Slavery Supports Our Nation

James Henry Hammond was an attorney, politician, and a planter from South Carolina. He believed slavery was crucial for helping the north and the south. James Henry Hammond had a plantation and owned over 300 slaves. In his speech, Mudsill of Society, he expresses many views. One of his views was that in all social systems there must be a class to do the unskilled duties and to perform the labor of life. That is, a class requiring a low order of intellect and little skill. This class must be present or the other class which leads progress, civilization, and refinement would not exist. It constitutes the very mud-sill of society and of political government; and you might as well attempt to build a house in the air, as to build either the one or the other, except on this mud-sill. Fortunately for the South, we found a race adapted to that purpose. A race inferior to us, but extremely qualified in temper, in vigor, in obedience, in capacity to stand the climate, to answer all our purposes. James Henry Hammond believed that this is what slaves were made for. He agreed with some of the religious beliefs that slaves were born as the inferior race and that this is the job that suited them and they were made to assist others. It was never a second thought to him because this is what he held true about them. As a Senator he gave many speeches and one phrase he became famous for is "Cotton is King." He believed that this was where all the economical success came from. This was extremely important to because of how much land he owned and all the profit he gained from it.

Sources:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3439.html

http://cghs.dadeschools.net/slavery/defense_of_slavery/hammond.htm