These beliefs were not new then and are the foundation of white Supremacy teaching.
Pre-War
Vitruvius (70–25 BC)... those races nearest to the southern half of the axis are of lower stature, with swarthy complexions, curly hair, black eyes, and little blood, on account of the sun. This poverty of blood makes them over-timid to stand up against the sword ... On the other hand, men born in cold countries are, indeed, ready to meet the shock of arms with great courage and without timidity.[10]
Charles White (1728–1813), an English physician and surgeon, believed that races occupied different stations in the "Great Chain of Being", and he tried to scientifically prove that human races have distinct origins from each other. He believed that Whites and Negroes were two different species.
Christoph Meiners (1747–1810) was a German polygenist and believed that each race had a separate origin. Meiner studied the physical, mental and moral characteristics of each race, and built a race hierarchy based on his findings. Meiners split mankind into two divisions, which he labelled the "beautiful White race" and the "ugly Black race". In Meiners's book The Outline of History of Mankind, he said that a main characteristic of race is either beauty or ugliness. He thought only the White race to be beautiful. He considered ugly races to be inferior, immoral and animal-like. He said that the dark, ugly peoples were distinct from the white, beautiful peoples by their "sad" lack of virtue and their "terrible vices". Meiners said the Negro felt less pain than any other race and lacked in emotions. Meiners wrote that the Negro had thick nerves and thus was not sensitive like the other races. He went as far as to say that the Negro has "no human, barely any animal, feeling". He described a story where a Negro was condemned to death by being burned alive. Halfway through the burning, the Negro asked to smoke a pipe and smoked it like nothing was happening while he continued to be burned alive. Meiners studied the anatomy of the Negro and came to the conclusion that the Negro have bigger teeth and jaws than any other race, as Negroes are allcarnivores. Meiners claimed the skull of the Negro was larger but the brain of the Negro was smaller than any other race. Meiners claimed the Negro was the most unhealthy race on Earth because of its poor diet, mode of living and lack of morals.[40] In Meiners's large work entitled Researches on the Variations in Human Nature (1815), he studied also the sexology of each race. He claimed that the African Negroids have unduly strong and perverted sex drives, whilst only the White Europeans have it just right.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)declared that "Africa is no historical part of the world." Hegel further claimed that blacks had no "sense of personality; their spirit sleeps, remains sunk in itself, makes no advance, and thus parallels the compact, undifferentiated mass of the African continent.
Post War examples:
Alexander H Stephens Post war comments 1865:
Mississippi Senator John Sharp Williams in 1904:
Local self-government temporarily destroyed may be recovered and ultimately retained. The other thing for which we fought is so complex in its composition, so delicate in its breath, so incomparable in its symmetry, that, being once destroyed, it is forever destroyed. This other thing for which we fought was the supremacy of the white man’s civilization in the country which he proudly claimed his own; “in the land which the Lord his God had given him;” founded upon the white man’s code of ethics, in sympathy with the white man’s traditions and ideals.
The Confederate Veteran—the official publication of the United Confederate Veterans—in 1906:
The kindliest relation that ever existed between the two races in this country, or that ever will, was the ante-bellum relation of master and slave—a relation of confidence and responsibility on the part of the master and of dependence and fidelity on the part of the slave.
The Confederate Veteran again in 1911:
The African, coming from a barbarous state and from a tropical climate, could not meet the demands for skilled labor in the factories of the Northern States; neither could he endure the severe cold of the Northern winter. For these reasons it was both merciful and “business” to sell him to the Southern planter, where the climate was more favorable and skilled labor not so important. In the South the climate, civilization, and other influences ameliorated the African’s condition, and that of almost the entire race of slaves, which numbered into the millions before their emancipation. It should be noted that their evangelization was the most fruitful missionary work of any modern Christian endeavor. The thoughtful and considerate negro of to-day realizes his indebtedness to the institution of African slavery for advantages which he would not have received had he remained in his semi-barbarism waiting in his native jungles for the delayed missionary.
And in 1917, the Confederate Veteran singled out one man for particular praise:
Great and trying times always produce great leaders, and one was at hand—Nathan Bedford Forrest. His plan, the only course left open. The organization of a secret government. A terrible government; a government that would govern in spite of black majorities and Federal bayonets. This secret government was organized in every community in the South, and this government is known in history as the Klu Klux Clan...
Here in all ages to come the Southern romancer and poet can find the inspiration for fiction and song. No nobler or grander spirits ever assembled on this earth than gathered in these clans. No human hearts were ever moved with nobler impulses or higher aims and purposes….Order was restored, property safe; because the negro feared the Klu Klux Clan more than he feared the devil. Even the Federal bayonets could not give him confidence in the black government which had been established for him, and the negro voluntarily surrendered to the Klu Klux Clan, and the very moment he did, the “Invisible Army” vanished in a night. Its purpose had been fulfilled.
