Essay Sample on Morals of Slavery

Introduction

In the Society in America, Harriet Martineau accounts for America's nascent democracy and offer a more constructive view of the ability of the united states to reconcile the needs of plurality and united and of its capacity for democratic reform, especially regarding inequality of women and slavery. The analysis by Harriet Martineau gives insights into valuable lessons about using the capabilities of the democratic majorities to correct moral injustices. This paper analyses the work of Harriet Martineau on the morals of slavery in context to the American society.

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The concept of slavery exists when analyzed in the context of the principles and the rule that is consistent in all the institutions in America. The principle that everyone is born equal and free and the existence of the rulers and the ruled as well as the rule of reciprocal justice. It justifies the existence of slavery, and it is imperative that the moral the society subjects to this matter must be analyzed. The primary social virtue of injustice governs the division of the America society into two classes of servile and the imperious.

The primary social virtue that the author discusses is mercy as depicted in many instances in the American society. Mercy substitutes justice for the slaveholders in most cases where these holders have taken the initiative to make the slaves comfortable as well as indulging them without not knowing on how to treat the slaves rather than as the inferiors as they learned from their fathers (Martineau, pg.293). Therefore the slave owners, while knowing that their slaves entirely depend on them, show good affections to their slaves in the form of mercy. They occasionally make lathe sacrifices for the domestic or social advantage of their people as well as tolerantly exercising the powers that have been given to them by the custom and law to show mercy to the slaves in the society.

Another social virtue as shown by the slave owners is patience holding their tempers when dealing with others. The author affirms that the exercise of patience by the slave owners surpasses the one taught in the Christian world since it is hard to show this virtue in the face of political vexation, with the tariff or the abolitionists. The slaves living and working in the houses of these owners usually provoke on an hourly basis, but some masters have been to show mild forbearance for this actions. Every slaveholder has a temper that is subjected to discipline that will either perfect or ruin it (Martineau, pg. 296). These two virtues; mercy and patience have been used in the aggravation of the faults of intractable slaves. However, some slave owners use the fallacy that the slaves are ungrateful and the extremist pampering is not equivalent to the rights withheld, no repatriation for irreparable injustice.

The management of female slaves has the objective of having as many females as possible, and in most instances, the male slave owner had a relationship with female slaves that are to be kept secret. This contributes to the lack of domestic purity and peace that has conjugal relations that begin in treachery and concealed. The relationship between the while white and colored female slaves risked the introduction of a mulatto race that will eventually increase in numbers and pose societal threats (Martineau, pg. 298). It was the reason that leads to the abolition of the liberty to emancipate these slaves while that of selling of them remained.

Conclusion

The author discusses the moral of the American society concerning the slavery. The primary social virtues are mercy and patience as shown by the slave owners when treating the slaves and responding to the actions of the slaves. The morality in the face of the relationship between the female slaves and their male slave owners presents a moral dilemma.

Works Cited

Martineau, Harriet. Society in America. Routledge, 2017.