Question

Why did white southerners remain committed to the institution of slavery and its expansion in 1860?

Answer 1

White southerners in 1860 remained committed to slavery due to cultural values, social identity, perceived economic necessity, and the aspiration of joining the wealthy elite. They also sought to defend their political power and respond to fears of rebellion and disorder without the institution of slavery. The expansion of slavery was crucial for maintaining their influence and profiting from the cotton boom.

Step-by-step explanation:

In 1860, white southerners were deeply committed to the institution of slavery and its expansion because of the profound cultural, social, and economic impacts it had on Southern society. Slavery was entangled with the southern identity, intertwined with notions of white supremacy and perceived economic necessity. The small elite who owned the majority of enslaved people set the social standards and benefited enormously from the labor system, which relied on unfree laborers to maintain the South's agricultural economy, primarily driven by cotton production.

Moreover, the system of slavery was seen as a means to decrease class tensions among whites by establishing a racial bond and common interest in the subjugation of the enslaved. There were also justifications for slavery that suggested enslaved people were better off than wage laborers in the North, or that southerners had a duty to maintain slavery to prevent what they feared would be mass chaos and violence without it. Furthermore, the notion of 'states' rights' was often invoked to protect the southern interest in slavery, which white southerners expected the federal government to uphold against abolitionist sentiments.

The expansion of slavery was also an important aspect for white southerners, as they felt their political power waning with the possibility of new territories and states prohibiting slavery. The profitability of slavery, which was reinforced during a cotton boom in the 1850s, and the fear of losing control over the immense slave population, served as critical reasons for southerners to defend and seek to expand slavery.

Answer 2

The white Southerners remain in favour of slavery because slaves made the South prosper and wealthy (Cotton King).

Step-by-step explanation:

The southerners remain committed to the institution of slavery because it was the backbone of their economy. The Southern states were the growers of the cash crops since its colonial period because of its geographical condition and climate which provide a hot with mild winters.The Southern states depended on the slavery system in socially and economically because they generated wealth for the white Southerns by forcing them to work in the cotton plantations.