Question

What were the major social groups within southern white society? Why was each group committed to the continuation and expansion of slavery?

Answer 1

Slavery has played a huge role in the Southern Colonies in developing economic and social choices in the 1600s-1800s. The Southern colonies depended on slaves whether it was for the economy, society, or their own personal needs. Slavery played a role in all the southern colonies.The major social groups within southern white society were plantation owners, middle-class popularly called yeomen and poor white class. For the plantation owners it affected them in a positive way. For the yeomen it affected them in a negative way as the yeomen were marginal land owners and were only able to produce a small amount of crops on the other hand, the wealthy plantation owners were able to benefit from the labor of the slaves and produce large amount of crops leaving the yeomen with very little profit. The economy in the south depended on slavery for the cotton growing areas and slave trading. The cotton growing area in the lower south depended on the slaves for labor than the upper south that was a tobacco dominanant area. To keep up with the lower south, the upper south started to focus more on slave trading. Consequently, the slave prices started to incresase due to high demands in the lower south. With the tobacco crops failing in the upper south, slave trade took off. For these reasons slavery continued in the southern part of America and had a necessary effect on society and its economy.