George Fitzhugh

Sociology for the South; Or, the Failure of Free Society (Dodo Press) George Fitzhugh

George Fitzhugh (1806-1881) was an American social theorist who published racial and slavery-based sociological theories in the antebellum era. He argued that "the Negro is but a grown up child" who needs the economic and social protections of slavery. Fitzhugh practiced law and was a planter for years, but attracted both his fame and infamy when he published two sociological tracts for the South. He was a leading proslavery intellectual and spoke for many of the Southern plantation owners. Before printing books, Fitzhugh tried his hand at a pamphlet titled Slavery Justified (1849). His first book, Sociology for the South; or, the Failure of Free Society (1854) was Fitzhugh's most powerful attack on the philosophical foundations of free society. In it, he argued that free labor and free markets enriched the strong while crushing the weak. However, it was not as widely known as his Cannibals All! ; or, Slaves Without Masters (1857) which was a sharp criticism of the system of "wage-slavery" found in the north. Fitzhugh believed that slavery reduced the pressure on the poor and lower class.