Fitzhugh
George Fitzhugh in "Southern Thought" presents an argument of a new society in the South. The South must take for granted the fact that slavery is right and that a new ideology, a new philosophy must be created off the south's foundation of an agricultural slave based society. Fitzhugh calls for "complete independence and isolation from all outside influences (1910)" to the point of becoming a separate nation in order for the South to develop its own distinctive brand of thought. Fitzhugh attacks a capitalistic society believing that no security can be found in it and only from slavery can a society be free of immoral activities. Fitzhugh envisioned a South that incorporated slavery of every race as he compared the South to ancient societies that used slavery based on what a person is born into. Fitzhugh believed the need for the South to diversify her economy from an agricultural one to an industrial one to advance the South's economy and education. Fitzhugh sought to prove historically the failure of a free capitalistic society, but when we turn to assess Fitzhugh's critique we discover, at both its explicit and its ramified level, that its strengths are also are its weaknesses.
Fitzhugh believed the growth and development of free enterprise in Europe and the North to be the collapse of moral society and the triumph of man's basic selfish, aggressive needs. Fitzhugh envisioned a collapse of free enterprise and the establishment of socialism, which would be the rule of the land, which is why, the need of slavery is important to him. Slavery he argues, "will be everywhere, be abolished or every where be re-instituted...slavery is the universal mode of existence (1917)." Slavery is not only universal as the normal mode of production, but is a universal human condition based on former Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Christian societies Fitzhugh saw to defend his position. Societies that once used slaves and what Fitzhugh believed advanced these societies. Fitzhugh saw the rewards of self-sufficiency society rather than an agriculture that only brings obtaining a higher education harder because it cannot be shared among as many people. When an agricultural society fails it encourages the emigration of the population. The rich leave for pleasure while the poor leave for employment that will eventually drain the population and leave the community demoralized. Fitzhugh's conclusion was to diversify the region's economy to balance its unequal exchange. He observed that free enterprise breaks down centralized communities and the natural association of labor. Fitzhugh saw the South as a society that was failing as an agricultural society and knew that it must be educated to stop an economic collapse. Fitzhugh reveals a belief in slavery that unlike most defenders of slavery he argued for an extended paternalism to rule over white workers as well as black ones, "there must be white slavery (1911)" Fitzhugh said. In a society of individuals who were immoral, Fitzhugh saw that the solution of the evils of capitalism could be only solved with a slave society. Fitzhugh used old feudal governments as examples to defend his position, as they believed that if you are born a slave then that is your position in life to death. Perhaps it was this implicit radicalism that explains Fitzhugh's extensive involvement with the philosophical anarchists and socialists of his day like Carl Marx. Fitzhugh's work represents nothing less than an ideology for slave society. Fitzhugh's philosophy represented a viable ideology for the slave-holding South, but it is primarily
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Approximate Word count = 1618
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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