Cannibals all! or, Slaves without masters

George Fitzhugh (1806-1881) was a notable American social theorist known for his extreme pro-slavery stance and sociological treatises justifying slavery during the 19th century. Born in Virginia, he was a prominent figure in Southern intellectual circles and often engaged in debates concerning the moral and economic dimensions of slavery. Fitzhugh's contributions to literature primarily come from his provocative texts that defended slavery as a beneficial institution both for the enslaved and society at large. His major work, 'Cannibals All! Or, Slaves Without Masters' (1857), is a polemical response to the growing abolitionist movement in which he asserts that Northern wage workers were actually worse off than Southern slaves. A reflection of the antebellum pro-slavery ideology, Fitzhugh argued that slavery provided necessary protection and support for those unable to compete in a capitalist economy. Despite the moral reprehensibility of his arguments by contemporary standards, Fitzhugh's works are relevant from a historical perspective as they encapsulate the attempts to intellectually justify the institution of slavery by its proponents. His writings are characterized by their use of satire, dire predictions of societal collapse without slavery, and a paternalistic view towards the social hierarchy. Fitzhugh's perspectives have been largely discredited, but his texts remain objects of study for scholars interested in the complexity of pre-Civil War Southern thought and the lengths to which its advocates went to defend the indefensible.