We Could Have Told a Different Story

We Could Have Told a Different Story After reading many accounts from slaves and comparing them to the stories of the rich white folk of the same era, we can see that the true fanatics were indeed the Southerners who supported slavery. Many of the arguments put forth by credible slaveholders proved to be full of logical fallacies and completely void of any truth based on the reports from slaves. The first and perhaps most ridiculous argument presented by Southerners was that slaves were happy. Hammond claims that slaves were "happy" and "content" while Calhoun even reasoned that "the rapid increase of numbers, is conclusive proof of the general happiness of the race, in spite of all the exaggerated tales to the contrary." From reading Harriet Jacobs and John Jacobs's works, as well as the interviews of numerous other slaves, we know that slaves were certainly not happy and that their population increase should not be contributed to their "happiness". In "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", slaves were immediately punished for anything that could be construed as joyous. Take for example the actions on page 27 of Jacobs's narrative; she describes a situation in which a slave was singing and laughing while working and then promptly chained and confined in terrible conditions. On page 89 of "When I was a Slave", Fannie Moore also revealed an instance in which a master threatened to have the overseer beat the slaves if they were to sing. Besides these examples, we have seen that there were almost no happy occasions during the life of a slave, unless maybe they were freed by a miracle or death. Another claim made by the wealthy slave-owners was that God instituted slavery. These same men often reference the Bible, quoting many verses they deem supportive of their argument. While there were servants in biblical times, we can infer that this same God would not have encouraged the prejudice that took place in the pre-Civil War era. The peculiar institution of the South was based purely on race, which is even stated in the arguments of the wealthy white men. In Alexander Stephens's Cornerstone Speech, he contended that "the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery--subordination to the superior race--is his natural and normal condition." Yet, in all of the biblical arguments, nothing was said about inferior races or enslaving a people based on prejudices. John Jacobs points out on page 289 of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" that the founders of this country stated "it is a self-evident truth that all men are created by their Maker free and equal, and endowed with certain inalienable rights--life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Based on this and their own beliefs formed about God, slaves believed, contrary to the whites, that all men were valuable in the Creator's eyes. In nearly all of the stories told by slaves, evidence of faithfulness to God can be found. Fannie Moore, on page 89 of "When I was a Slave", tells how her mother put faith in God, saying that the "Lord will show me de way." Similarly, Harriet Jacobs describes her grandmother's faith in God frequently. Harriet's brother calls attention to the Christian religion as a whole; he labels these white men as religious hypocrites. This religion that slave-owners allegedly practice teaches the opposite of what they preach. Jacobs refers to 15 Matthew 8-9, maintaining that "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vein they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." For every verse the whites connected to slavery, there is at least one that disproves the South's racial prejudices. To further support their argument for their institution, Southerners would argue that enslaving the black population helped the race. In Hammond's Mudsill Speech on page 87 of "Defending Slavery", the politician contends that slaves are "elevated from the condition in which God first created them, by being made our slaves." Calhoun advances this argument by claiming that the black race has improved and become more civilized because of the work of the whites. The politician goes so far as to say that blacks were improved not only physically, "but morally and intellectually." However, from both Harriet and John Jacobs, it is told that slaves were not educated but kept ignorant. Other slaves, like Mary Ella Grandberry, revealed that learning and teaching warranted punishment. Grandberry discloses that "de white folks didn't allow us to even look at a book" and that a scolding or whipping would be called for if a slave was found with a book. John Jacobs knew that educating a man would make him more intelligent, leading him to know he was in fact a man, and thus coming to the conclusion that he was free. Blacks were kept in the dark because ignorance protected the white man. The slave-owners claim that bringing the people of Africa here has civilized them; without colonization, they would still be barbarians. Again, it is obvious that the white man's argument is flawed. The last bit of support that those of the Deep South would grasp at was the thought of a collapse of society if slavery was abolished. Calhoun said, "Be it good or bad, it has grown up with our society and is so interwoven with them, that to destroy it would be to destroy us as a people." Aside from knowing that the country continued on and has prospered since the pre-Civil War era, it is shown in Harriet Jacobs's writing that people were able to live and thrive without slavery. When she told of stories of the North and how her brothers escaped, were people not living in harmony and doing well for themselves? Perhaps Hammond was right in saying that there will always be a lower class to do the dirty work, but were there not farmers, even free black men in the narrative of Jacobs, who labored for themselves and made a life of their own work? Perhaps this concept was difficult to grasp for the wealthy white man who depended so heavily on the labor of his slaves, but those who were eventually freed, like Mary Ella Grandberry, saw that paid labor did not cause a collapse in the economy. From these accounts of slaves, it is evident that the peculiar institution of the South was not justifiable by the arguments of the white slave-owners. Southerners grasped at far-fetched ideas and preached them to one another in order to build their credibility, but their logic was flawed.