Final answer:
The claim that only 2,000 Southern whites owned 100 slaves is false, as historical records show that wealth was highly unequal but did not indicate such a low number of large-scale slaveholders. The elite planter class held a disproportionate number of slaves, while the majority of whites did not own slaves.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that only 2,000 out of 8 million southern whites were wealthy enough to own 100 slaves is false. According to historical records, wealth in the South was highly unequal, and while the cotton boom led to a concentration of millionaires particularly in the Mississippi River Valley, slave ownership was not as widespread among the white population. In 1860, only 3 percent of White people enslaved more than fifty people, and two-thirds did not enslave anyone at all. This suggests that the number of large-scale slaveholders was certainly small, but not as low as the 2,000 figure implies for those owning 100 slaves or more.
The Southern society was stratified, with the planter elite at the top, including figures like Nathaniel Heyward. Wealthy rice planter Heyward, from an established family, held a significant number of enslaved people. Below the wealthy planters were the yeoman farmers, and even further down were poor, landless White people. The desire to own land and slaves was a significant aspect of the Southern dream; however, this was a reality for only a small elite.
Moreover, the influence of slavery extended beyond economic aspects, also shaping the Southern culture and creating a unified white identity based upon racial superiority, despite the vast economic disparities within the white population. The defense of slavery became interwoven with ideas of white supremacy and the perceived benefits of the system over Northern wage labor.