Pro-slavery theologians invoked insect behavior as divine sanction for human enslavement.

Evidence

Having established the principles of social hierarchy and role differentiation as divine mandates, Manly then turned to other sources, such as history and science, to drive home his point. The history of human civilizations, he argued, made God’s intentions clear: “In all times, in all countries not excepting his own,” the African “race has been in a state of servitude.” Drawing on new entomological studies, Manly developed a popular “Lecture on Ants,” in which he marveled at a species of slave-making ants that “have become tired of the drudgery of their own labor, it seems, and by a strange and astonishing instinct, resort to violence to obtain laborers of a difference species than their own.” — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 237

Categorization

• SEED: Naturalizing slavery by analogy to slave-making ants is a striking rhetorical case for an essay on how oppressors recruit nature to justify hierarchy.
• XREF: Parallels the uses of naturalistic justification discussed in my reading on racial ideology manufacturing European difference. — connects to: A theologian read slave-making ants as nature sanctioning slavery — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 238; Proslavery Christianity framed enslavement as divinely sanctioned mutual benefit — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 241; Religion supplied slaveholders moral sanction rather than conscience for cruelty — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 246 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• A theologian read slave-making ants as nature sanctioning slavery #exemplifies (0.97) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 238
• Proslavery Christianity framed enslavement as divinely sanctioned mutual benefit #expands (0.82) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 241
• Religion supplied slaveholders moral sanction rather than conscience for cruelty #corroborates (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 246
• Western religious doctrine gave slavery its highest moral sanction #expands (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1709
• Racist theological ideas sanctioned and made American slavery acceptable to Christian churches #expands (0.78) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 20
• Religious conversion made slaveholders more cruel, not less #corroborates (0.78) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 246
• Racist ideas softened slavery’s religious scruples to preserve enslaver interests #corroborates (0.75) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 105