaves as the cornerstone of the South Carolinian economy. His focus was mainly on cotton yield. On March 4, 1858 5 , once in the senate insinuating that cotton was king, his primary focus was on ultimate social status and economy, and never on the workers’ welfare.
Conclusion
It is evident that James Henry Hammond was a propagator of slavery in South Carolina. He enhanced his perspectives by defending them in the senate. Moreover, during his term as the governor, he vehemently defended it. He actualized it through enforcing this treatment on his slaves in his plantation. Among the most prominent of his reasons to be a pro-slavery crusader was that slavery boosted the economy, created a balance in the classes of society (upper level and lower class), division of labor, and insisting that in society, there ought to be a fraction of people to do menial duties.
Bibliography
Rule, Gag. "In 1836, the US House of Representatives approved the “gag rule,” a series of measures that silenced." The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History (2015): 416.
Lewis, Kay Wright. "Slave Against Slave: Plantation Violence in the Old South by Jeff Forret." Journal of Southern History 83, no. 1 (2017): 155-156.
1 Rule, Gag. "In 1836, the US House of Representatives approved the “gag rule,” a series of measures that silenced." The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History (2015): 416
2 Lewis, Kay Wright. "Slave Against Slave: Plantation Violence in the Old South by Jeff Forret." Journal of Southern History 83, no. 1 (2017): 155-156.
3 Lewis, Kay Wright. "Slave Against Slave: Plantation Violence in the Old South by Jeff Forret." Journal of Southern History 83, no. 1 (2017): 155-156.
4 Rule, Gag. "In 1836, the US House of Representatives approved the “gag rule,” a series of measures that silenced." The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History (2015): 416
5 Rule, Gag. "In 1836, the US House of Representatives approved the “gag rule,” a series of measures that silenced." The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History (2015): 416
