Introduction
Thomas Dew was one of the most prominent advocates of the pro-slavery South in the 19th-century United States. He was known for his impassioned speeches defending slavery and aggressive defense of the slaveholding system. However, when we examine his arguments in support of slavery, it becomes clear how wrong and offensive they were.
Thomas Dew’s Arguments
One of Thomas Dew’s main arguments to defend slavery was that slaves were happy and grateful to their owners (Walker, 12). He argued that enslaved people could not live freely because they could not make decisions and care for themselves. Dew also believed that enslaved people were not more oppressed than free white people and that slavery was necessary for the prosperity of the Southern states.
Another argument that Thomas Dew used was that slavery was part of the “natural order of things.” He claimed that white people were superior in status to black people and that such a state of affairs was right and natural (Walker 15). Dew also asserted that enslaved people were less human than white people and were capable of more complex work.
For me personally, the most offensive argument that Thomas Dew used was his claim that enslaved people were grateful to their owners. This assertion is an example of deep contempt and disrespect for people deprived of their freedom and forced to work for their owners. Moreover, this claim had no factual basis and was simply fiction used by Dew to defend the interests of slaveholders.
Conclusion
Overall, Thomas Dew’s arguments in support of slavery were wrong and offensive. They show how cruel and unjust the slaveholding system was, which forced people to work in terrible conditions and deprived them of their freedom. Arguments like the assertion that enslaved people were happy were an apparent falsehood that was used to legitimize the criminal and incredibly cruel institution of slavery.
Work Cited
Walker, Richards. The pro-Slavery Argument: As Maintained by the Most Distinguished Writers of the Southern States, Containing the Several Essays on the Subject, of Chancellor Harper, Governor Hammond, Dr. Simms and Professor Dew, 1852.