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Slavery Defended: The Views of the Old South
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.
We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
- GenresHistory
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First published December 1, 1963
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 9, 2019
Slavery Defended is an important collection of excerpts for a thoughtful student of history to mull. As McKitrick makes clear, much of the interest in these essays in the 1950s came from the pseudo or proto Marxist rhetoric levied in defense of slavery. Objectively, I think it is more interesting to evaluate the contortionist logic and rampant "whataboutism" as kin with a fair amount of present-day political argumentation. Make no mistake, many of these excerpts are loathsome in the extreme and difficult to read with a full stomach. Nevertheless, it is both eye-opening and enlightening to see which arguments held sway and what people believed in the lead up to the American Civil War.
On the critical side, I think that the selections in this book are uneven. They seem to have been selected based on the circulation and sway of the arguments at the time of their writing (or oration). However, as historical sources, some of them are redundant, some are obtuse and only tangential to the main thrust of the book. There really isn't any single cohesive argument. Some of the prominent defenders of slavery, like Senators Wigfall and Toombs, Confederate President Davis and Vice President Stephens, are entirely omitted. I don't their oration and writings very well, but given their famous political stands, one would tend to imagine that there were some meaningful bits of rhetoric and argumentation on record... I would have liked to read more vociferous and ferocious argumentation and less obtuse logic and forays into spurious ethnography.
On a whole though, Slavery Defended is a decent book for a student of history. I wouldn't put it at the top of any list of must reads, but there are a few selections from it that I would readily suggest to those interested in understanding the attitudes of Southern slaveholders.
On the critical side, I think that the selections in this book are uneven. They seem to have been selected based on the circulation and sway of the arguments at the time of their writing (or oration). However, as historical sources, some of them are redundant, some are obtuse and only tangential to the main thrust of the book. There really isn't any single cohesive argument. Some of the prominent defenders of slavery, like Senators Wigfall and Toombs, Confederate President Davis and Vice President Stephens, are entirely omitted. I don't their oration and writings very well, but given their famous political stands, one would tend to imagine that there were some meaningful bits of rhetoric and argumentation on record... I would have liked to read more vociferous and ferocious argumentation and less obtuse logic and forays into spurious ethnography.
On a whole though, Slavery Defended is a decent book for a student of history. I wouldn't put it at the top of any list of must reads, but there are a few selections from it that I would readily suggest to those interested in understanding the attitudes of Southern slaveholders.
July 2, 2024
I’m glad this book was put together. It is important to understand why people felt that slavery was a good thing. These also help to explain why people would fight hard to maintain the institution of slavery.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews