The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 9, Number 1, Summer (June) 2020 | Page 27

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races and the resulting consequences of
mixed-race interactions.
James Fenimore Cooper did not
approve of slavery. However, he did not
engage in a direct attack on the practice
itself, especially as it was a decidedly
American practice during the nineteenth
century. This philosophy was
similar to the approach that ordinary
Americans took with regard to slavery.
Slavery was a practice that was condemned
easily and sentenced to a short
life of unfortunate necessity. However,
outside criticism was unwelcome, as
slavery was a pervasive practice within
both the North and the South in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Cooper was offended by critiques
of the United States and the continued
practice of slavery, which was
of a contradictory nature when viewed
through an international lens. Cooper
also defended the treatment of slaves in
the United States, arguing that, “Doubtless
there are many abuses, but in general
they are at least well clothed and
lodged, and far better fed than half the
peasants in Europe.” 15 Cooper argued
multiple times that the American slave
was far better off than the European
peasant, in both treatment and conditions
of labor. Cooper also argued that
if not for the actions of the European
colonial powers, slavery would never
have been initiated in North America,
nor would it have been needed. Further,
one of the grievances expressed
as a reason for the Declaration of Independence
from England was the repugnant
nature of slavery; during the
Revolutionary period, Cooper argued,