American Slavery was not the Vast Evil it is Portrayed as

Thanks for presenting the con in this debate. SourcesWiki may use good sources at times, however we must assume wiki is using these sources properly. There is no good reason to assume this is done. That is why I have given direct sources from slaves and observes of slavery to support my points. You have yet to use a direct source.fallaciesI think if the audience were to reread your first two responses, they would be able to connect the fallacies. Space is always limited."millions of people died as they crossed the "Middle Passage"That is why this debate is on American slavery. Not the slave trade that was outlawed in 1807."Pro admits that slavery was completely evil"This debate it simply to show that slavery was not the evil as portrayed, not that evil did not exist at any time.African slaveryThe point was that American slavery elevated the African slave, thus American slavery was beneficial to the African slave.Runaways slavesI said the vast majority of slaves did not run away nor wanted to. Yes thousands ran away, millions chose not to. In fact many slaves wished slavery never ended and wanted back in slavery. “I' seems to think us have more freedom when us slaves” -Abmstead Barrett Texas narratives“Freedom is all right, but de negro was better off befo' surrender”-Temple Durham,North Carolina Narratives“Before two years had passed after the surrender, there was two out of every three slaves who wished they was back with their marsters.--Slave Patsy Mitchner Narratives“Things sure better long time ago then they be now. I know it. Colored people never had no debt to pay in slavery time. Never hear tell about no colored people been put in jail before freedom. Had more to eat and more to wear then, and had good clothes all the time ’cause white folks furnish everything, everything. Had plenty peas,rice, hog meat, rabbit, fish, and such as that.”-Sylvia Cannon, South Carolina Narratives" I wish times were like they use to be when we belonged to the white folks; we had better times then."-Ben Wall, Mississippi Narratives“I was happy all de time in slavery days, but dere ain’t much to git happy over now…”-Mary Rice, Alabama NarrativesFor more See Look Away! a Politically Incorrect History of Slaveryhttp://www.twcenter.net...=Slaves were raped, beaten, no protectionCon has said I have ignored her proof that slaves were commonly raped, beaten and all kinds of evils done. I must be clear, I do not take any source you have presented as support of your position. While they may be correct in some places, they are not first hand observation. Every single claim you have made about universal rapping, beatings etc are refuted by first hand observation and testimony by slaves themselves. You can for sure point to hundred or even thousands of evils done over the course of hundreds of years of American slavery. However it still ignores millions of slaves that were treated well. But since you have claimed so many times I must respond.Laws recognized slaves as both property and persons with rights. There were laws to protect the slave from beatings, rape, and murder or “Threat to life and limb.” Rape laws in Virginia gave equal protection to slaves as any white woman would receive. Slaves had equal rights to defend themselves “life and limb,” and could (and did) by law kill a master in defense of life. In Virginia, a master was convicted of murder in the first degree for whipping his slave that resulted in death, even though it was unintended to result in death, he still received first degree instead of manslaughter. Laws made the master provide for all the medical needs of a slave “as own child.” Slave’s children’s care was the master’s responsibility as well. The master was responsible to take care of the slave’s well being after their work life was completed. If the slave worked hard during their life, the master would repay them with care. If the master did not take care of sick and old slaves, the others would not work hard; that is why so few older slaves ever ran away. The master, by law, had to care for sick and old slaves.Corporal punishment was the typical mode of correction in American society of the day. It was used by slave parents on their children and white parents on their own children. In Virginia (and other states in south) slave parents had a reputation for being more severe in punishment of their children than the slave masters were. Masters at times had to come in and stop a slave parent from the excessive punishment of their children. Whites viewed slave mothers as lesser parents because of their harsh punishment of children. At the same time, England and the North used whips on kids and wives as legal corporal punishment. Whippings were used in military discipline as well. Black soldiers during the war whipped white civilians, Blacks whipped their wives, and teachers used a rod/whip in schools; it was common practice within the laws in America. Whippings produced nearly crime free societies. Yes, it was abused and overused, but these cases were rare and illegal. Charles Lyell noted how Negro crime in the 1830's was almost nonexistent; he said the Irish in a few years had done far worse than Negroes had through a hundred years“Crime was practically unknown and Mr. Ross slaves never heard of a jail until they were freed”-Della Briscoe Georgia narrativesCorporal punishment could be used on slaves, but not as to harm to “life or limb.” Some masters would not use the whip at all and fire any overseer who used one. The majority of surviving plantation manuals either did not allow whipping, or only did under dire circumstances. Others had laws such as: no whippings until a 24 hour period passed from the time of the crime. Some said, “Not to cut the skin when punishing, nor punish with passion.” Usually a trial was held on the plantation with other slaves as witnessesbefore any whipping could take place. Many slaves had never received a whipping in their entire life; whippings were uncommon. Normally rewards were given to promote good work, rather than punishments which tied to force good behavior. Such rewards could come in the form of cash bonuses, whiskey, tobacco, land, and food. Overuse of the whip caused negative effects and production. Whip marks show an uncontrollable slave and reduce their value; it decreases the moral of that slave and thus others production drops.In the slave narratives, many slaves say they deserved the whippings they got for stealing and other wrong doings. Some say they were thankful for the lesson; many others were not bitter because the punishment either taught them to not steal, be “wild,” or because they thought they deserved the ones they got. Often times slaves were in control of the plantation and even the punishments. The owners generally were busy in advertising the product, the purchase of equipment, buying new land, constructing new buildings, negotiations, etc. On large plantations, 70% of overseers who were in charge of punishments were black, meaning that more blacks than whites used the whip for punishments on larger plantations. One observer from Scotland said, “The driver is always a black man.” These overseers were often “consulted” by owners for suggestions to improve plantation life and production. However the most common ill treatment of slaves involved heavy punishment; in most cases to which there were laws in place to protect against it.‘The Overseer must never on any occasion–unless in self-defense–kick a negro, or strike with his hand, or a stick, or the butt-end of his whip.’ Throughout the South, publicists denounced as un-Christian masters who mistreated those placed under their authority, and stressed the need for ‘moderate’ predictable punishment for offenses that were clearly spelled out. Such guidelines were dictated not simply by the much-vaunted ‘love’ that masters felt for their slaves, but also by intensely practical considerations: observant slave owners learned by experience that continual, random, or extreme punishment was likely to be counterproductive, producing confusion and seething resentment rather than cheerful and orderly deportment.-Peter Kolchin, American Slavery, 1619-1877 Conclusions I have presented my case from original sources including those who directly obersved slavery, historians, and slaves themselves. Hopefully with the small space I have had available I have begun to show that American slavery is not the vast, universal evil as is commonly presented. To object cons arguments can really be summed up in either to call some of my observers white, or to make the case evil things did happen. To this I agree evil things happened in slavery as in any institution ever made. If we accept that any evil within makes itself evil, than there is nothing that is not evil, I used the family as an example. Con wants us to believe that because hundreds or thousands of cases of evil where done over hundreds of years, that the millions of slaves that were treated fairly, don't count. In cons responses you will find this over and over The Fallacy of Begging the Question. Con has not dealt with the direct historical observation of slaves, nor the slaves testimony themselves. Con will claim with no first hand backing, than assume its true and so therefore anything against this must be wrong, because con assumes so on the outset. Main References -Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project-Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery by Robert William Fogel and Stanley Engermann 1974 W.W Norton and company NY,NY.-Myths & Realities of American Slavery John C Perry 2011-Everything You Were Taught About American Slavery Is Wrong Lochlainn Seabrook 2014-Myths of American slavery Walter D Kennedy 2003 Pelican publishing company