ALSBTALK:

A fascinating read.  It contains historical items both startling and new to me in addition to its novel exploration of the necessary social-psychological substructure of the law. 

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2358101 
"Slaves to Contradictions:  13 Myths that Sustained Slavery"

Wilson Ray Huhn
University of Akron - School of Law

November 6, 2013

Abstract:     
People have a fundamental need to think of themselves as "good people."  To achieve this we tell each other stories - we create myths - about ourselves and our society.  These myths may be true or they may be false.  The more discordant a myth is with reality, the more difficult it is to convince people to embrace it.  In such cases to sustain the illusion of truth it may be necessary to develop an entire mythology - an integrated web of mutually supporting stories.

This paper explores the system of myths that sustained the institution of slavery in the antebellum United States.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 77

Keywords: slavery, myth, Civil War

JEL Classification: K10
working papers series


Download This Paper
Date posted: November 22, 2013  
Suggested Citation

Huhn, Wilson Ray, Slaves to Contradictions: 13 Myths that Sustained Slavery (November 6, 2013).  Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2358101  or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2358101 


Michael

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