Why Slavery Became Part of the Culture in the South The effect on culture wasn't very good. Not a lot of Southerners owned slaves. Slaves were really expensive. Less than 1/10 of the population owned one slave, and less than 1% owned more than ten. Most of the slave owners were officers, legislators, senators, and political leaders. Slaves had to indenture at least 7 years on the plantation.
The South needed slaves to work on plantations. The North didn't have a plantation system for its agriculture. White slave owners (men) used slave women "openly" for sexual purposes. There were many instances of abuse, of course, but it was not a routine. Many slave owners treated their slaves with some kindness. Open sexual abuse was okay to slave owners. Many female slaves received cruel treatment. If slaves did anything wrong there was a good percent of them being lynched. Slavery in America’s southern states were based on economics. When the Mason-Dixon was created Eli Whitney’s revolutionary cotton gin was popular. Even if the slaves asked to marry their owners would highly condemnation it. |
