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George Fitzhugh

American sociologist (1806–1881)

Summary

American sociologist (1806–1881)

FieldValue
nameGeorge Fitzhugh
death_placeHuntsville, Texas, U.S.
relativesGeorge Fitzhugh (father)
Lucy Stuart Fitzhugh (mother)
notable_worksSociology for the South, or, the Failure of Free Society (1854)
Cannibals All!, or, Slaves Without Masters (1857)
captionFitzhugh circa 1855
imageGeorge Fitzhugh, circa 1855.jpg
image_size220
childrenRobert Hunter Fitzhugh (1836–1919)
Twins Augusta Fitzhugh Woodall (1839–1908)
Mariella Foster (1839–1919)
Rev. George Stuart Fitzhugh (1844–1925)
spouseMary Metcalf Brockenbrough
birth_placePrince William County, Virginia, U.S.
regionWestern philosophy
American philosophy
death_date
birth_date
main_interests{{cslist
school_tradition{{plainlist
era19th century philosophy
occupationLawyer

Lucy Stuart Fitzhugh (mother) Cannibals All!, or, Slaves Without Masters (1857) Twins Augusta Fitzhugh Woodall (1839–1908) Mariella Foster (1839–1919) Rev. George Stuart Fitzhugh (1844–1925) American philosophy | Sociology | Slavery as a positive good

  • Continental philosophy
  • Paternalism
  • Proslavery George Fitzhugh (November 4, 1806 – July 30, 1881) was an American social theorist who published racial and slavery-based social theories in the pre-Civil War era. He argued that the negro was "but a grown up child" needing the economic and social protections of slavery. Fitzhugh favorably contrasted slavery in the American South with capitalism in the Northern United States, decrying the latter as "a war of the rich with the poor, and the poor with one another", which rendered free blacks "far outstripped or outwitted in the chase of free competition." Slavery, he contended, ensured that blacks would be economically secure and morally civilized. Some historians consider Fitzhugh's worldview to be proto-fascist in its rejection of liberal values, defense of slavery, and perspectives toward race.

Fitzhugh practiced law but attracted both fame and infamy when he published two sociological tracts for the South. He was a leading pro-slavery intellectual and spoke for many of the Southern plantation owners. Before printing books, Fitzhugh tried his hand at a pamphlet, "Slavery Justified" (1849). His first book, Sociology for the South (1854) was not as widely known as his second book, Cannibals All! (1857). Sociology for the South is the first known English-language book to include the term "sociology" in its title.

Fitzhugh differed from nearly all of his southern contemporaries by advocating a slavery that crossed racial boundaries. In Sociology for the South, Fitzhugh proclaimed, "Men are not 'born entitled to equal rights!' It would be far nearer the truth to say, 'that some were born with saddles on their backs, and others booted and spurred to ride them,' – and the riding does them good."; and that the Declaration of Independence "deserves the tumid yet appropriate epithets which Major Lee somewhere applies to the writings of Mr. Jefferson, it is, 'exhuberantly false, and arborescently fallacious.'"

Life

George Fitzhugh was born on November 10, 1806, to George Fitzhugh Sr. (a surgeon/physician) and Lucy (née Stuart) Fitzhugh. He was born in Prince William County, Virginia. His family moved to Alexandria, Virginia, when he was six. He attended public school though his career was built on self-education. He married Mary Metcalf Brockenbrough in 1829 and moved to Port Royal, Virginia. There he began his own law business. Fitzhugh took up residence in a "rickety old mansion" that he inherited through his wife's family, known for a vast collection of bats in its attic. He was something of a recluse in this home for most of his life and rarely travelled away from it for extended periods of time, spending most of his days there engaged in unguided reading from a vast library of books and pamphlets.

Of the writers in his library, Fitzhugh's beliefs were most heavily influenced by Thomas Carlyle, whom he read frequently and referenced in many of his works. Atypical for a slavery advocate, Fitzhugh also subscribed to and regularly read abolitionist pamphlets such as The Liberator. He made only one major visit to other parts of the nation in the entire antebellum period – an 1855 journey to the north where he met and argued with abolitionists Gerrit Smith and Wendell Phillips.

Never politically active in his own right, Fitzhugh managed to find the company of well known political figures in his day. In addition to the two abolitionists, Fitzhugh was an acquaintance of several public officials. In 1857 Fitzhugh served as a law clerk in Washington, D.C. under Attorney General Jeremiah Sullivan Black. He gained fairly wide circulation in print, writing articles for several Virginia newspapers and for the widely circulated Southern magazine DeBow's Review.

