Final answer:
Anti-abolitionist leaders were driven by economic interests related to slavery, social structures upholding racial hierarchy, political ideals about property rights and states' rights, and in some cases, religious justifications for slavery.
Step-by-step explanation:
Motivations of Anti-Abolitionist Leaders
The leaders of the anti-abolitionist movement were primarily motivated by a combination of economic fears, social concerns, political ideology, and religious beliefs. Economic motivations stemmed from their considerable investment in slavery as a labor system; many were heavily reliant on slave labor for the agricultural economy, especially in the South. Social concerns revolved around the desire to maintain the existing social hierarchy and racial order, in which whites held dominant positions. Politically, the expansion of slavery was seen as a vital part of upholding states' rights and property rights, as defined under the American Constitution. Lastly, although many religious groups fueled the abolitionist movement due to their moral objection to slavery, there were also religious justifications used to defend slavery, often based on interpretations of certain Biblical texts that were believed to endorse or accept the practice.