A SOUTHERN STEWARDSHIP: THE INTELLECTUAL AND THE PROSLAVERY ARGUMENT
DREW GILPIN FA UST
University Pennsylvania of

decades before CivilWar has longpuzzledhistorians. thevery the Yet distastefulnesstheproslavery of argument intrigued has modern scholars, whohave sought understand writers thinkers-individuals to how and in manyways likethemselves-could turn their talents such abhorrent to purpose. we havetoolongregarded proslavery But the argument either as an objectofmoral outrage as a contributing oftheCivilWar.For or cause thosewhoelaborated details, hada different its it To meaning. understand howslavery's apologists cameto embrace unthinkaconclusions find we ble, we mustlook beyond polemics theslavery the of controversy. Many of the bewildering aspects of the defenseof slaveryare best as understood expressions thespecialneedsofan alienated of Southern intellectual concerned class with questions more far-reaching, insome yet waysmore immediately and of personally relevant, therights wrongs than human bondage.The Southern manof minddid notdoubtthatslavery was a social good thatcould be supported rational But by argument. in he as taking thepublicdefense thepeculiar up of institution, sought well to advance his particular a for values and to define himself respected social rolewithin culture a for known itsinhospitality letters. to that Antebellum arSoutherners themselves recognized theproslavery gument wouldachievelittle theideological in between secthe warfare tions."We think is hardly be expected,"one proslavery it to theorist concededin 1843,"thatanything which be said at thislatedate . .. can willat all diminish wrongheaded the and intolerance fanaticism perverse of the Northern This essayist'savowed aim was to do Abolitionists."

THE

SOUTH

S SYSTEMATIC

DEFENSE

OF SLAVERY

IN THE

THREE

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

64

American Quarterly

defenders slavery of similarly "good servicewithin borders";other our in more hopedto "fix" thepeculiar institution "infinitely firmly thepubargulic opinion"oftheir ownsection. The importance theproslavery of civilization itself.' ment, theseSoutherners suggest, within lay Southern makeitmorethan just The proslavery argument raisesissuesthat thus not South;itmust another thepeculiarities theperennially of of enigmatic the as be seen merely evidenceof howdifferent Old Southhad become In to justificafrom restofthenation. their the attempt createa rational defenders retionforthepeculiar institutions their of slavery's section, class, butdemvealednotonlytheworld viewoftheSouth'sintellectual in onstrated existenceof widespreadsimilarities outlookamong the on line.The proslavery argument thinkers bothsidesoftheMason-Dixon assumptions shared rested intellectual on valuesand moral-philosophical America. throughout mid-nineteenth-century A number twentieth-century of to historians have sought locate the in of of amongdifferent significance thedefense slavery theinteraction B. exgroups within antebellum the South.In 1936,William Hesseltine planter win to plained movement part an effort theupper-class the as of by to suchas CharlesG. thenonslaveholder his side. Morerecent scholars havecharacterized argument an the as Sellers,Jr.and RalphE. Morrow but other groups with attempt slaveholders establish by to peace notwith contradicby themselves, alleviating by feelings guilt of created nagging tionsbetweenslavery and America'sdemocratic creed. Although both these explanations seem plausible,thereis littleevidenceto support either. of was Overt expression class resentment antagonism rareinthe or Old South;planters' personalpapersexpressfewpangsof conscience abouttheSouthern system.2
1 [George Frederick Holmes], "On Slavery and Christianity," Southern QuarterlyReview, 3 (Jan. 1843), 252; James Henry Hammond to Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, Feb. 23, 1849,Tucker-ColemanCollection, Earl GreggSwem Library,College of Williamand Mary, Williamsburg, WilliamGilmoreSimmsexpressed his concernwithusingthe proslavery Va. argument counteractthe indifference "our people of the South" in regardto slavery's to of defense. Simms to Hammond, Apr. 10, 1845, Mary C. S. Oliphantet al., eds., Letters of WilliamGilmore Simms, 5 vols. (Columbia, S. C.: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 19521956), 2: 50-51. On the South's general inhospitality letterssee Clement Eaton, The to Freedom-of-Thought Strugglein the Old South (New York: Harper and Row, 1964). 2 Hesseltine, "Some New Aspects of the Pro-Slavery Argument,"Journal of Negro History,21 (Jan. 1936), 1-14; Morrow,"The ProslaveryArgument Revisited," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 48 (June 1961), 79-94; Sellers, "The Travail of Slavery," in Sellers, ed., The Southerneras American (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1960), 40-71. For otherproponentsof thisview see WilliamW. Freehling, Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy South Carolina, 1816-1836 (New York: Harper and in Row, 1966); and James M. McPherson, "Slavery and Race," Perspectives in American History,3 (1969), 460-73.