After moving to Richmond, Virginia, in 1862 he began to work in the Treasury of the Confederacy. After the Civil War, Fitzhugh spent a short time judging for the Freedmen's Court and then retiring to Kentucky after his wife's death in 1877. He later moved to his daughter's residence in Huntsville, Texas, where he died on July 30, 1881. He is buried in a grave in Oakwood Cemetery, Huntsville, where his daughter, Mariella Fitzhugh Foster and her husband Capt. Marcellus Aurelius Foster are also buried.

Writings

''Sociology for the South''

Sociology for the South, or, the Failure of Free Society (1854) was George Fitzhugh's most powerful attack on the philosophical foundations of free society. In it, he took on not only Adam Smith, the foundational thinker of capitalism, but also John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and the entire liberal tradition. He argued that the transition away from feudalism and the adoption of liberal values like freedom and equality had been detrimental to workers and to society as a whole, and that the liberal experiment had failed and a return to a pre-liberal mode of society was necessary:

Fitzhugh's position was rooted in a kind of medievalism, widely popular in his day, and held up what he thought medieval society was as an ideal for America, as he clarified in 1858: "In the balmy days of royalty, of feudal nobility, and of Catholic rule, there were no poor in Europe". He argued in Sociology for the South that all societies have a substratum, and that the new liberal social order was more harmful to this substratum than either the previous feudal order or to slavery:

Fitzhugh believed that slavery represented a lingering element of pre-liberal, or even pre-feudal social organization, and proposed the expansion of the institution of slavery to return to a pre-feudal social order of antiquity and alleviate the supposed harm caused by liberalism and capitalism:

In order to expand the institution of slavery, Fitzhugh proposed both the enslavement of all free black people and the enslavement of working-class people of all races, making him notable as possibly the only anti-abolitionist to propose slavery be expanded to include white people. Fitzhugh referenced racist justifications for his proposal to re-enslave all free black people, stating that, "unlike the white man, they have no hope of changing and improving their condition whilst free", and that "every other form of government than that of slavery has signally failed in the case of the negro. He is an enemy to himself, and an intolerable pest and nuisance to society, where ever among the whites he is free [...] it is the right and duty of the State to enslave them, because experience has clearly proved that it is the only practicable mode of governing them." While he subscribed to many of the racist views towards black people which were common among anti-abolitionists at the time, he did criticize the racial pseudo-scientific theories proposed by Josiah C. Nott in his book The Types of Mankind.

''Cannibals All!''

Cannibals All!, or Slaves Without Masters (1857) was a critique further developing the themes that Fitzhugh had introduced in Sociology for the South. Both the book's title and its subtitle were phrases taken from the writing of Thomas Carlyle, the Scottish social critic and a great hero to Fitzhugh's generation of proslavery thinkers. The aim of his book, Fitzhugh claimed, was to show that "the unrestricted exploitation of so-called free society is more oppressive to the laborer than domestic slavery."

Cannibals All! expanded on Fitzhugh's premise that "slavery to human masters" was "less intolerable" than the "slavery to capital" found in free societies,Wiener, Jonathan M. (1979). "Coming to Terms with Capitalism: The Postwar Thought of George Fitzhugh," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 87 (4), pp. 438–447. as well as expanding on his critiques of notions of liberty and equality more generally. In addressing Thomas Jefferson's notions of "natural rights", Fitzhugh stated:

Under this same context, Fitzhugh asserted that society was obligated to protect the weak by controlling and subjugating them. Fitzhugh wrote:

Regarding the question of who should be free and who should be enslaved, Fitzhugh wrote:

Fitzhugh also argued that the feudal system had its roots in slavery, and much like slavery, offered more favorable conditions to laborers than those found in liberal free-market capitalist economies:

Cannibals All! continued Fitzhugh's criticisms of the foundational guiding principles of the American Revolution, including criticizing the validity of the notion of the consent of the governed:

Cannibals All! garnered more attention in the Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist newspaper, than any other book. Abraham Lincoln is said to have been more angered by George Fitzhugh than by any other pro-slavery writer, yet he unconsciously paraphrased Cannibals All! in his House Divided speech.

Views

Socialism

Fitzhugh's stated position on socialism varies wildly between and even within his works. At times he is harshly critical of socialists of his time, linking them to abolitionism, stating in Sociology for the South:

At other times he sympathized with socialist critiques of liberal free market economies, but argued that reverting to an older feudal or pre-feudal social model through the expansion of slavery was a more effective means to the end of addressing the destitution caused by capitalism, and that proposals by socialists were untested and went against human nature:

