George Mcduffie: The Dehumanization Of Slavery

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In 1835 Governor George McDuffie claimed “ until the African American can change his skin, it will be useless to try by any human power…” However , in 1835 people became to question if what they were doing was right, but people like George McDuffie did not want slavery to be abolished because in their eyes African Americans were “lesser than”. Slavery was very dehumanizing, they were treated like property, and had not had natural human rights.
African american were treated completely like a proprietary right. According Frederick Douglass during a speech he states “the law gives the master absolute power over the slave...” Based on the context of this document absolute means entire and according to Fredrick, slaves had no family, they own nothing, and they just work. Also slave who was sold at a auction gives a …show more content…

“A powerful blacksmith names Hewel laid on the stripes. Fifty were given, during which the cries of my father might be heard a mile away,and paused ensured.” The abuser ( aka the plantation overseer) had whipped him remorselessly and then proceeded to cut off his hear, they even paused to check his pulse to see if he was alive or not to continue their torture. This punishment made Henson’s father character change and made him truly feel like property. Slaves also lived in inhumane living conditions, “ our beds were collections of straw and old rags, thrown down in the corners and boxed with boards.” Slaves lived in a run down shack they didn't even have wood floors or cement grounds just dirt. People who supported slaves wanted others to think they didn't even live in those types of conditions in fact they were happy and danced and played music on their alone time, which is not true. Overall slaves were stripped unalienable rights and it caused a lot of controversy after people started to take notice later on in

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