Analyzing Bennet Barrow's 'The Proslavery Argument'

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Document 13-2 is a journal based on plantation rules for slaves all in a journal written by Bennet Barrow on May 1st of 1838. He named his journal, “Highland Plantation Journal” so he could reference back to his rules he told his slaves working on his plantation. Barrow wrote this journal because he wanted his slaves to follow a guideline of rules and regulations so they know what their master expects, and in this case, their master would be Barrow. The first few lines indicate that all men and women of colored skin should have these rules and regulation imposed on them. Barrow in his journal his very straight forward and gets to the point, he states, “No negro shall leave at anytime without my permission.” Just by this statement, one can jump to conclusion of the amount of grief and sorrow a slave goes through on a daily basis just by this one out of many rules. Larger historical themes that relate to this document would be the treatment and living conditions slaves in the southern part of United States went through on a daily basis. Within the journal, Barrow described the pay and incentives slaves received on a yearly basis. …show more content…

Within the letter, Hammond states, “You will say that man cannot hold property in man” justifying that slaves are considered property. In the 1800’s slaves did not have rights to the constitution, and were considered basic property. Although the slave would be breathing and living human being, they were treated like property, resulting in gruesome living conditions and treated like garbage on the side of a street. All in all, the treatment and living condition of slaves on plantations and farms were not civilized and

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