Domestic Manners of the Americans

In this section Trollope leaves Ohio and enters the southern states, which provides occasion for her most extensive commentary on The Effects of Slavery on American Society. Although acknowledging her “detestation” of slavery, she remarks that states in which slavery exists are notable for having better service and convenience for travelers like her. In a footnote, she clarifies that the real issue for her is slavery versus voluntary domestic service. She believes that the US should abolish slavery and thus free up young women to take up the domestic service occupations now filled by enslaved people; this would benefit the country both materially and morally.

There is, arguably, a tension throughout the text between Trollope’s opposition to slavery and her desire for privilege and convenience (and concomitant skepticism about equality). However, Trollope’s own point of view is that slavery and democracy are both bad and are in some way related. By embracing freedom and disparaging the concept of servitude, white Americans instead place the burden of service on Black Americans, thus leading to the very opposite of equality.

In general, the stay in Maryland and Washington marks an improvement in Trollope’s experience of America. Baltimore rates high as a beautiful city, as does Washington with an atmosphere that is more cosmopolitan and refined than Cincinnati.

Although praising the countryside and landscape of the Washington region, Trollope also expresses the view that uninterrupted nature is less interesting for the spectator than human monuments, which bear witness to culture and civilization (150–51). This comment, which caused ridicule among some American readers, reflects the common idea of the time that Europe was full of human history while America, an “unspoiled paradise,” could boast instead an abundance of natural beauty.

While in Washington, Trollope visits the Bureau for Indian Affairs, which leads her to comment on the fate of Indigenous Americans, an issue about which she feels equally strongly to that of slavery. Indeed, Trollope explicitly links together the two instances of historical injustice, remarking that both show up the “contradictions” in Americans’ “principles and practice.”