Comparative analysis of Elkins historical interpretation of slavery Essay

Comparative analysis of Elkins historical interpretation of slavery with James McPhersons interpretation in Ordeal by Fire - Essay Exampleze the similarities and differences between the devil authors, the relevance of their treatments fact versus anecdote and which of the two can be said in the light of hindsight to suck most accurately described antebellum slavery.Elkins and McPhersons books represent two very differing accounts of slavery and argon separated in time by almost a quarter of a century. Elkins discusses the subject in general terms, and advances two main arguments-It is now appropriate to expand the argument and discuss the points of agreement and discrepancy between the two authors and to consider in the light of history whose arguments represent the most appropriate prospect of US slaveryElkins believed that the behavior you exhibit is who you are (Elkins,1959) he maintained that slavery was so degrade and dehumanizing that slaves lost their identities and became Sambos docile, child-like, content and striving for attentionThe different attitudes to slavery in the North and South of the country were muddy in the North slaves worked mainly as domestic servants, while those in the South were employed in agriculture originally on three crops tobacco, rice and indigo, and later on cotton as well. In the North, by the nineteenth century, strong feelings developed that it was not acceptable for one man to own another, and the abolitionists gained cogency due to influence of the Quakers, Methodists and other factions. Elkins (1959) wrote To the Northern reformer, every other concrete fact concerning slavery was dwarfed by its character as a moralistic evil as an obscenity condemned by God and universally offensive to humanity (Elkins, 1959). Many Northern church dignitaries believed that while one slave remained the whole mob was culpable Cain and Abel his brothers keeper.In the South, by contrast, it was held that slavery was a posi tive moral good a necessary arrangement sanctioned in