After the Civil War however Fitzhugh shifted his position on capitalism and especially the monopolization of land, arguing that rather than being more oppressive to the laborer than slavery or serfdom, as he had formerly argued, the subjugation of the laborer through the monopolization of land had, in his view, a positive civilizing effect similar to that of slavery, stating in Land Monopoly – Savage Nature (1867):

lands and cultivate them, provided you will furnish us, not only with the necessaries, but also with whatever is beautiful or ornamental in architecture, in dress, furniture, equipage, etc., and with all the luxuries of the table. This is an inestimable blessing to the laboring landless millions, for it habituates them to labor, system, economy and provident habits, and leaves them, from the results of their own labor, after paying the taxes or' rents to the land owners, twice as much of the comforts and necessaries of life as the best conditioned savages enjoy. Thus begins civilization, and thus only can it begin. Where there is no slavery to capital there cannot possibly be any civilization.}}

Slavery in the abstract

George Fitzhugh was among a cadre of Southern intellectuals who advocated for a universal slavery which included the white race. Fitzhugh's contempt for wage labor and laissez-faire capitalism are themes which dominated his Failure of Free Society and Cannibals All! In these works, Fitzhugh argued free labor was a crueler system than slavery. The results of free labor alienated the working class and therefore, produced movements for socialism, abolitionism, and feminism. As a solution, Fitzhugh advocated for extending the paternalistic relationship of the plantation system to encompass lower class whites. Fitzhugh postulated slavery as a humane alternative for both black and white laborers that would rectify the evils in laissez-faire capitalism. Although the idea of universal slavery was unpopular, Fitzhugh advocated expanding the South's "Peculiar Institution" (of slavery) until 1867 where he conceded wage labor was an adequate replacement for slavery.

Authoritarianism

George Fitzhugh held many moderate and mainstream Southern opinions. Nonetheless, by the standards of his Antebellum contemporaries, many of Fitzhugh's ideas were radical. He conceived of violence and war as progressive forces that would heal society from its degeneration. Fitzhugh also attacked the legitimacy of representative institutions for their failure to protect slavery. Fitzhugh was a prolific reactionary who advocated anything necessary to preserve slavery such as military dictatorship. Fitzhugh differed from his peers in promoting absolute power at the expense of the slave master class' rights. While some historians argue that Fitzhugh's radicalism was a natural outgrowth of slavery, other historians point out Thomas Carlyle's salient impact on Fitzhugh's authoritarian sentiments. The authoritarian and forward looking qualities of Fitzhugh's rhetoric has been seen by some historians as proto-fascist or a type of fascist intellectualism.

Works

Books

Articles

Other

  • A Controversy on Slavery Between George Fitzhugh and A. Hogeboom, Printed at the "Oneida Sachem" Office, 1857.
  • Ante-bellum: Writings of George Fitzhugh and Hinton Rowan Helper on Slavery, Capricorn Books 1960.

