slavery




In the first pages of his letter, Fuller used his biblical interpretation to support his case for slavery by asserting that cruelty was not an attribute of slavery but a result of human abuse inside the system. But he doe not give answers, policies, or solutions to the mistreatment slaves whom, ironically, in his own words: "The slave has rights, many of which are protected by our laws, and all by the Bible." (Fuller, 9) If he claimed that cruelty was not an attribute of slavery. Yet how could he attribute rights to a system whose very name proclaimed the lack of them?
Fuller also hinted the economic implications of legitimatizing slavery when he simplified the question on whether it was or not a crime to hold a man and force him to work for another man without consent or contract (Fuller, 8). Noll described the economic transformation of America as a one of the most latent threats to its biblical civilization. (Noll, 33). Therefore it seems that Fuller focused more on the practical justification of slavery rather than in its moral implications when he describes the benefits for the slaves (but never mentions the benefits for the masters) and the biblical regulations of slave holding.