Final answer:
The dominant value system in the pre-Second Great Awakening white South centered on white supremacy, slavery, and a patriarchal society that unified whites across class lines around the institution of slavery and shared racial identity, with a focus on male honor and proslavery justifications.
Step-by-step explanation:
Dominant value system:
The dominant value system in the white South prior to the Second Great Awakening was based on a strong belief in white supremacy, the institution of slavery, and a patriarchal society. This system was reinforced by a social and economic hierarchy that provided a sense of unity and common purpose among whites, regardless of class differences. Rich or poor, whites in the South were bonded by the institution of slavery and a shared racial identity, with wealthier whites forming an elite class that held most of the economic and political power.
A key component of this value system was the concept of honor, particularly among the male population. Southern white men were expected to assert their dominance and protect southern white womanhood. Simultaneously, proslavery arguments proliferated to justify the system in various ways, including the idea that the care provided by slaveholders made enslaved people better off than Northern wage workers and that whites were naturally suited to freedom and citizenship, while blacks were fit for enslaved labor.