Several slaves were brought to the American South from Africa and the West Indies during the time of Atlantic slave trade which was pronounced in the areas by then. Approximately twenty percent of the population of the American South over the years has been African American.The African high population was due to the fact that they acted as slaves in the plantations of the whites. The whites preferred slavery due to various reasons including the reasons discussed in the ensuing sections.
Foremost, in the south, there were almost as many blacks as there were whites; four million blacks and close to five million whites. The shareholders feared the competition that would arise from the four million free blacks roaming on land. They also argued that an end to slavery would lead to widespread unemployment and chaos. This would lead to uprisings, bloodshed and anarchy. They pointed out the mobs “rule of terror” during the French Revolution and therefore, appealed for continuation of the status quo.
Moreover, the southerners were so dependent on slave trade that an end to it would lead to the inevitable collapse of their economy. Tobacco would dry in the fields and rice would cease being profitable thus the South was ready to defend her rather weird source of affluence and wealth even if it meant war and bloodshed. In fact, they surely lived up to this expectation as witnessed in 1861-1865 Civil Wars between the North and South.
The southerners were also not ready to give up on slavery as it helped them make supernormal profits since slave labour meant free labour. The farm owners knew and revelled in the fact that one did not have to spend much money on improving working conditions or in general maintenance; thus they made lots and lots of profits. Therefore, it was not hard to imagine why the southern slave holders held so tight on the reins of slavery.
Furthermore, the Southerners also believed that blacks were genetically inferior to them and could only be treated as property, and, therefore, it was only right that they provided free labour in the plantations. They went even further to use lack of biblical condemnation of slavery as a justification of their cruel course. They even argued that slavery had existed throughout history and was the natural state of mankind.
The slaveholders of the South were very much in favour of expansion of slavery into the new territories so that it would become a force to reckon with. Then again if slavery had spread and rooted itself in the new territory such that it was depended upon, it would ensure the “safety” of the practise for some time.
It is due to the mentioned reasons that the whites felt that slavery was so important to them and that they could not do away with it. Even as the North abolished slavery under the rule of Abraham Lincoln, the South could not let go of a practice they had been into for a good number of years. They expanded the trade into other territories. The above reasons were key in their insistence of the practice. It is due to these that there is a high number of Blacks in the Southern states of America until date.
Bibliography
Andrews, L William. An Introduction to The Slave Narrative. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010.
Congress, United States of America. Constitutional Amendments and Major Civil Rights Acts of Congress Referenced in Black Americans in Congress. January 20, 2014. http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Data/Constitutional-Amendments-and-Legislation/ (accessed January 22, 2014).
