Final answer:
False. The assertion that William Seward claimed the slave system was based on the economics of labor and not racial superiority is false. Seward believed that the institution of slavery in the South was inherently linked to racial inequality and would have to be abolished on moral grounds. The slave system was underpinned by ideas of white supremacy and black inferiority.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that in "An Irrepressible Conflict," William Seward asserted that the slave system of the south is based on the belief that laborers should be enslaved, not the belief that blacks are inferior to whites, is false. This assertion is contradicted by the historical context of the period in which Seward was speaking, as the institution of slavery in the South was fundamentally underpinned by a racial hierarchy that presumed white supremacy and black inferiority. The antebellum South's social order and labor system rested not only on the enslavement of African Americans but also on the notion of white superiority.
William H. Seward is known for recognizing slavery as incompatible with the principle that "all men are created equal," as stated in the Declaration of Independence. He also believed that the struggle between the forces of slavery and freedom was an irrepressible conflict, inevitably pushing the nation towards a future where it would become either entirely slave or entirely free. Seward's views were shaped by the moral and economic arguments against slavery, and he argued that slavery would eventually be extinguished in the United States on this moral basis.
Moreover, proponents of free labor in the North saw the slave-based economy as detrimental to the social and economic mobility of all workers, believing that slavery led to mass poverty and stifled the qualities of hard work and industry identified with a free labor society. This economic argument focused on the lack of opportunities for non-slaveholders rather than the moral plight of slaves. Southern defenders of slavery, on the other hand, justified the institution by claiming it provided a stable, paternalistic society where slaves did not have to worry about the basic necessities of life and white southerners could pursue higher endeavors, a theory known as the mudsill theory.