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A SouthernStewardship

65

WhileSellers,Hesseltine, and Morrowaccurately characterized the defenseof the peculiarinstitution a manifestation stresswithin as of Southern did society, they notseek to relate thesetensions thesocial to locations theapologists of themselves. 1970,however, In David Donald beganto explore social origins someof slavery's the of mostprominent defenders. "All," he found, "wereunhappy men"compensating "sefor verepersonal problems relating their to placeinSouthern society."Their proslavery tracts, concluded, he displayed longing escape thiscrisis a to ofsocialidentity returning a "by-gone by to pastoral Arcadia,"toa world had they lost.Slavery's defenders, Donaldcontended, shared pervasive a 3 "sense ofalienation." These feelings distance of from contemporary the worldare evident throughout proslavery writings. theydid notrepresent defensive But a andhopeless nostalgia. Manyproslavery advocates werehighly critical of theregion whosepeculiar institution hadsetforth justify, they they and to werefar from intheir consistently backward-looking views.James Henry Hammondand WilliamGilmoreSimms,two of Donald's prominent examples, thatSouthCarolina'straditiondirectly opposedthecontrol bound exerted aristocracy within state.Andinstead seeking "pasthe a of toralArcadia,"a number theseSouthern of followed lead the apologists of JamesD. B. De Bow in urging development industrial the of and commercial to enterprise reducedependence theNorth.4 on The dissatisfaction Donald identified characteristic slavery's as of dearoseless from desireto escape thepresent a fenders whathe thanfrom identified anxieties as to "relating their place in Southern society."But Donald's essay does notmakethesourceofthesetensions as clear,for,
3 Donald, "The ProslaveryArgument Reconsidered," 12, 16. Donald's interpretation of slavery's defenders seems to fit withinthe genre of "status-anxiety" interpretationsexplanationsof ideologies and social movementsas the resultof concern about changing, usually diminishing social status. Althoughhe does not explicitlyreferto "status-anxiety" in the essay on proslavery, thisframework seems implicit, forexample, in his references as, to Edmund Ruffin "frustrated,"to J. D. B. De Bow as "compensating" for his lack of as social position and to W. G. Simms as worrying about his location "on the fringesof society." Ibid., 10-11. For a similar treatment antislavery,see Donald, "Toward a of Reconsiderationof Abolitionists," in Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era (New York: Knopf, 1956), 19-36. 4 Donald, "The ProslaveryArgument Reconsidered," 17n. For a discussion of the views of Simms, Hammond,George FrederickHolmes, Nathaniel BeverleyTucker, and Edmund Ruffin these issues see Drew GilpinFaust, A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of theIntellecon tual in the Old South, 1840-1860 (Baltimore:JohnsHopkins Univ. Press, 1977). Fitzhugh also encouragedeconomic diversification. See, forexample, "Make Home Attractive,"De Bow's Review, 28 (June 1860), 624. On De Bow as an advocate of industry see Ottis C. Skipper, D. B. De Bow, Magazinistof theOld South (Athens:Univ. of GeorgiaPress, 1958); J. and the James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow Letters and Papers, ManuscriptDivision, WilliamPerkinsLibrary,Duke Univ.

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

66

American Quarterly

hisarticle indicates, proslavery advocates camefrom widely varied social positions. Hammond, example,was descendedfrom for New England stockof no particular distinction recognized he had "sprung and that up mass from amongst greatundistinguished of the people." Indeed, the and wealth prominence theCarolinian of journalist Bow citedthelater De as living within region. proof thereality socialmobility of of the Simms, Irishimmigrant, James whose son of a bankrupt and HenleyThornwell, was an overseer, father similarly themselves felt strangers the South to Carolina elite.Like Hammond, birth they hopedto gainplacesto which gavethem little claim.By contrast, other apologists slavery for camefrom moreelevatedsocial positions. EdmundRuffin, and GeorgeFitzhugh, Nathaniel for from weredescended Beverley Tucker, example, Virginia's finest blood, and theymight accurately described aristocrats be as of declining status.5 These objectivedifferences amongthe lives of slavery'sdefenders suggest the need to explainthe social contextof theirideas in more the complextermsthansimplemovement and down within social up hierarchy. Although Ruffin's Tucker'ssocialstatus and mayhavebeenin somesensedeclining, whileHammond's, were Simms',and Thornwell's rising, thesemenshared feelings anxiety of aboutthevery uncertainty of their situations. And thisuncertainty arose not so muchfrom objective as economic class position from or own conception themselves of their and their rolein Southern society. Slavery'sdefenders weretheSouth's intellectuals. Authors proslavery of tracts werenotforthemostpartthe
5Hammond to ColonelH. Caughman, Dec. 29, 1833,James Henry Hammond Papers, Manuscript Division, Library Congress, of hereafter citedas Hammond Papers,LC. De

Bow discusses Hammond in The Interestin Slaveryof the SouthernNon-Slaveholder; The Right of Peaceful Secession; The Character and Influence of Abolitionism(Charleston:

and JonL. Wakelyn,The Politics ofa Literary Man: WilliamGilmoreSimms (Westport, Ct.:

Evans and Cogswell, 1860),10. The issue of Simms'origins complex. is His nineteenthcentury biographer William Peterfield Trent stressed Simms' lowly origins, laterscholbut arshavefound Trent's descriptions exaggerated, they for point one ofSimms' to ancestors Simms'position in and whofought theRevolution another whowas a sizablelandholder. was unclear himself wellas tohisnumerous to as he biographers. Unquestionably, however, perceived himself be verydistant to from traditional the SouthCarolina elite.See Trent, William Gilmore Simms (Boston:Houghton Mifflin, 1892);John Welsh, "The Mind R. Jr., ofWilliam Gilmore Simms: SocialandPolitical His Diss. Vanderbilt Univ.1951; Thought,"

Greenwood Press,1973), On Thornwell theJames 3. see Henley Thornwell Papers,South Caroliniana Univ.of SouthCarolina, Library, hereafter citedas SCL; and Benjamin M.
Palmer,The Life and LettersofJames Henley Thornwell (Richmond:Whittet and Shepper-

mundRuffin, Southerner:A Study in Secession (1932; rpt. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State BeverleyTucker:Heart overHead in the Old South (Baltimore:JohnsHopkins Univ. Press,

son, 1875).On Ruffin the Edmund see Ruffin Papers,LC, the Edmund Ruffin Papers, Virginia Historical EdSociety(hereafter VHS), Richmond, Va., and Avery0. Craven, see and Univ.Press,1966).On Tucker theTucker-Coleman J. Collection Robert Brugger, 1978).

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A SouthernStewardship

67

compensating notoccupyfor South'slargest slaveholders, werethey nor were status.Rather, theseindividuals ing thisparticular highly-valued writers, journalists, others and whodefined collegeprofessors, ministers, the of gifts and undertook themselves primarily terms theirmental in The of ventures. defense slavery butone of a variety intellectual of as aroseabove all from their perception frustrations which Donaldidentifies imporof themselves menof mindin a society as whichaccordedlittle intellectual endeavor aboutas tanceto abstract speculation rendered and Simmsremarked, "drawing as waterin a sieve."6 rewarding, of This Southern was number intelligentsia so smallthata surprising had even defenders thepeculiar of institution cometo knowone another their crusade.ThomasRoderick Dew, before theylaunched proslavery famous a author thefirst good" argument for was, example, of "positive and and Beverley Tucker'sat William colleague close friend Nathaniel of suchprominent regularly other with Mary.Tuckerin turn corresponded Abel Frederick Holmes,Edmund Ruffin, proslavery apologists George as Simms,and JamesHenryHammond. ParkerUpshur, William Gilmore and Hammond was intimate withbothRuffin Simms,as well as with self-styled ethnologist JosiahClark Nott, authorAugustusBaldwin William Harper, legal Chancellor Longstreet, hisownformer mentor, and and cousinto bothTucker on author thewidely of readMemoir Slavery with De Thornwell, Bow and and Holmes.Holmescorresponded Simms, of of and GeorgeFitzhugh, servedon thefaculties boththeUniversity withAlbert TaylorBledsoe.7 Virginia theUniversity Mississippi and of and intertwined The ties amongslavery'sapologists were so extensive on chartthandethattheyare perhapsbetter illustrated thefollowing the institutions scribedin words.To take the place of the intellectual South lacked, these men of mindcreatedan "invisiblecollege" that

