Opinion: Not all slave owners were bad

Not all slave owners were bad people.

Sure, there were those who beat their slaves, raped their slaves, or otherwise worked their slaves to death. But some people were actually rather nice to their slaves.

There are copious, documented examples of slave owners treating their slaves to such niceties as hot homecooked meals or linen clothes. Some slave owners even gave instruments to their slaves to help them pass the time, or allowed them space for recreational sports. It's clear they understood, and felt poorly about, the deprived nature of their actions.

In fact, slave owners as great as Thomas Jefferson have left written records documenting the internal, moral struggle they experienced at the expense of owning slaves. No single slave was owned without grave consideration of compunction on behalf of its owner.

Yes, some slaves lived in half-assembled shanties with straw floors and leaky roofs, and yes, some slaves were herded and quartered as chattel. However, many more slaves had owner's who provided warm, dry dwelling quarters: shelters that protected them from the harsh uncaring whims of the elements. Shelters that, should their roofs leak, would be fixed within a reasonable amount of time.

Many owners would never teach their slaves to fix a leaky roof--let alone how to use a hammer--unless it was expressly for the purpose of fixing their owner's roof. To that end, the kind of generosity extended by the owners who did, I feel, is the kind so often overlooked in attempts to evaluate a slave owner's character from the lofty ivory tower of modern ethics.

You have to recognize the inherit selflessness in caring for your slaves that way. You have to recognize that while the practice was vile, not all its practitioners were.

And to those who would say, "even the good slave owners were exploiting someone for their labor," you must consider another perspective. You must consider that some slaves--without a slave quarters and work from an owner--would simply be out on the streets, begging for food. Was slavery perfect? No, of course not. But in a lot of cases, slave owners were putting a roof over the head of someone who would otherwise have nothing.

In fact, some slave owners would even let slaves sleep inside their own house. It was almost like they were part of the family.

Slave owners were putting a roof over the head of someone who would otherwise have nothing.

There's no perfect system of slavery. But when someone has no other option, they aren't a bad person for doing it. It's dangerous to paint an entire group of people with such a broad brush. When we lose sight of someone's individual actions in spite of a system they unwillingly perpetuate--instead hyperfixating on the merits of the system itself--we lose sight of our humanity. We equivocate the callous crackers of whips to the compassionate and nearly even remorseful givers of care.

So yes, slavery was bad. But not all slave owners were bad. And if history judges those by the morality of their actions, rather than the disposition of their character, then surely we're all damned.

About the author

Richard Spence is an entrepreneur and senior guest columnist at the Ivy Collegiate. He built his career in writing by tapping his lifetime of experience surviving as a landlord in dire times of economic strife. He enjoys fishing and playing with his dog, Ruby.