BellaCH: Mudsill theory

2022-12-09T13:01:12Z

Mudsill theory

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{{Short description|Pro-slavery conflict theory}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{sociology}}
[[File:JHHammond.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|[[James Henry Hammond]] coined the "Mudsill Theory"]]

'''Mudsill theory''' is the proposition that there must be, and always has been, a [[Social_class#Lower_class|lower class]] or [[underclass]] for the [[upper classes]] and the rest of society to rest upon. The term derives from a [[mudsill]], the lowest threshold that supports the [[Foundation (architecture)|foundation]] for a building.

== History ==
The theory was first articulated by [[James Henry Hammond|James Hammond]], a [[United States senator]] from [[South Carolina]] and a wealthy [[Plantation era|southern plantation]] owner, in a speech on March 4, 1858. Hammond argued that every society must find a class of people to do menial labor, whether called slaves or not, and that assigning that status on a racial basis followed [[natural law]], while the [[Northern United States]]' [[social class]] of white wage laborers presented a revolutionary threat.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3439t.html Africans in America/Part 4/Mudsill Theory]</ref>

It was directly used to advocate [[slavery]] in the [[rhetoric]] of other Democrats, who were struggling to maintain their grip on the [[Southern United States|Southern]] economy. They saw the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition of slavery]] as a threat to their powerful new Southern market that revolved almost entirely around the [[plantation economy|plantation system]], which was furthered by the use of primarily-[[native ethnic groups of Africa|African]] slaves but also used destitute [[Caucasian race|whites]].{{cn|date=March 2021}}

== Criticism ==
Many saw the argument as a weak justification for [[exploitation of labour|exploitation]] and a flimsy example of creating [[science]] to reference as [[logical argument|proof]].<ref>[[Richard Hofstadter|Hofstadter, Richard]]. The American Political Tradition & the Men Who Made It. New York, NY: Knopf, 1974. 86-117.</ref> An obvious flaw lies in that there are no indications as to which class or race rightfully belongs to the mudsill other than the pre-supposed regional groups that were already in place at the "bottom," thus causing a [[circular argument]].{{cn|date=March 2021|reason=The criticism is not disputed, only its inclusion here without a source.}}

Mudsill theory and similar [[rhetoric]] has been dubbed "the [[Marxism]] of the [[Slaveholder|Master-Class]]"<ref>Hofstadter, 1974</ref> which fought for the rights of the propertied elite against what were perceived as threats from the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]], lower classes and non-whites to gain higher standards of living.

[[Abraham Lincoln]] argued forcefully against the mudsill theory, particularly [[s:Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society|in a speech]] in [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], in 1859,<ref>[http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/fair.htm "Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society," Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1859]</ref> where he delineated its incompatibility with [[Free Soil]]. In his view, mudsill advocates "conclude that all laborers are necessarily either hired laborers, or slaves" since to them, "nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital... induces him to do it." Further, mudsillers believed that these laborers were "fatally fixed" in their status. Lincoln contrasted his view that labor was in fact the source of capital by noting that a majority of persons in [[free state (United States)|Free States]] were "neither hirers nor hired" but in such professions as farming, where they worked for themselves.<ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bWmmyJEMZoC
|title=Lincoln on Democracy
|author=Abraham Lincoln
|author-link=Abraham Lincoln
|year=2004
|publisher=[[Fordham University Press]]
|isbn=0-8232-2345-0}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* [[Class conflict]]
* [[Class collaboration]]
* [[Ethnocentrism]]
* [[George Fitzhugh]]
* [[Lumpenproletariat]]
* [[Pro-slavery|Pro-slavery thought]]
* [[Slavery]]
* [[Social inequality]]
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [[File:wikisource-logo.svg|12px|Wikisource logo]] [[s:The 'Mudsill' Theory|The 'Mudsill' Theory]] speech at [[Wikisource]]
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3439t.html "Mudsill Theory" introductory speech given by James Henry Hammond]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090505041154/http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/18d.htm "Mudsill Theory"], from [[John Taylor Gatto]]'s ''The Underground History of American Education''

{{Social class}}
[[Category:1858 introductions]]
[[Category:1858 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Rhetoric]]
[[Category:Culture of the Southern United States]]
[[Category:Slavery in the United States]]
[[Category:Political controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:Sociological terminology]]
[[Category:Sociological theories]]
[[Category:Social class in the United States]]

Mudsill theory - Revision history

BellaCH: Mudsill theory