6 Simmsto Hammond,May 10, 1845,Oliphantet al., eds. Letters,2, 61. For a compilation and analysis of 275 defenders slavery,Northand South, between 1701and 1865see Larry of E. Tise, "ProslaveryIdeology: A Social and IntellectualHistoryofthe Defense of Slaveryin America, 1790-1840," Diss. Univ. of NorthCarolina 1975. See Dew, Review of theDebate in the Virginia Legislatureof 1831 and 1832 (Richmond: T. W. White, 1832) and the Dew Family Papers, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of Williamand Mary; the Edmund Ruffin Papers, VHS; ThornwellPapers; George Frederick Holmes Papers, ManuscriptDivision, LC; George Frederick Holmes Papers, Manuscript Division, WilliamPerkinsLibrary,Duke University; Bow Lettersand Papers; Augustus De Baldwin LongstreetPapers, SCL; AlbertTaylor Bledsoe Papers, ManuscriptDivision, LC; William Porcher Miles Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Univ. of North Carolina, lettersin the Hammond Papers, LC and Chapel Hill. There are numerousNott-Hammond Upshur-Tucker lettersin the Tucker-ColemanCollection. On the particularly intimate relationship amongHammond,Simms,Ruffin, Tucker,and Holmes see Faust, A Sacred Circle.

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

68

American Quarterly
N. B. Tucker William Grayson J. H. Hammond J. H.Thornwell W. G. Simms

A. T. Bledsoe

T. R. Dew

William Harper

Thomas Cooper

J

.Nt

J. D. B. De Bow

D

;

B~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

N. Elliott D

Thornton Stringfellow

P. Upshur

George Fitzhugh

Holmes W.P.Miles

Edmund Ruffin

PERSONAL INTERACTIONS AMONG SLAVERY'S DEFENDERS

of of servedas a vehicle theexchange ideas and theprovision mutual for was thesethinkers the One area of agreement-and concern-among in stateof intellectual endeavor the region.Southern sorry literary peto riodicals, seemedinevitably fail;regional they complained, publishing Holmes wereinadequate; Southern facilities colleges,GeorgeFrederick "in name." The institutions higher of wereoften charged, learning only Thornton South had become a land, Virginian Stringfellow remarked, care of a State," William "defiledwithignorance." Though"The first to of Harper observed, ought be to "provideminds extraordinary power as whatHughSwinton Southseemedto exhibit Legareperceived a demen."9 bookish cided "prejudice against
8

support.8

...

[with]the means . . . for theirmost consummatecultivation," the

munities (Chicago:Univ.ofChicagoPress,1972). 9 George June15, 1846,HolmesPapers, Frederick Holmesto Lavalette FloydHolmes, 25, ReligiousHerald, February 1841;William Stringfellow, Richmond Duke; Thornton

munitiessee Diana Crane, Invisible Colleges: Diffusionof Knowledge in ScientificCom-

and in of comOn "invisible colleges" as a form organization interchange scientific

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A SouthernStewardship

69

But the common plight thattheysharedas thinkers such a region in appearedto theseindividuals a problem morethan as of just personal social import. neglect theintellectual, believed, The of they was simply one manifestation much broaderprocesses of culturaland moral of changeengulfing theirmid-nineteenth-century a crisisof belief world; seemed to challenge foundations all truth. the of Alarming social developments grewdirectly ofa declining out faith traditional in moral and intellectual authority. difficulties theSouth The that confronted thelate in antebellum periodwere onlyparticular examplesof these widespread failings. Political corruption, Abel Upshurproclaimed, grewout of the region'sfailure provideits citizenry to withthe moraleducationthat wouldtransform from them politicians statesmen. causes ofsoil into The erosion,Ruffin similarly concluded, "may be summed in the single up word,ignorance."Simmsagreed,declaring thatthe onlysalvation for and of agriculture, fortheSouthas a whole,lay in "the loyalty ... [the] In peopleto their leadingintellects." jeremiads against their region the menofmind assailedtheSouth'smultifarious shortcomings theresult as of herneglect transcendent of moralconcerns and of thoseindividuals whosesuperior minds bestequippedthem defend to suchprinciples.10 as of and of Regarding themselves rightful custodians truth scientists social morals, theseSouthern thinkers out to claimtheir set appointed her place; they wouldreform degenerate the South,convert to a respect forabstract and scientific and in so doing,conprinciples speculation, talents. vince her to recognizetheirparticular moraland intellectual in at Thesethinkers becameinvolved a variety endeavors thus of directed regional improvement. Some,likeRuffin, becameprophets agricultural of rationalism; others, like Hammond and De Bow, advocatedeconomic in flirted theearlier decadesofthe diversification. and Stringfellow Dew movement withtemperance; Simmscalled on his friends aid in the to creation a Southern of dediHolmesandHenry literature; Hughesinturn
Harper, "Slavery in the Lightof Social Ethics," in E. N. Elliott,ed., Cotton Is King and Abbot and Loomis, 1860),577; Legare, quoted (Augusta: Pritchard, Pro-SlaveryArguments in Linda Rhea, Hugh Swinton Legare, A Charleston Intellectual (Chapel Hill: Univ. of see NorthCarolina Press, 1934),77. On Stringfellow Faust, "Evangelicalism and the Meanof Stringfellow Virginia,"Virginia The ReverendThornton ingof the ProslaveryArgument: Magazine of Historyand Biography,85 (Jan. 1977), 3-17. 10Referencesin thisparagraphare in orderfromUpshur, "Domestic Slavery," Southern Literary Messenger, 5 (Oct. 1839),677-87; Claude H. Hall, Abel Parker Upshur,Conserva"Sketch 1790-1844 (Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1963), 110; Ruffin, tive Virginian, in and the Causes of Decline and PresentDepression: of the Progressof Agriculture Virginia An Address to the Historicaland PhilosophicalSociety of Virginia,"Farmers' Register, 3 in (Apr. 1836), 754; [Simms], "Agriculture South-Carolina,"Magnolia, 2 (Mar. 1843), 201.

