The Choice: Stephen Miller Promotes the Mudsill Theory
We must fight against the racism and racists in this country.
Issue #988 The Choice, Friday, February 6, 2026
As we all understand now, this present administration is likely the most racist and overall incompetent one in American history. Their motto may be “Make America Great Again,” but their policies are “Make America White Again.”
Of course, the current occupant of the White House is racist and comes from a racist family, including his father, who was in the KKK. Just this week, he posted an AI video showing Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
But Stephen Miller, the current deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security, is just as racist, or even more so.
Earlier this week, Miller espoused the “Mudsill Theory,” which originated in the United States to justify slavery and set up a permanent social hierarchy with white people at the top.
The Mudsill Theory is a pro-slavery ideology that emerged in the United States during the antebellum period. The term derives from a “mudsill”—the lowest threshold or foundation that supports a building—and was used as a metaphor to justify slavery and social hierarchy.
The theory was first formally articulated by James Henry Hammond, a Democratic U.S. Senator from South Carolina and wealthy plantation owner, in a famous speech delivered to the Senate on March 4, 1858. This speech, often called the “Cotton is King” speech, became one of the most influential pro-slavery arguments of the era.
Hammond’s mudsill theory rested on three main arguments:
Necessity of a Lower Class: Every society requires a class of people to perform menial labor and “the drudgery of life.” This class needs only “a low order of intellect and but little skill” and must possess “vigor, docility, fidelity.”
Racial Justification: Hammond argued that the South was fortunate to have found a race—African Americans—naturally suited for this role. He claimed they were “inferior” and “eminently qualified in temper, in vigor, in docility” to serve as slaves, and that slavery actually elevated them from their natural condition.
Comparison to Northern Labor: Hammond provocatively argued that Northern wage laborers were essentially slaves too, but worse off than Southern slaves. He claimed Northern workers were “hired by the day, not cared for, and scantily compensated,” while Southern slaves were “hired for life and well compensated.”
Rather than just defending slavery as a “necessary evil,” Southern defenders began arguing it was a positive good—essential to civilization and social progress.
The theory was deeply controversial and inflammatory, particularly in the North. Northern workers and mechanics found the term “mudsill” insulting, and the theory became a focal point of sectional conflict in the years leading up to the Civil War. Abolitionists and figures like Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass directly opposed this ideology, recognizing it as a fundamental justification for the institution of slavery.
Our Choice: We must realize that the MAGA Republicans, despite being in the minority in the U.S. population, are currently in control of all three branches of government. Their goals are to completely destroy America as we have known it (especially the U.S. government), ignore the Constitution and the laws and policies they don’t like, and enact white supremacy, anti-immigration, anti-education, and anti-science as the foundations for the country.
We must fight the administration with all of the power and efforts we can, including reminding our elected officials that they work for our benefit, not the president’s.
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