Paper instructions:
n the decades preceding the American Civil War pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates often compared the living conditions of the working class in the North and South. Pro-slavery authors often deflected criticism of the institution of slavery with the accusation that the work force in the North, many of whom were recent immigrants, was comprised essentially of “wage-slaves”, whose living conditions were inferior to the lot of slaves in the South. Anti-slavery authors rebutted this accusation by arguing that workmen in the North were “Free Laborers” who had the potential and opportunity to escape poverty and raise their social status. In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which portrayed slavery in a very negative light. Southerners reacted strongly to this novel, often by criticizing the capitalistic system in the North. Please click and read this brief article published in 1852 by the Charleston Courier in Charleston, South Carolina. Also please read this review of this novel in 1852 in the Southern Press Review. These two articles present the pro-slavery position regarding the standard of living of southern slaves relative to the living conditions of Northern workers. To assess the validity of this position click and read these two accounts, here and here, by immigrants describing their lives in the New York City in the 1830’s and this account by two Virginia slave owners concerning the treatment of slaves around the same time. After reading these documents*, answer the questions below in an essay. Be sure to support each answer by referencing the writings of these men and relevant historical facts.
1. What arguments do the two pro-slavery authors employ to support their contention that slavery was a more humane economic system than the capitalist system in the North?
2. How does the testimonies of the two immigrants and the slave owner support and/or refute the arguments of the pro-slavery authors?
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