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

70

American Quarterly

of catedthemselves a reform knowledge-anewBaconianinstauration to whichwouldestablish scientific truths aboutthe social orderand thus guidehuman progress." No area ofreformist interest exclusively concern anysingle was the of intellectual, theissueon which converged what but all was they calledthe "philosophical" defense slavery. of Because of itscombined moraland socialimport problem slavery the of seemedlogically belong menof to to intellectual moralsuperiority. and Onlysuch individuals could evaluate in institution accordance thepeculiar withtheprinciples scienceand of religion thatformed basis of all truth. thisissue, as in all the the On thinkers' concerns, tenets moralphilosophy the of wouldstructure their Moralscience,which in outlook. formed central the component themidnineteenth-century intellectual world of viewand servedas thecapstone wouldprovide foundation slavery's of every college career, the defense.12 The imagery vocabulary theproslavery and of argument themost offer in evidence itsorigins theneedsoftheSouthern striking for intellectual. The thinkers' apologiesserved define to their particular system values of as thebestjustification the section'smostdistinctive important for and In institution. the proslavery the argument cause of intellect became united with cause oftheSouth. the The region's needfor plausible a social philosophy, George Frederick Holmesrecognized, wouldmaketheSouth her to regret pastfailures accord"material support publicfavor"to and learning. "[W]e shall be indebted,"Holmes anticipated, the con"to tinuance and asperity thiscontroversy the creation a genuine of for of economic was of elite,theproslavery argument thecreation an intellectualclass seeking proveitself to in indispensable defending South's the peculiar wayof life.
" Ruffin, Essay on Calcareous Manures (Shellbanks, An Va., 1835);Ruffin, Essays and Notes on Agriculture (Richmond,1855); Simms, "Southern Literature,"Magnolia, 3 (Feb.

southern literature...."13

Rather than the product of a social or

structedConscience: The Shaping of the American National Ethic (Philadelphia: Univ. of

1841),69-74; [Holmes],"Philosophy Faith,"Methodist and Quarterly Review,33 (Apr. 1851),187.On Henry Hughes Bertram see Wyatt-Brown, "Modernizing Southern Slavery: The Proslavery Argument Reinterpreted," unpublished manuscript bytheauthor. lent On Stringfellow Faust,"Evangelicalism theMeaning theProslavery see and of Argument." 12 Moralphilosophy served whatNorman Fiering calleda "semi-secular as S. has way station" between world faith one of science.It was designed demonstrate a of and to the of compatibilityreasonand religion marshaling by sciencein support morality. of Fiering, "President Samuel Johnson theCircle Knowledge," and of William Mary and Quarterly, 3d Ser., 28 (Apr. 1971),233. On moralphilosophy generally DonaldH. Meyer, see TheInPennsylvania Press,1972). 13 [Holmes], "Uncle Tom's Cabin,"SouthernLiteraryMessenger, 18 (Dec. 1852), 725; [Holmes], "Bledsoe on Liberty Slavery," Bow's Review, (Aug. 1856),133.On and De 21

Holmes' moregeneralviews see Neal C. Gillespie,The Collapse of Orthodoxy: The Intellectual Ordeal of George FrederickHolmes (Charlottesville:Univ. of VirginiaPress, 1972).

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A SouthernStewardship

71

maymakethese their own social aspirations The desireto legitimate But self-serving. idealismseem transparently professed intellectuals' a in An embraces functions thismanner. individual everybeliefsystem and of configuration ideas because it appealsto his emotional particular felt needs.These Southerners bothcultursocial as wellas his cognitive human need for an theyconfronted irreducible ally and sociallyadrift; and for for meaning, a solidfoundation truth value in a worldbesetby than to important them was no less personally doubt.Thiscrisisofbelief Indeed, Beverto product. to that thesocialdilemmas seemed be itsdirect and that ley Tucker,it appearedremarkable "my ambition myconvictionscoincide.''94 and his manof mind for legitimacy theSouthern Designedto provide to and of had values,thedefense slavery in substance method meetthe enall characterized intellectual which believed he of criteria objectivity of Discussion thepeculiar be or passion prejudice. deavor;itmust without shouldbe based "upon purely Albert TaylorBledsoe urged, institution, interest." with"no appealto passionor to sordid principles," scientific Is Cotton King,boasted anthology of editor theproslavery E. N. Elliott, denunciadid apologists not stoop to the "vituperative thatSouthern
tion," "gross exaggerationsand . . . willfulfalsehoods" that charac-

maintained he Slavery'sdefenders, observed, abolitionist tracts. terized of candorand fairness arguof toneand style . . . Christian the"spirit, from domainof the tionof slavery, Holmesagreed,mustbe "removed and temperate warfare to themore ... and controversy political sectional in it reflection"; must, other tribunal soberand cautious of authoritative of words,becometheprovince theintellectual.'5 this century, search of inquiries themid-nineteenth Like mostscholarly divineintentions fortruth beganwiththe Bible. In theOld Testament, people. for seemedunmistakable, God's chosenhad beena slaveholding in and Christ madeno attack slavery theNew Testament, hisapostle on with principles. it recognized tobe consistent Christian Paulhadexplicitly of and of enamored thevocabulary methods Butforan age increasingly was notenough.Man could and must natural scienceBiblicalguidance the duties as his scientificallywellbyexamining progresdetermine moral
14

mentthatshould characterizethe search aftertruth .... " The examina-

ibid.,897; [Holmes], Remarks," "Concluding Elliott, ed., CottonIs King,274; Elliott, argument of LC. On thesubstance theproslavery MS., HolmesPapers, totle Slavery," on
Pro-SlaveryThoughtin the Old South (Chapel Hill: the classic work is WilliamS. Jenkins, "Failure of Free Societies," Southern LiteraryMessenger, 21 (Mar. 1855), 129; "Aris-

