The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 9, Number 1, Summer (June) 2020 | Page 20

Slavery in New York: Through the Lens of
In Cooper’ Defense of Slave-Owning
America—in which Cooper defended
the uniquely American institution from
foreign criticism— Cooper argued that
slavery was viewed by the majority of
Americans as an evil, immoral practice,
but that it remedied more easily in
theory than in actual practice. Cooper’s
argument was a reflection of the notion
shared by many Americans that slavery
is not a palatable practice but that
blacks are also not equal in any fundamental
way. This sentiment also reflected
that of the Founding Fathers at
the inception of the American nation.
The Founding Fathers also promoted a
conflicted sentiment: slavery was considered
immoral and detrimental to the
principles of a democratic government,
but blacks were considered by the majority
to be innately inferior to whites.
Thomas Jefferson argued this very idea.
Jefferson also bought and sold slaves,
advertised for fugitives, and ordered the
punishment of fugitive slaves. 3
Cooper also—although he did
not approve of slavery—chose to defend
slave-owning America against foreign
criticism, as he argued that others
did not understand the circumstances
of its existence in an otherwise civilized
and enlightened nation. 4 There was an
abundance of available land to cultivate
and develop and not enough able bodies
to work it. Thus, slavery and indentured
labor became a fundamental aspect of
the developing nation. As such, there
existed within colonial America and the
American nation after the Revolutionary
War a dual view and relationship
with slavery.
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