Slavery in the American South

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Slavery is a form of forced free labor in which one human being is the property of another. Close to two million slaves were brought to the American South from African and the West Indies during the Atlantic slave trade. The American South accounted for over 20% African Americans. As late as 1900, 9 out of every 10 African Americans lived in the South. Slavery supported the economic structure for the planter aristocracy. In 1850 only 1,773 families owned more than 100 slaves each, and this group provided the political and social leadership of the section and nation. Slavery like it or not was the moral evil in making history in the United States. Slavery didn’t only exist only in the South it even extended to the English colonies and was dominate in agricultural production from the colonies to the South. Southern America believed slavery was wrong but a necessity. However this belief changed around 1830, the southerns felt like it was a moral, social and political blessing to the slaves and its masters. Most of the changes in opinion toward slaves were greatly due to the economic adv...

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