15Bledsoe,"Liberty in Philosophy," of in or, and Slavery: Slavery theLight Political

Hammond Papers,LC. May7, 1850, to Tucker Hammond,

Press,1935). Carolina Univ.of North

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

72

American Quarterly

whichwould provide,as of sive revelation God's designsin history, abouttheproper the Holmesobserved, needed"basis ofourinductions" bondagewouldbe empirical-inthe social order.The studyof human and Stringfellow, once "Scriptural at Thornton wordsof the Reverend standwouldmeetthepositivistic argument Statistical"; proslavery the to was ardsthenineteenth-century intellectual coming acceptforassessA wouldessentially as of of be, ment all socialproblems. defense slavery on defined a Treatise Sociology.Like conserit, Henry Hughesexplicitly thinkers wouldcall foran emthe proslavery vativesthroughout nation, abstractions of the piricalscience of societyto counteract dangerous theoriesof social reform. Social abolitionism otherill-supported and as or which found unquestionable ... gravitation any "as facts, Calhoun world,"wouldbestrevealbothdivine other of phenomenon thematerial and natural purpose.16 investigation into for served one vehicle empirical as History inevitably of FromGreeceandRometo theAmerican bondage. theproblem human of had as slavery served thefoundation thesethinkers proclaimed, South, irrefutable evialmostuniversal extension"seemedto EdmundRuffin dencethatit was "established God." 17 by lay in of appealto history a catalogue socialexperiments as Implicit this as law a challenge theconceptsof natural thathad been established to Social law of American principle thetime theRevolution. at fundamental in madeclearthat menhadnotinreality beencreated as revealed history individuals had equal and free,as Jefferson asserted.Natureproduced that Simms argued and qualities circumstances. strikingly unequalinboth ajudge,orthe a truly natural was to right "notintended makethebutcher them,according theirclaims as to baker a president; to protect but butcher with realities prescribed a and baker." Conformity scientific
16

. all great civilizations.The "continued durationof the institution . . its

cal andPractical (Philadelphia, 1854). what For Hammond calledthe"bestscriptural arguSlavery (Richmond: W. Randolph, J. 1856)citedin Hammond Simms, to June11, 1852, York:Bobbs-Merrill 1953), Co., 3.
17

SouthernLiterary Messenger, 16 (Apr. 1850), 197; Hughes, Treatiseon Sociology: Theoretiment" for slavery see ThorntonStringfellow, Scripturaland Statistical Views in Favor of Hammond Papers, LC. JohnC. Calhoun, A Disquisition on Government(1853; rpt. New

[Holmes], "Observations a PassageinthePolitics Aristotle on of Relative Slavery," to

"Hammond's Letters on Slavery," in The Pro-SlaveryArgument;as Maintained by the Most Distinguished Writersof the Southern States . . . (Charleston: Walker, Richards, The Political Economy of Slavery; or, The InstitutionConsidered in 1852), 154; Ruffin, Regard to itsInfluenceon Public Wealthand theGeneral Welfare(Washington:L. Towers, 1857), 3; [Holmes], "Slavery and Freedom," Southern QuarterlyReview, I (Apr. 1856),

P. and ... (Richmond: D. Bernard, Slavery 1853),19. On slavery history Hammond, see

Ruffin, Address to the VirginiaState Agricultural Society, on the Effectsof Domestic

86.

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A SouthernStewardship

73

cupyhis properplace. He, only,is theslave, who is forced intoa position in societywhichis below the claim of his intellectand moral." Southern

hierarchically structured societyreproducing nature'sorderly differentiations. Revolutionary The conceptsof natural werethustranslaw muted thetenets socialorganicism; prestige modern into of the of science servedto legitimate tradition conservatism.'8 and Redefining natural rights necessitated redefinition freedom. a of Despite its "transcendent importance," Bledsoe foundthatliberty had "been,for mostpart, theme passionate the a for declamation, rather than of severeanalysis ofprotracted patient or and True investigation." freedomwas notjust theabsenceofrestraint. it Rather had a morepositive aspect.A manwas mostfree,Simms declared, whenpermitted oc"to

proslavery argument, Southern the intellectual his asserted opposition to thegrowing of materialism themodern age.19

poses dictatedthat"We must. . . contentourselves with. . . the consoling reflection thatwhat is lost to us, is gained to humanity.. . ." In the

slavery merely benevolent was a institutionalization oftheseprinciples of inherent inequality. "Fed, clothed,protected," the slave, WilliamJ. was far betteroffthan the Northern Graysonproclaimed, operative in or had whoseemployer no interest hishealth evenhis survival. "Free but in name," Northern laborershad liberty starve.The Southern to thinkers agreed with Chancellor that Harper there existed"some form of in slavery all ages and countries." The Southern of system human bondage simply structured interdependenceaccordance this in with princithe plesofmorality Christianity. humanitarian and The arrangements slavof the ery, Southerners contrasted with proclaimed, strikingly theavaricious materialism the"miscalled"freesociety theNorth. of of While Yanthe kees caredonlyaboutthewealth their operatives Southmight produce, erners acceptedcostlyresponsibility the lives of the humanbeings for God had "entrusted" them. number defenders to A of even maintained, likeHarper, that "slave laborcan never so cheapas whatis calledfree be labor." Nevertheless, Hammond piouslyadvised,slavery'smoralpur-

18 Simms, "The Morals of Slavery," in The Pro-Slavery Argument, 256. See Hammond's manuscript "Natural Law" which he sent to Tucker, Tucker-ColemanCollection, and on also his repudiation Jefferson "Hammond's Letterson Slavery," 110; see also Bledsoe, of in "Liberty and Slavery," 271. 19 Bledsoe, "Liberty and Slavery," 273; Simms, "The Morals of Slavery," 258; Grayson, "The Hirelingand the Slave," in Eric L. McKitrick,ed., Slavery Defended: The Views of the Old South (Englewood Cliffs,N. J.: Prentice-Hall,1963), 57-68 (quotations on pp. 66, 68); Harper, "Slavery in the Lightof Social Ethics," inCottonIs King, 553, 569; Hammond, "Hammond's Letters," 122. See also [Holmes], "Slavery and Freedom," 84, fora similar remark.

