What were Washington’s arguments against the slave system? The main reasons he found the slave system flawed was because of the immorality of it. Bidding and buying the slaves was wrong and inhuman. People’s impatience and cheating also caused lots of problem in the slave trade as well. Owning someone else displeased Washington and upset him greatly. This is why he hated slavery so much. The way that they were treated was extremely wrong. Being whipped and starved is not only unhealthy for the slaves, but also something he points out as unhealthy for business.These are the reasons the slave system failed.
Owning slaves is immoral. A human should not be able to bid and buy another human. But this was not the only problem. The other problem was the greed and cheating of the bidders. Usually in a bid the highest bid wins, but in these bids, the auctioneer and the bidders were not playing fair, as the auctioneer could be paid off by bidders. Therefore the entire event was set up from the start. When Washington wrote about these events, he was illustrating the fact of immorality, and corruption within the system.
The next problem was impatience. People had no patience when bidding. He wrote about how when people were buying slaves it was first come and first serve. He also wrote about how people would try to pay to get to the front of the line. This is because of greed, as they wanted the first pick. He writes about how they didn’t have time, they didn’t like lines, or they were trying to be better than the rest of the line. The fact is, people were cheating and cutting corners every way that they could.
The last thing that was unjust in the slave system was the simple fact of condition of the slavesFor most the conditions were dirty and horrendous. However this was not the case for every slave in the United states at the time. His family was not treated terrible. He wrote about the struggles of the entire family, and the struggles of his mom trying to feed her children. From a young age he could tell she was the one working the hardest in the family, and he wrote about it. That is what makes the book so interesting to read.
Through out reading the book, Washington writes about and explains the faults and problems with the slave system. From the auction itself, to the condition of the slaves, almost all of the entire system is corrupt, immoral, and faulty. Everything he writes about helps the reader understand the l flaws of slavery, and the effects that it left on it’s victims. No person needs to own another person.
JBSchool 