Anti-abolitionists often used the "slippery slope" fallacy to defend slavery

[ck4829]

In the book, Noah's Curse by Stephen R. Haynes, we find this:

The proslavery compulsion to associate human subjugation and civic harmony is quite evident in the writings of Virginian George Fitzhugh, the most respected slavery apologist in the decades prior to the Civil War. In two books published during the 1850s - Sociology for the South, or the Failure of Free Society (1854) and Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters (1857) - Fitzhugh assailed the foundations of democratic society while establishing an intellectual basis for slavocracy. Fitzhugh regarded the preservation of societal order as among the chief benefits of human thralldom, declaring that "at the saveholding South all is peace, quiet, plenty and contentment. We have no mobs, no trade unions, no strikes for higher wages, no armed resistance to the law, but little jealousy of the rich by the poor. We have but few in our jails, and fewer in our poor houses." This was no coincidence: Because blacks so clearly required masters, racial slavery was "the most necessary of all human institutions," an "indispensable police institution."

In Fitzhugh's view, abolitionists sought nothing less than the reorganization of American society. They wished "to abolish ... or greatly modify the relations of husband and wife, parent and child, the institution of private property of all kinds, but especially separate ownership of lands, and the institution of Christian churches now existing in America." If they are successful, Fitzhugh warned, government, law, religion, and marriage would be among the causalities.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/random-book-blogging-abolitionism-threat-family-and-christianity

"If slavery is abolished, then the economy will collapse, families will disintegrate, Christianity will be rejected, and the government will be replaced by anarchy and chaos!"

Wow. Sounds TOTALLY unlike "If gays get married, then families will disintegrate, and before you know it, we'll all be in group marriages with gay animals and gay household appliances!"

[guruoo]

1. Sounds familar. nt

[gratuitous]

2. No mobs, no unions, no strikes, no resistance

Yep, those were the days when them darkies knew their place. And if any of them got uppity or out of line, why, it was the easiest thing in the world to get a group of good Christian men together and teach that sumbitch a lesson he wouldn't soon forget. Or survive. A good argument echoes down the ages to be heard over and over as each barrier is breached and "civilization" is further imperiled.

We once fought a colossal, bloody war trying to stop the recognition of too many rights. The same rhetoric is being revved up again as some seek a society that works better for more of its members, a concept that scares the bejeebers out of those grimly determined to hang on to empty privilege. Will we fight again? Will the defenders of the passing society once again do bloody battle to preserve what isn't theirs?