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

74

American Quarterly

Whenthesethinkers declared,as theyfrequently thatdomestic did, was "the basis of all our institutions," foundation enslavery the they visioned was preeminently rather moral than economic political. or Their particular valuesseemedrealized theidealizedsystem bondage in of they portrayed. Dutyand responsibility, avarice, not linked master slave; and theseemingly scientific criteria racialdifferentiation of structured society; menof superior mind exercised leadership authority.20 and Yet theseintellectuals' repeated criticisms the Southforits moral of failures indicate thatslavery's defenders recognized thisportrait that of theregion reflected their hopesand fears morethanreality. Theysought ultimately to describethe Southbutto inspire The onlyway to not it. legitimate slavery, their arguments implicitly warned, was to transform theregion themoral into utopiaoftheir essays.The proslavery argument was fundamentally a charter reform. for Thismovement revitalize Southwas founded a commitment to the in to as stewardship theregion's essential socialrelationship. master The was God's surrogate earth; structure Southern on the of society the replicated of order thedivine cosmos.Slavery Christian encouraged valuesinwhites and servedas a missionary institution bondsmen. defend for To slavery was therefore, Simmsdescribed "a sacred duty," clearlycomas it, prehended within concerns menof specialintellectual moral the of and insight.21 Southern The system institutionalized Christian the dutiesof in in and humility the slave. But at thesame timeit charity themaster justified Southern the way of life,stewardship legitimated thinkers' the claims authority. was,after the"intellectual to It all, Caucasian,"who,as Tuckerobserved,"bore the characteristics his race in the highest of who as perfection," served themost natural overboth steward whites and blacks.As Simms proclaimed, "thetruebusiness genius"was "to lift of and guide" thelessermembers thehuman of race.22 Mindwouldserve,theyproposed, thecriterion all social differas of entiation. rendered blacksunequalto whites designated and Intelligence them their for defenders was lowlystatus; intelligence, slavery's argued, the distinguishing of characteristic the whiterace and evidenceof its superiority. implication, By worksof mindwerethe highest therefore, achievements therace,andtheintellectual itssupreme of was manifestation.The same hereditarian doctrines which blackenslavement justified
[Tucker], "Slavery," SouthernLiteraryMessenger, 2 (Apr. 1836), 337. Simms, "Morals of Slavery," 275. 22 Tucker, Prescience. Speech Delivered by Hon. Beverley Tucker of Virginia in the Southern Convention Held at Nashville, Tenn., April 13th, 1850 (Richmond: West and Johnson,1862), 14-15; [Simms], "Headley's Life of Cromwell," SouthernQuarterlyReview, 14 (Oct. 1848), 507-08.
20 21

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A SouthernStewardship

75

of of the legitimated socialaspirations thegenius.In histheories race,as as himself not portrayed the general socialphilosophy, thinker inhismore of but steward, thebestexample the"intellecappointed just a divinely and electedby God. tual Caucasian"; he was bothselectedby nature of the to history, sciencecombined justify debasement the and Religion, of blackand theelevation theintellectual.23 of appearedagainand again in proslavery Such a variety arguments form, there for assumeda stylized tracts. Indeed,theseessaysgenerally of assumptions slavto werefewchallenges thebasicmoral-philosophical proudlyemphasizedthat all slavery's ery's defenders.Southerners the "on, substantially, same asserted, stood,as E. N. Elliott apologists In viewsoftheinstitution." itsconsistground, takethesamegeneral and strength. Eventhose much their of argument's believed, rested ency, they of doctrines a nascent who tendedto emphasizethe newlyimportant of as primarily indicators the of racism regarded truths nature scientific "may be reGod's designs."All science," JosiahC. Nottproclaimed, of from Him." Thereseemed,as thetitle one of gardedas a revelation Between "Connection to essays declared, be a direct Nott'sproslavery History Man." 24 of theBiblicaland Physical werenotuniformly movement the within proslavery But relationships as the regarded argument a intellectuals Because Southern harmonious. to they vehiclefortheirself-definition feltcompelled dissociatethemthat institution seemed discussions thepeculiar of from selvesexplicitly commitments. transcendent in incompatible toneor purposewiththeir exof whicha number thinkers This was the basis forthe objections and utterances even LowndesYancey'spolemical pressed aboutWilliam Hamactions.Sometimes, John CaldwellCalhoun'smoreself-interested in mondremarked disgust, Calhounbehavedas if"you have butto say to to as to nigger theSouthto setiton fire one whistles theTurkey make for as himgobble." Such use of theproslavery argument an instrument seemeda desecration.25 agitation political attracted writer who has probably the GeorgeFitzhugh, proslavery historians,was particularly fromtwentieth-century most attention and of criticized many hiscontemporaries, thereasonsforthisdislike by
23 Tucker, "An Essay on the Moral and Political Effectof the Relation Between the Caucasian Master and the AfricanSlave," SouthernLiteraryMessenger, 10 (June 1844), 332. 24 Elliott,"Introduction," in Elliott,ed., Cotton Is King, xii; Nott, Two Lectures on the From ConnectionBetween theBiblical and Physical Historyof Man. Delivered byInvitation in the Chair of Political Economy, etc., of the Louisiana University December 1848 (1849; rpt. Negro UniversitiesPress, 1969), 14. 25 Hammond to Simms, June 20, 1848, Hammond Papers, LC. See also Hammond, "Thoughts and Recollections," March 28, 1852, Hammond Papers, SCL

