ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by cannibals,

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people with a refined taste for, uh, canned goods.

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[ sigh ]

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All right, here's the excerpt.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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Okay, and the question:

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The goal of the author in writing the excerpt was to... what?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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In the excerpt, Fitzhugh

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argues that "the free laborer must be employed

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or starve, yet no one is obliged to employ him.

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The slave is taken care of,

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whether employed or not."

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All right, well, it seems like slaves wouldn't consider living under

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the thumb of a violent master as being taken care of.

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But let's see which answer best captures

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Fitzhugh's not-so-worthy goal.

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Was Fitzhugh's main intention in the excerpt to A -

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criticize the use of free labor?

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Well, while Fitzhugh does paint slavery as superior

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to free labor, criticizing the North's economic system

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doesn't seem to be the primary goal of the excerpt.

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So A's out.

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Is the main focus of the excerpt to C -

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encourage the abolition of the slave trade?

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Well, slavery was the dominant force in the Southern economy

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and Fitzhugh certainly wouldn't advocate for its eradication.

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So that gets rid of C.

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Could Fitzhugh's primary goal have been to D -

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highlight the difference between races?

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Well, while some essayists employed

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racial stereotypes to justify the institution of slavery,

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this strategy wasn't used in this particular piece.

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Which means the main goal of the excerpt was to B -

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defend the institution of slavery.

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On the eve of the Civil War, many Southerners took up arms

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by writing essays to defend the institution of slavery,

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praising it as an economic necessity for the Southern way of life.

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So B is the answer.

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And with the nation on the brink of collapse, these authors

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used their words as weapons, believing the

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pen to be mightier than the, uh, rifled muskets.

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[ sigh ]

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