How did landowners explain that owning slaves was all right?

1 Answer
Sep 24, 2016

The slave owners misinterpreted both evolution and the Bible to justify their exploitation of the African people.

Explanation:

Theories of evolution by Charles Darwin's grandfather and others said that humans had "evolved" from apes. The slave owners claimed that the African people were sub human, more closely related to apes than people. The white people were doing the African people a "favor" by " taking care" of them. Black people were thought to be vastly inferior and incapable of taking care of themselves.

This was a horrible misinterpretation of science. Most scientists would not support this interpretation of their theories of evolution.

Passages in the Bible predicted that the offspring of one of the sons of Ham (Cannan by name) would become slaves to the sons of Israel. Historically this did happen when the Jews occupied and conquered the land of Cannan. The slave owners interpreted this passage as many all of the sons of Ham ( from which the African people were descended) were meant to be slaves. So it was all right for the white slave owners to hold the "sons of Ham" as slaves. ( Most the slave owners would not want to be thought of as Jewish)

Some "Christian" pastors supported these interpretations of the Bible especially those in the South with a vested economic interest in slavery. Most Christians were horrified at this interoperation and the Quakers and other Christians groups were the core of the Abolitionists movement.