American Slavery was not the Vast Evil it is Portrayed as

Thanks for the great post and arguments. Since this debate goes five rounds I wish not to respond here, I will add to the content from my original post instead.Master/Slave Relationship “Domestic slaves were almost uniformly dealt with indulgently and ever affectionately by their masters... the greater part of slave owners were humane in their treatment of their slaves- kind indulgent, not over exacting and sincerely interested in the physical well being of their dependents" -President Woodrow Wilson“It may be said than no other economic system before or since that time has engendered a bond of personal affection between capital and labour so strong as that established by the institution of slavery” -Dr Henry A. White, History professor at Washington and Lee University in 1900 The normal depiction of slavery is a racist white owner standing there with a whip, who cares nothing of his slaves. He beats them regularly and forces them to work all day. He is willing to kill what he paid for, if they are out of line. He views the slave as a less evolved animal. The truth is much different. While there was the “evil” master who did horrible things, that was the exception, not the rule. As was said of the cruel slave master, he was cruel to all, even his own kids. Slaves and their master typically had a good relationship that was beneficial to both parties. Often the relationship was more like a family than one owning the other. Most all slaves were born in America. They grew up with, played with, worked with, and often ate with their future masters (the children of the current master). It was normal for future masters to use family names, such as aunt or uncle for the slaves. Slave narratives speak of future masters as children (these future white masters) being shown to use guns, fish, hunt, etc. by their slaves and forming family like relationships with them. Most white children on plantations were “raised as much by black woman as a white woman.” Slave women often worked in the house, cooking, cleaning, and also raising and schooling the master’s children. “No prophet in early times could have told that kindness would grow as a flower from soil so faul, that slaves would come to be cherished not only as property of high value but as loving if lowly friends” -Ulrich B Phillips, Life and Labor in the Old South Most slave owners had very few slaves and worked along with them, lived with them, and were buried with them. Large plantation owners were like large business and industry owners in north, they often did not work with their employees. They did work to build the place up, often doing so away from the plantation. In the slave narratives, 60-80% could not say anything negative about their masters. How many of us could say the same about their boss today? Studying the slave narratives in South Carolina, Belina Hurmence said she found “little to no anger towards masters.” After the Civil war there are multiple accounts of slaves bringing food and money to former masters who had lost it all in the war. Mary Chestnut, a slave owner who was anti-slavery, said “they are so well situated and so cuddled by us that it is sometimes easy to forget that slavery is an evil.” She would also write that often it was the masters who took orders from the slaves. “With a family of more than 200 moths looking up to me for food, I feel lawful charge on my hands it is easy to rid myself of burden if I could shut my heart to the cry of humanity and the voice of duty. But in these poor slaves I have found my best and most faithful friends and I feel that it would be more difficult to abandon them to cruel fate to which our laws would consign them, than to suffer with them” -John Randolph, slave owner in 1814 “I was raised by one of the greatest men in the world. There was never one born of a woman greater than Gen. Robert E. Lee, according to my judgment. All of his servants were set free ten years before the war, but all remained on the plantation until after the surrender.”-William Mack Lee, Robert E. Lee’s servant “I loved him, and I can say that every colored man he ever owned loved him” -Former slave of CSA president Jefferson Davis of Mississippi "De war broke out an' up-sot everything. I never can fer-get the de day dat Mars had to go. When he tole us good by every slave on the place collected 'round him an' cried, afraid he would never git back. We loved him an' de slaves stuck by him while he wuz away, de bes' hit could be wid de cavalrymen a taking an' a destroyin....When de war ended ole Mars....came home an' hit wuz a big day of rejoicin. We wuz so glad he come back safe to us." -Dave Walker, Mississippi Slave Narratives "My young marster used to work in de field wid us, til he went to de war, an' he'd boss de niggers. dey called him bud, but we all called him Babe. I sho did love dat boy. I loved him."