Final answer:
The institution of slavery entrenched social inferiority throughout generations, underpinned white supremacy, and shaped every aspect of society in the antebellum South. Its legacy continued post-emancipation through black codes and sharecropping, which maintained racial and economic subjugation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The institution of slavery had implications far beyond the immediate horrors of bondage. It produced a social system that replicated social inferiority across generations. In the antebellum South, slavery underpinned the entire social order, propelling a notion of white supremacy and black inferiority. This ecosystem was not confined to the plantation but permeated every aspect of society. Slavery's influence touched upon family dynamics, labor systems, and the collective psyche of the population, both enslaved and free. Post-emancipation efforts like the adoption of black codes and the spread of sharecropping continued patterns of racial and economic subjugation. Additionally, white colonists' sense of status was exaggerated by their contrast to an unfree class of Black people, which helped to foster a shared racial bond and identity amongst themselves.
Within this framework, proponents of free labor criticized slavery for stripping workers of dignity and preventing social mobility. A free labor society was thought to cultivate industriousness and opportunity, qualities that were smothered under slavery. Virginia's laws, for instance, ensured that children inherited the status of their enslaved mothers, preserving the racial hierarchy and maintaining the labor force required by plantation owners. These codes and practices deeply entrenched class divisions and racial stratification that persisted well beyond the legal end of slavery.