Common sentiment in South
 "From the rattle with which the nurse tickles the ear of the child
born in the South, to the shroud that covers the cold form of the
dead, everything comes to us from the North.
 We rise from between sheets made in Northern looms, and pillows of
Northern feathers, to wash in basins made in the North, dry our beards
on Northern towels, and dress ourselves in garments woven in
Northern looms; we eat from Northern plates and dishes; our rooms
are swept with Northern brooms, our gardens dug with Northern
spades, and our bread kneaded in trays or dishes of Northern wood, or
tin; and the very wood which feeds our fires is cut with Northern axes,
helved with hickory brought from Connecticut and New York.“
If this is recognized as Truth, then
why were Southerners unwilling to
change it?
 Then South would have to switch to manufacturing,
which means cities
 And who would work? Slaves?
 Slaves have more freedom in cities
 Who gains power and who loses it?
The Bible tells us so
 Slavery part of routine in the Bible
 Jesus doesn’t say anything about it
 Method of spreading Gospel to heathens (Africans)
Makes more money than
manufacturing
 Best return on investment
 Cheaper than free labor
 Richest area in US was in Lower South (per capita
whites, anyway)
 Tobacco, sugar, rice, indigo, cotton – crops change but
slavery keeps going
 Also, 1/5 of slavery was nonagricultural; slavery flexible
 Selling slaves was also big business – huge slave trade
from east to west
Society was built on it
 More slaves owned = higher status
 Lowest white still higher than highest black
 ¾ of Southern whites did not own slaves, yet almost all
still supported slavery
 Manual labor is for slaves
Political justification
 Kept votes in Senate, protect region
 “best guarantee to equality among the whites”, John C.
Calhoun
 Can never allow blacks to go free and vote
Miscellaneous reasons why slavery
should continue
 Continued to flourish even after slave importation
ended (1808) so must be destiny of U.S.
 British economy, northern manufacturing, northern
banks would all collapse, so slavery must continue
 Only solution for American labor shortage
Planter class dominated South
 Planters (owners of plantations) were political, social,
religious leaders of Southern communities
 Their money supported lawyers, preachers, teachers
 George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! – whites should be
made slaves too. Claimed that slaves in South better
treated than factory workers in North.
 In fact, called factory work “wage slavery”
 Common belief that Northerners were hypocrites, love
freedom but hate blacks (pointed out racist laws
restricting free African-Americans in northern states)
Assignment
 Write a 5 paragraph essay explaining the four most
critical ways in which slavery was more than just a
system of labor.