Transcript
One of the fascinating questions associated with American history in the 19th century is: Why did white southerners support the institution of slavery when most white southerners did not own slaves themselves? It’s a question that ultimately we can’t answer but there have been a lot of suggestions about what may have explained the behavior of white southerners during the 1800’s up to the Civil War.
First of all, even if a white southerner did not own slaves, plenty of them desired to own slaves. Slavery in the South was a badge of social significance, economic power, and political influence. It was the primary measuring stick of social stature. So many white southerners may not have owned slaves but they certainly yearned to be in a position where they did, if only because the slave-owners were the dominant class in the antebellum south.
A second and related factor was that even though white southerners might not have owned slaves, however poor they might be they could always look down upon those who were below them in the social class because they were enslaved. In other words, there was a social stigma associated with slavery whereby whites could make themselves feel better psychologically because they knew they were not slaves, however poor they might be.
A third and related factor was, of course, racism itself. Racism based on colored differences had emerged throughout Europe in the 16th century and had spread to the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. By the 19th century, attitudes based on race and especially color-based race were profoundly universal and deeply felt.
Taken together, these factors help us understand why white southerners who may not have owned slaves could benefit from slavery in direct and indirect economic and psychological ways. It’s a very complicated story but it helps us understand why people were willing to go to war over the institution of slavery.
Study Plan