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

76

American Quarterly

are revealing. Holmeswas alarmed the because Fitzhugh ignored scientific requirements disinterested for pursuit truth evenapproached of and In All! so polemic. Cannibals he went faras to proclaim himself scholar no and to denounce as philosophy a wasteof time.To Holmeshe confided in thathe had neverread Aristotle, equivalent the mid-nineteenth the to century admitting As himself uneducated. thetwo Southerners corresponded between 1854and 1857Holmesgrewdisenchanted hisnew with acquaintance. WhenFitzhugh acknowledged inthepreface Cannihim to bals All! Holmes complained his diary,"I dislikenotoriety." in As Holmesexplained, Fitzhugh's "utter of recklessness bothstatement and madehis work"incendiary dangerous"; threatened expression" and he to replace "sober and cautious" reflection slaverywitha literary on ideas contributed to thecrusade.Although little Moreover, Fitzhugh's he declaredhimself be the first have "vindicated to to slaveryin the had takensuch a position. abstract,"manyearlierapologists Perhaps Dew's 1831essaywas too squeamish be considered to more thana fledgling"positive-good" argument, Dew emphasized implausibility for the of laborsystems alternative morestrongly theexcellenceof slavery. than Butbythelate 1830s, wellbefore in and Fitzhugh beganto publish 1849, Tucker,Simms,Bledsoe, Harper,Upshur, Hammond, Ruffin, Holmes, andothers defended had on it slavery theoretical grounds, declaring to be ofdivineappointment a benefit bothmaster slave.27 and to and EugeneGenovese,however, found has Fitzhugh ruthless criti"a and cal theorist who spelledout the logicaloutcomeof the slaveholders' philosophy laid bare itsessence." Yet Fitzhugh in many and was ways and even antithetical the moral-philosophical to atypical mainstream of proslavery thought-not logicaloutcome. thetimeFitzhugh its By began to write, Southern the class had already intellectual outlined proslavthe to ery argument according its idealistviews and would-be social role. to Oblivious theseconcerns, which the determined substance proslavof and the erythought underlay very he arguments borrowed, Fitzhugh was to marginal themovement.28
26 Fitzhughto Holmes, Mar. 27, 1855, Letterbook; Fitzhughto Holmes, Apr. 11, 1855; Holmes Diary, Aug. 9, 1856, Holmes Papers, Duke Univ. Ruffin declared he found Fitzhugh's ideas "foolish," Diary, Oct. 26, 1858, Ruffin Papers. 27 Fitzhugh to Holmes, Mar. 27, 1855, Letterbook,Holmes Papers; Dew, Review of the Debate, 322. 28 Genovese, The World the Slaveholders Made: Two Essays in Interpretation (New York: Pantheon, 1969), 129. On Fitzhughsee also C. Vann Woodward, "George Fitzhugh, Sui Generis," in Fitzhugh,Cannibals All! or Slaves WithoutMasters, Woodward, ed., (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1960), vii-xxxix; Harvey Wish, George Fitzhugh:Propagandist of the Old South (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1943); Louis Hartz,

sideshow.26

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A SouthernStewardship

77

is Genovese,however, less interested Fitzhugh's in place within the proslavery movement inhissignificance than within broader the Southern world view.In Fitzhugh's thought, indeedinthevalueshe didsharewith other Genovesefinds essenceofSouthern apologists, the distinctiveness, the antimaterialist-what calls anticapitalist he and prebourgeoisof outlook uponwhich defenses slavery rested.GenovesereFitzhugh's gardstheseattitudes thelogicalproduct theparticularly as of Southern relationship betweenthe ownership the meansof production, and the master theslave. Yet theseantimaterialist and valuesin largepartgrew out of theneedsof thealienated Southern intellectual class from which Fitzhugh borrowed moral-philosophical for arguments. the bases his And theseviewsdid notso muchreflect realities Southern as the the of life of ambivalence a group intellectuals of aboutthechanges taking place in theirsocietyand throughout Western the world.Ironically, Genovese finds Southern antimaterialism exemplified GeorgeFitzhugh, best in an individual accused by his contemporaries consciously of appropriating theseideas notfortheir intrinsic merit forhisownfameandmaterial but advancement. Genovesehas accurately thatmanySoutherners indeed observed did the challenge preoccupation the"cash nexus" which with believed they characterized muchof nineteenth-century America.But slaveholders werenotaloneinfeeling theseanxieties. The moststriking aspectofthe proslavery argument thatthevalues uponwhichit depended is and the confusions it reflected that werenotpeculiar theSouth.The menof to mind whoconstructed slavery's a defense sought plausible belief system fortheir and thusbased their society arguments uponmoraland social valuesto which largenumbers Americans of bothNorth Southcould and assent.Stewardship, which as of Genovese defines theessential principle the master-slave was relationship, an important of characteristic the which all evangelicalism America. Histopervaded ofnineteenth-century rianshave emphasized efficacy theNorth, its in whereit motivated the myriad In reform movements. explaining acceptance "direct the social of responsibility others"as theproduct a "prebourgeois" for of Southern worldview,Genoveseignores existence thesecentral the of aspectsof of Northern civilization. socialideasadvanced theapologists slavThe by in Americans nowayinfluenced participation erywereshared many by by in themaster-slave relationship. Indeed,many theseNorthern of "stewards" wereamongslavery's harshest opponents.29
The Liberal Traditionin America: An Interpretation American Political ThoughtSince of the Revolution(New York: Harcourt,Brace, 1955). 29 Genovese, The Worldthe Slaveholders Made, 148, 244. Also see LarryTise, "Proslavery Ideology," fora considerationof the similarities ideology,Northand South. of