Bedford Forrest should always be held in reverence by every son and daughter of the South as long as memory holds dear the noble deeds and service of men for the good of others on, this earth. What mind is base enough to think of what might have happened but for Bedford Forrest and his “Invisible” but victorious army.
The Confederate Past and Present
"The South stood up to a man for State Rights and the sanctity of the home and the supremacy of the white Anglo-Saxon race. The cause was lost by overwhelming numbers and at a fearful cost, but the sanctity of the home was defended even in the face of defeat."
TheAtlantic.com
"In praising the Klan’s terrorism, Confederate veterans and their descendants displayed a remarkable consistency. White domination was the point. Slavery failed. Domination prevailed nonetheless. This was the basic argument of Florida Democratic Senator Duncan Fletcher. “The Cause Was Not Entirely Lost,” he argued in a 1931 speech before the United Daughters of the Confederacy:
The South fought to preserve race integrity. Did we lose that? We fought to maintain free white dominion. Did we lose that? The States are in control of the people. Local self-government, democratic government, obtains. That was not lost. The rights of the sovereign States, under the Constitution, are recognized. We did not lose that. I submit that what is called “The Lost Cause” was not so much “lost” as is sometimes supposed.
Indeed it was not. For a century after the Civil War, White Supremacy ruled the South. Toward the end of that century, as activists began to effectively challenge white supremacy, its upholders reached for a familiar symbol the battle flag was once again displayed with Wallace in the foreground.
GEN. SUMTER L. LOWRY May 1954
"Now the conspirators who wish to destroy our nation well know if you mix people of different color in marriage and if you infuse the blood of fourteen million negroes into the blood stream of the white American, you will breed a mongrel race, neither white nor black, and the history of the world shows that when a nation becomes mongrelized, it dies." "...Another propaganda phrase so effectively used by those preachers in our churches who favor integration, is the phrase, “the brotherhood of man”— pointing out that Christ taught, that love of your brother was the first duty of all men. Well no Christian or truly religious person will have any quarrel about “the brotherhood of man.” However, the real test on the part of the white man in his practice of “the brotherhood of man” and his regard for the negro, is whether the white man will feed the negro when he is hungry, nurse him when he is sick, give him money when he is broke and risk his life to save him from mob violence—that is the real test of the love of the white man for the colored man. ...I want you fine ladies here this morning to always remember that the issue at stake right now is the same issue your southern forebears fought and died for."
1962 Riots over desegregation of Ole Miss : http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/riots-over-desegregation-of-ole-miss
Even today: Dylann Storm Roof: “I have no choice,” it reads. “I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.” Modern history classes instill a subconscious White superiority complex in Whites and an inferiority complex in blacks. This White superiority complex that comes from learning of how we dominated other peoples is also part of the problem I have just mentioned. But of course I dont deny that we are in fact superior."
2015: The Sentiment continues
... Posted: Jul 28, 2015 1:27 AM CDT
Updated: Jul 28, 2015 8:02 AM CDTBy DeAnn Smith, Digital Content ManagerCONNECT
By Betsy Webster, News ReporterCONNECT
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -A white supervisor for the upscale Adam's Mark hotel allegedly hung a "slave doll" from a noose in an employee break area, according to a Kansas City attorney. The doll, which is dressed to look like a slave, was hung with a plastic bag used as the noose, according to a picture obtained by attorney Stacy Shaw. She shared the picture taken by an employee on her Twitter account and included the hashtag #SandraBland, in reference to the black woman who died while in a Texas jail after a white officer arrested her. Copyright 2015 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved
NOTE:
IN 1817 CPT James Riley submitted a document detailing the events that found him and his crew shipwrecked on the Western African Coast in Aug of 1815. The narrative tells how they were enslaved by the natives mistreated horridly ,were sold and found release from slavery.
The name of the document 'Authentic Narrative of the Loss of the American Brig Commerce ' was widely sought after and read by many including Abraham Lincoln who listed it as one of the three most influential works that shaped his political ideology. When Cpt. Riley returned home he fought tirelessly for the end of slavery in America. The book was released as Sufferings in Africa and is available at the link below . https://archive.org/stream/authenticnarrati01rile#page/n9/mode/2up
This book is significant because of its massive popularity at the time of its publishing. In the process of describing the ordeals Riley and his men endured it describes the culture in Africa. A culture that was different than American culture, but it worked for the people. This book demonstrates that Africans were NOT subhuman or lacked intelligence, but rather a self-sufficient people who created and navigated a culture containing all the intricacies of the American culture. There was therefore a well know document that refuted all of the above sentiments of this section that was ignored by those who would benefit the most from slave labor.
The sequel to the Narative: https://archive.org/stream/sequeltorileysna00rile#page/n21/mode/2up
Read More on Scientific Racism here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism