APUSH Project
Storyboard Text
- The Southern states were heavily dependant on the agricultural economy for their profits, to the point where they did not develop many major industrial centers. They mostly grew cash crops like cotton and tobacco, making them reliant on foreign inputs for food. Despite how much of the economy was based around slave labour, most poor southern whites could not afford slaves, making it almost impossible to move up the social ladder in the deep south.
- When the issue of abolition came up, most of the southern states chose to let the states decide by themselves hether or not they wanted to abolish the practice. However, due to the dependancy, and the fact that slaveholders controlled most of the wealth, all the states voted against it. By positioning it as a states right issue, the south was able to convince a majority of the citizens to enable the system because it appealed to Americans who disapproved of tyrannical governments.
- While the southern states did vote to ban importing slaves, they left a loophole to continue their economy. The selling of slaves was still allowed, and the children of slaves were considered slaves, allowing the slave economy to continue, and even grow. In addition, runaway slaves who were captured were allowed to be resold into slavery, meaning that both runaway slaves and free blacks were captured and sold as slaves.
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