1. Why do you think Dr. Morton was agreed with in his “white supremacy logic” even though he gave no scientific evidence?
To 'righteously' consider their race superior to blacks, whites had to believe they were more intelligent, so they would therefore have a right force their will upon them. Dr. Morton justified white reasoning by "presumably 'scientific evidence' of black mental inferiority" by dehumanizing blacks and "to support the notion of white supremacy and to justify racial segregation" (108).
2. Why were slaves viewed as childlike?
Slave owners said that their society was "'a patriarchal institution now', founded in pity and protection on the one side, and the dependence and gratitude of the other" (112). Blacks were viewed as immature as a way to show supposed intellectual superiority and to maintain control. Slaveowners treated their slaves as childlike to express the blacks' inferiority and the slaves' dependency on their white owners.
3. What is the difference between how southern and northern blacks were treated?
Southern blacks faced direct racism, and most slaveowners thought that "strict discipline was essential and that power had to be based on fear" (111); however, blacks from the North were supposedly "free", but were still targeted and thought of as inferior, and also "experienced discrimination and segregation" (107).
