Final answer:
George Fitzhugh argued that slaves were better cared for than Northern wage laborers, as they had food, clothing, shelter provided for them and were protected from economic uncertainties.
Step-by-step explanation:
George Fitzhugh believed that slaves were better off than lower class workers in the North for several reasons. His arguments, rooted in Southern paternalism, suggested that slaves, unlike Northern workers, were guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter by their masters.
He contended that the paternalistic nature of slavery meant that slaveholders took care of the enslaved 'from birth to death,' which contrasted with the wage slavery of the North where workers faced economic insecurity.
Fitzhugh, along with others like James Henry Hammond who invoked the mudsill theory, argued that Southern whites could advance and pursue civilization's fruits because slaves performed menial tasks.
Furthermore, Fitzhugh emphasized the racial justification, claiming the institution helped Africans become more civilized and posited that slaves, considered as 'grown up children,' required a guiding hand, thus asserting a form of guardianship by the masters.