How did the supporters of slavery defend what they were doing?

Question

What were the ways in which supporters of slavery in the nineteenth century used legal, religious, and economic arguments to defend the institution of slavery.

Answer 1

Jefferson Davis defended slavery on a religious basis by noting that its mentioned repeatedly in the Bible and that many past civilizations have relied on it. The exact quote can be found on Wikipedia.org.
Economically slavery was supported by arguing that adding extra costs to provide laborers would drive up costs and drive down productivity overall.
Legally it was supported through constitution which limited legal recognition of one's rights to the description of white, male, over 21 who owns land.......again check it out on wikipedia they have a lot of arguments presented both pro & con to the slavery issue

Answer 2

Let's see: Legally, slaves were regarded as property (NOT as human beings -- that was a real point of contention in the argument for and against slavery). Economically, plantations in the south depended on slaves and bought slaves, so these slaves represented an investment they made and a work force they needed in order to keep their plantations running. As for religious arguments, the only religious argument I can think of is that the slaves deserved no better treatment because they were "Godless Heathen."

Answer 3

They cited phrases in the bible:
"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. (Eph 6.5f) "

This phrase basically said that you will have eternal salvation if you are a slave and respect your master. It was one very easy way to justify slavery. There are more phrases, you can follow the source below.

Secondly, they claimed that they were giving the 'savages' a better life. Because their native language wasn't english, and the english that they learned (pidgen english, i.e. Huckleberry Finn) wasn't very good, the idea was they were less than human.

Because of the first two, legally slaves had no legal standing whatsover. They could not bring claims of rape or violence or brutality, because slaves were no higher in the ranking of oxen (and can oxen bring claims in court? certainly not).

Answer 4

One of the big proponents of slavery was the Christian religion.

For example:

However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)

Answer 5

When a race of people are not regarded as human, it's alot easier to justify slavery. Slaves have been regarded as property, spoils, even currency.

Answer 6

with guns and knowing that they were too lazy to work the fields