ied." If a man hired a white laborer who robbed him, he
dismissed the worker, who was then sentenced to prison, thus
disgracing his family, which then suffered from lack of support. On
the other hand, a master could not discharge his slave, but whipped
and corrected him. After the whipping the Negro felt no bad
consequence and his family did not suffer from his wrong doings. It
was asserted that the slave was happy and loved his master as a
father, "looking up to him as his supporter, director, and defender."
Dew inquired: "Why, then, since the slave is happy and happiness is
the great object of all animated creation, should we endeavor to
disturb his contentment by infusing into his mind a vain and
indefinite desire for liberty, a something which he can not comprehend
and which must inevitably dry up every source of his happiness?"

But the chief argument advanced was that slavery was the price of
prosperity and progress of the South. The North had a moderate climate
because of the sea breeze and elevation, and thus white men were able
to till the soil, while the intense heat of the South rendered it
impossible for the white man to work in the fields and made a large
supply of black men necessary. As Harper said, "The products of slave
labor furnished more than two-thirds of the materials of our commerce,
employed in transporting and exchanging; and among the slaveholding
States is to be found the greater market for all the productions of
their industry, of whatever kind. The prosperity of those States,
therefore, and the civilization of their cities have been for the most
part created by the existence of slavery." In addition, slavery
released the planter from manual labor and gave him more time to
cultivate his mind, and thus the Southern planter was highly educated,
cultured, and refined. In the mind of the planter, slavery was "the
defence of human civilization." Students of economics, however, saw
that it was an evil which had to pass away.

FRANCES L. HUNTER

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Muzzey, _History of the United States_, p. 304.

[2] Ingle, _Southern Sidelights_, p. 18.

[3] _Ibid._, p. 18.

[4] Dodd, _Cotton Kingdom_, p. 71.

[5] _Ibid._, p. 72.

[6] Rhodes, _History of the United States_, Vol. I, p. 361.

[7] Ingle, _Southern Sidelights_, p. 45.

[8] _Ibid._, p. 40.

[9] DeBow, _Industrial History of the United States_, Vol. II, p. 303.

[10] Adams, _Three Mon