-Susan Snow, Mississippi Slave Narratives "Master Joel musta been bawn on a sun shinny day 'cause he sho was bright an' good natured. Ever nigger on the plantation loved him lak he was sent from heaven." -Lightin' Mathews, Alabama Slave Narrative"My master was the best in the country” -John Smith, Alabama Slave Narratives “The rest of the family was all fine folks and good to me, but I loved Miss Ella better ’n anyone or anything else in the world. She was the best friend I ever had. If I ever wanted for anything, I just asked her and she give it to me or got it for me somehow.” -Slave L. Betty Cofer Slave Narratives “When marster died, that was the time of my first real sorrow. Three years later, missus passed away, that was the time of my second sorrow. Then, I reminded myself of a little tree out there in the woods in November. With every sharp and cold wind of trouble that blowed, more leaves of that tree turned loose and went to the ground, just like they was trying to follow her. It seemed like, when she was gone, I was just like that tree with all the leaves gone, naked and friendless. It took me a long time to get over all that; same way with the little tree, it had to pass through winter and wait on spring to see life again." -Ezra Adams, South Carolina Slave Narratives “My children, black and white” -Slave owner Jane Gill of Missouri “I loved him, and I can say that every colored man he ever owned loved him” -Former slave of CSA president Jefferson Davis Mississippi “I sho would rather have slavery days back if I could have my same good master...I ant never got over being abel to see marse Alec no more..us sho did have de best marster in de world. If ever a man went to heaven, mars Alec did. I sho does wish our good old marster was livin now” -Georgia Backer Georgia Slave NarrativesTreatment of Slaves [South] and Free Blacks [North/ Europe] “They fare better than the poor of any of our citizens are more warmly clad, work less, and are a thousand-fold more cheerful and contented”-Daniel Hundley viewed slavery in Alabama“The free colored people were looked upon as an inferior caste to whom liberty was a curse, and their lot worse than that of slaves” -Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison Biography To many, the treatment of blacks in the south under slavery was far better not only than that of free blacks in the north, but that of the white industrial workers in Europe and America as well. A Nobel Prize winning book written by Robert Fogel, Time on the Cross, showed that the slaves in the south were treated better than slaves anywhere in world, and treated better than free blacks in the north and factory workers in the north. They worked less, were fed more, received better medical care, and had more living area. Free blacks in the north had higher death rates than southern slaves. In 1860, the population growth was 23% for southern slaves and 1.7% for free northern blacks. After the war, very few slaves left for the north, as they felt their treatment was better in the south than it would be in the north. During the war the slaves could have easily raised up and freed themselves as the north called them to do, but as slave owning Kate Stone said “we would be helpless should the negros rise since there are few men left at home. It is only because negros do not want to kill us that we are still alive.” During the war, the south was first to use blacks in the military and gave them equal pay, while the north did not. The south was first to appoint black officers in the war. A slave from Missouri said “colored people and whites associate more in the south than in the north. They go to parties together, dance together, colored people enjoy themselves more in the south.” “The prejudice of color is not nearly as strong in the south as the north [in the south] it is not at all uncommon to see black slaves of both sexes shake hands with white people when they met. And interchange friendly personal inquiries, but at the north I do not remember to have witnessed this once neither Boston, NY, Philadelphia would white persons generally like to be seen shaking hands with black in the streets” -English abolitionist James S Buckingham in 1842“The prejudice of the race appears to be stronger in the states which have abolished slavery, than in those were it still exists” -Frenchmen Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy in America“It has struck me that the slaves there are much better off in many respects than the poor in England who are doomed to labors and starve” -1824, Mary Helan Herring Middelton “Our plan is more profitable [non slave factory workers] we take care of no children or sick people, except as paupers, while owners of slaves have to provide for them from birth till death” -John Haley, 17th Maine “Negro woman are carrying black and white babies together in arms, black and white children are playing together out of doors, to see the train go by” -Northerner Fredrick Olmsted, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave StatesRefrences add to op refrences Everything You Were Taught About American Slavery Is Wrong Lochlainn Seabrook Sea raven press 2014