Question

Even those who did not own slaves in the pre-Civil War South supported that institution because they...

A) dreamed of someday owning slaves themselves
B) presumed themselves racially superior to African American slaves
C) believed the plantation system and slave system was a better economy than the factory system of the North where workers worked for very low wages
D) All of the above

Answer 1

Non-slaveholding white Southerners supported slavery for various reasons including racial superiority, economic aspirations, social unity, and cultural values surrounding honor and racial hierarchy.

Step-by-step explanation:

Even those who did not own slaves in the pre-Civil War South supported the institution of slavery for several reasons which include the dream of someday owning slaves themselves, a presumption of racial superiority over African Americans, and the belief that the plantation and slave system was a better economy than the factory system of the North. In the South, the American dream was closely linked to owning land and enslaving people, which was seen as one of the only opportunities for upward social and economic mobility. Additionally, the Southern culture valued a code of honor based on domination, and slavery solidified a sense of unity among white Southerners by reinforcing a racial hierarchy. Moreover, the idea that slaveholders provided better care for their slaves than northern employers did for wage workers, and the concept of the "mudsill theory" justified the status quo.