"Pro-slavery intellectuals" respond to abolition by calling for a "kinder, gentler" system of enslavement.
Date: 1830s
In acknowledging enslaved people's humanity, these "intellectuals" place the onus on slaveholders to treat "their" enslaved people fairly and firmly, and as extensions of their family as a means to ensuring enslaved peoples' loyalty and hard work. Family care includes providing for the medical needs of the enslaved people, "regardless of age, debility, or productivity" (Forrett, 2016).