Notes

References

  1. Fitzhugh, George (1854). [https://archive.org/stream/sociologyforsou00fitz#page/82/mode/2up "Negro Slavery"], ''Sociology for the South'', Chap. V, A. Morris Publisher, p. 83.
  2. [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3141t.html "George Fitzhugh Advocates Slavery"], ''The Black American: A Documentary History'', Foresman and Company, Illinois, 1976, 1970.
  3. Fitzhugh (1854), p. 22.
  4. Fitzhugh (1854), p. 84.
  5. Roel Reyes, Stefan. (2019-12-17). "Antebellum Palingenetic Ultranationalism: The Case for including the United States in Comparative Fascist Studies". Fascism.
  6. Wish, Harvey. (1943). "George Fitzhugh: Propagandist of the Old South". Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
  7. Roel Reyes, Stefan. (2021-11-24). "'Christian Patriots': The Intersection Between Proto-fascism and Clerical Fascism in the Antebellum South". International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity.
  8. Gilpin, Drew Faust (1977). ''A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840–1860'', Johns Hopkins University Press.
  9. {{usurped
  10. [https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/fitzhughsoc/fitzhugh.html Sociology for the South, or, the Failure of Free Society], pp. 179, 182.
  11. Straka, Gerald M. (1957). "The Spirit of Carlyle in the Old South," ''The Historian'' '''20''' (1), pp. 39–57.
  12. Hartz, Louis (1955). ''The Liberal Tradition in America: An Interpretation of American Political Thought Since the Revolution''. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.
  13. Leland, Charles G. (1862). [https://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=cont;cc=cont;g=moagrp;xc=1;q1=George%20Fitzhugh;rgn=full%20text;view=image;seq=0486;idno=cont0002-4;node=cont0002-4%3A16 "A Southern Review,"] ''The Continental Monthly'' '''2''' (4), pp. 466–469.
  14. Skipper, Ottis Clark (1958). ''J.D.B. De Bow: Magazinist of the old South''. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press.
  15. [https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fitzhugh_George_1806-1881#start_entry George Fitzhugh (1806–1881)] Encyclopedia of Virginia website. Contributed by Calvin Schermerhorn and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography
  16. Dodd, William E. (1920). [https://archive.org/stream/chroniclesameric27john#page/n13/mode/2up ''The Cotton Kingdom: A Chronicle of the Old South''], Yale University Press, p. 64.
  17. Loewenberg, Robert (1985). "John Locke and the Antebellum Defense of Slavery," ''Political Theory'' '''13''' (2), pp. 266–291.
  18. Fitzhugh (1854), pp. 226–227
  19. Fitzhugh, George. (1858). "Southern Thought". Boydell and Brewer.
  20. Fitzhugh (1854), pp. 248–249
  21. Fitzhugh (1854), pp. 241–242
  22. Craven, Avery (1944). [https://archive.org/stream/papersinillinois1942illi#page/n13/mode/2up "Southern Attitudes Toward Abrahan Lincoln,"] ''Papers in Illinois History and Transactions for the year 1942'', The Illinois State Historical Society, p. 17.
  23. Fitzhugh (1854), pp. 281–282
  24. Fitzhugh (1854), pp. 282–283
  25. "We abhor the doctrine of the "Types of Mankind;" first, because it is at war with scripture, which teaches us that the whole human race is descended from a common parentage; and, secondly, because it encourages and incites brutal masters to treat negroes, not as weak, ignorant and dependent brethren, but as wicked beasts, without the pale of humanity. The Southerner is the negro's friend, his only friend. Let no intermeddling abolitionist, no refined philosophy, dissolve this friendship." — Fitzhugh (1854), p. 95.
  26. Dodd, William E. (1918). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2764032 "The Social Philosophy of the Old South,"] ''American Journal of Sociology'' '''23''' (6), pp. 735–746.
  27. George Fitzhugh. (1857). ""Cannibals All!, or Slaves Without Masters"". A. Morris Publishers.
  28. Persky, Joseph (1992). "Unequal Exchange and Dependency Theory in George Fitzhugh," ''History of Political Economy'' '''24''' (1), pp. 117–128.
  29. Woodward, C. Vann (1964). "A Southern War Against Capitalism." In: ''American Counterpoint: Slavery and racism in the North-South Dialogue''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, pp. 107–139.
  30. George Fitzhugh. (1857). ""Cannibals All!, or Slaves Without Masters"". A. Morris Publishers.
  31. George Fitzhugh. (1857). ""Cannibals All!, or Slaves Without Masters"". A. Morris Publishers.
  32. George Fitzhugh. (1857). ""Cannibals All!, or Slaves Without Masters"". A. Morris Publishers.
  33. George Fitzhugh. (1857). ""Cannibals All!, or Slaves Without Masters"". A. Morris Publishers.
  34. Phillips, Michael (2007). "George Fitzhugh (1806–1881)." In: Junius P. Rodriguez (ed.), ''Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia'', Vol. I, ABC-CLIO, p. 285.
  35. George Fitzhugh. (1854). ""Sociology for the South, Or The Failure of Free Society"". A. Morris Publishers.
  36. George Fitzhugh. (1854). ""Sociology for the South, Or The Failure of Free Society"". A. Morris Publishers.
  37. George Fitzhugh. ""Land Monopoly – Savage Nature"". Debow's Review, Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial Progress and Resources.
  38. (2008). "Slavery in White and Black: Class and Race in the Southern Slaveholders' New World Order". Cambridge University Press.
  39. Genovese, Eugene D.. (1969). "The World the Slaveholders Made: Two Essays in Interpretation". Vintage Books.
  40. Roel Reyes, Stefan. (2022-01-12). "'"There must be a new world if there is to be any world at all!"': Thomas Carlyle's illiberal influence on George Fitzhugh". Journal of Political Ideologies.
  41. Fitzhugh, George. (1867). "Liberty versus Government". De Bow's Review, Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial Progress and Resources..
  42. Fitzhugh, George. (1867). "Mandeville's Fable of the Bees". De Bow's Review, Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial Progress and Resources.
  43. Roel Reyes, Stefan. (Spring 2024). ""war is the favorite pursuit of man": How George Fitzhugh and John Quitman Moore exalted War as a Regenerative and Progressive Force". Southern Historian.
  44. Fitzhugh, George. (1860). "Popular Institutions". De Bow's Review, Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial Progress and Resources..
  45. Bonner, Robert E.. (2009). "Proslavery Extremism Goes to War: The Counterrevolutionary Confederacy and Reactionary Militarism". Modern Intellectual History.
  46. De Bow, J. D. B. (1857). [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/acg1336.1-22.005/545:18?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=George+Fitzhugh "Cannibals All; or, Slaves without Masters,"] ''Debow's Review'' '''22''' (5), May 1857, pp. 543–549.
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