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

78

American Quarterly

of is Genovese'sanalysis Fitzhugh ultimately circular, itdefines for the Southas "prebourgeois" thenpointsto the singleSoutherner and who openly attacked capitalism themostaccurate as of exponent theregional worldview. Genoveseportrays tensions the within Southern the mind brilliantly, he errsin hisexplanation theseanxieties. but of These strains of for in werenottheproduct slavery, they werewidespread theNorth as well,where challenge long-accepted the to valueshadproduced multhe titudeof "isms"-from communitarianism feminism-which to the Southfound threatening. so Perhaps theseanxieties might be defined best as theproduct conflicts of between sacredand theprofane, the tensions created themodernization secularization society. and of by The language of slavery, withits close relation questionsof hierarchy social to and a order, provided metaphorical framework within which Americans all of to sections sought explore problems central a society to undergoing rapid of thus change.The meaning bothpro-and antislavery thought assumed significance beyondtheslavery well and controversy servedto express anxietiesnot directly correlated withresidencenorth southof the or Mason-Dixon Line. Like the Puritan jeremiads Perry Millerhas so sensitively explained, about the proslavery was designedto resolve ambivalence argument and abhorred.30 the Southern bothdesired For changewhichits authors of to tradiservedsimultaneously affirm the intellectual defense slavery in a tionalvaluesand to provide meansforadvancement an increasingly of reduced dynamicmodernworld.The invocation sacred principles for from their as criteria behavior tensions arising abandonment absolute and to andat thesametime provided meaning cognitive stability individuthus to als ina world besetbychange. Southern thinkers sought revitalize it of theirregionby providing witha conventionalized formula selfin affirmation founded a reassuring the cosmology. presenting proBy moraland social philosophy as slavery argument a comprehensive they and hopedto translate dilemmas the they facedas intellectuals thosethe Southconfronted a civilization the same transcendent as into religious As that and cultural terms. menofmind, wereconvinced boththeir they ownproblems thoseoftheir and had this culture tobe solvedwithin realm of of beliefand values. Theirtransformationsoil exhaustion intomoral of the corruption, slaveryintostewardship, forcefully represented at30 Miller of "constitute chapter the emergence the a in has written thejeremiads that how intelligence copes with. . . a changeit simultaneously capitalist mentality, showing

desires and abhors." The New England Mind: From Colony to Province (Cambridge,Mass.: LiteraryMonographs, 3 (1970), 1-124, 187-215.

recent discussion thefunction the of of jeremiad Harvard Univ.Press,1953), Fora more 40. The of see SacvanBercovitch, "Horologicals Chronometricals: Rhetoric theJeremiad," to

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A SouthernStewardship

79

have defined the intellectuals' as tempt deal withwhatsociologists to traditheir perpetual quandary: needbothto acceptand to transcend the tionand social context. plight intellectual Throughout history the South,thisuniversal the of Thomas Thinking Southerners from has assumedparticular poignancy. to of have felt compelled theintensity by Jefferson C. VannWoodward region explorethe sourcesof this to boththeir love and hate fortheir simulrepresented sucheffort one ambivalence. proslavery The argument life to but of intellectual taneously justify reform, thenature Southern and ofthepasttwocenturies madeitfarfrom unique.In theabsenceof has life Southern highly developedinstitutions intellectual and support, for and on men of mindhave had to relyalmostexclusively emotional ties their culture. whatH. L. In psychological, rather thanstructural with Mencken calledthe"Sahara oftheBozarts,"ithas alwaysbeendifficult his for writer scholar ignore issueofhisposition a or to within culture, the forhe has almostneveroccupieda well-defined nichewhichwouldobhimself of between viatetheneed forconstant scrutiny therelationship in and hissurroundings. the inherent thissortof Moreover, uncertainties era havebeenexacerbated every in interaction between mind society and of the bythepersistent issueofraceandthedifficultiesreconciling transwith commitment theexisting cendent humanistic values of intellectual social and racialorder.31 SouthThe nature theintellectual's to adjustment theseparticularly of to but has from ernproblems varied generation generation, a remarkable all have Thinking Southerners found consistency pervades timeperiods. Absalom!AbFaulkner's themselves Quentin like Compsonin William to to their it, salom seeking understand pastin order transcend yetoften of thantheauthors history. Jefmorethevictims discovering themselves in human ferson condemned bondage, found therecord yet instinctively of that no ofitsAmerican a origins kind inevitability offered escape from for himself his culture. or The nineteenthslaveholding, either Jefferson in theorists could seek changeand reform cultural century proslavery the that values onlyby accepting and defending institution made such Half a century later,ThomasWatsonnobly changeall but impossible. for but a settled an undertook social and racial revolution, ultimately for at racismas the prerequisite any effort social change. embittered to to have Twentieth-century Southerners continued try freethemselves thanan opportuless history a burden from theseironies, maketheir to in to tradition the serviceof progress. Faulkner, nity, enlistSouthern
31 Cooke, ed., (New York: VintageBooks, H. L. Mencken,The VintageMencken,Alistair 1955).

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

80

American Quarterly

into this transformed effort a Southern and Robert PennWarren, others have historians undertaken Southern and Literary Renaissance, academic the of had who- chronicled tragedy a related task. C. Vann Woodward, v. Brown Boardof sought theerafollowing in himself TomWatson'slife, aspectsof its of awareness thepositive Educationto heighten Southern for as past interracial in orderto use tradition thefoundation blackand era.32 in white cooperation a newdesegregated an seemneither aberration shouldtherefore argument The proslavery thosedilemmas represent Its nora puzzleto thehistorian. contradictions and who confronted all intellectuals seekto be at once relevant transby intellectual values, to ownsociety timeless and cendent, serveboththeir coincide.Yet the particular and convictions to make theirambitions moralburden life intellectual and theever-present structure Southern of especially acute.The proslavproblems ofrace havemadethesechronic of thus and boththeuniversality thepeculiarity eryargument symbolizes and of of It is a product feelings marginality experience. the Southern but history, it is at throughout that alienation have plaguedintellectuals thinkers of thesametimean episodein thecontinuing struggle Southern tradition. The of burden Southern and writers deal with particular to the Compson's very wouldhave understood wellQuentin writers proslavery thathe did not hate the South.33 desperateneed to convincehimself

32 William Faulkner,Absalom, Absalom! (1936; rpt. New York: Random House, 1964); and Slavery (New York: Free Press, JohnC. Miller,Wolfby the Ears: Thomas Jefferson 1977); C. Vann Woodward, Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel (New York: Macmillan Co., 1938); C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1955).

33

Faulkner, 378.

This content downloaded from 128.103.151.234 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:56:35 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions