Artifact 3 :

 Document Interpretation   
 In this primary source George Fitzhugh expresses his opinions on slavery. This document was
written in 1854 and tries to do exactly what It is titled, justify slavery. In one of my past
document interpretations I had also written about one of Fitzhughs writings as well. He is known
to be for pro-slavery and uses religion to justify it. He critiques the northern states and France by
stating that they have failed in trying to practice socialism. He claims that France and the other
states have compromised rather than pushed forward for what he believes the future should be. In
this sense he says that because of their failure there are now riots, revolution etc. His opinion on
women is absolutely insane. He believes a woman's role in society is to be dependent on a man
in order to even exist. He also expresses that the reason they will never be equal to one another
because a woman could never be as strong as a man, physically and mentally. "We do not set
children and women free because they are not capable of taking care of themselves, not equal to
the constant struggle of society. To set them free would be to give the lamb to the wolf to take
care of," (Fitzhugh). This statement in particular truly sums up his idea of woman. He perceives
them as weak and 'grown-up children'. 
 He justifies slavery to be superior to free labor because he strongly believes that it will keep the
peace amongst the people. In keeping slavery there will be no competition in work as there
would be in free labor. He continues to reiterate that the dependency on man is what keeps
everything afloat. " A state of independence always begets more or less of jealous rivalry and
hostility. A man loves his children because they are weak, helpless and dependent; he loves his
wife for similar reasons." (Fitzhugh). In saying this Fitzhugh is really showing that he believes
men are superior. He ends his statement by saying " Nature compels master and slave to be
friends; nature makes employers and free laborers enemies."  (Fitzhugh). I believe this is a very
expected way for him to end to his statements. In my opinion Fitzhugh was a very close-minded
man. He was very set in his way and the only reason he has so many supporters was because at
the time Americans were doing anything they possibly could to hold onto slavery. As stated
previously by John Green to understand slavery completely you have to understand the
economics of it. It had brought an incredible amount of money in for slave owners, and even
those who did not have slave owners they still supported it because as long as slaves existed they
would always be greater than a certain group in society. 
 During this time so much had started changing, woman were becoming more powerful, more
and more people started speaking up and actively tried ending slavery. Men had been so used to
always being in power and controlling the nation that they were taken aback when rebellions
started happening. Fitzhugh was one of those men and this document shows that, he did
everything and said everything he possibly could to help men stay in power and keep the
dependency on them.