Question

What advice does Henry’s former slave master give him when he frees him what do you think his motive is in giving such advice

Answer 1

In Henry Adams' account, he talks about how difficult it was for slaves to exercise their freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation. He tells us that his master had brought the former slaves together and suggested that they should stay with him. He told them that other white people were angry about emancipation, and would be cruel to them, or might even kill them. He also told them that it was better to stay with the people that knew them and had "raised" them. In this way, he convinced the slaves to stay.

The motivation that the former slave master most likely had in mind was that of not wanting to lose all of his labor force. He knew that the former slaves were necessary in order to keep his household and business running, but he was also aware of the fact that he did not want to treat the men fairly or pay them a good wage, so he needed to scare them in order to force them to stay.