What factors led to the transformation of Southern attitudes toward slavery?

Question

A) Especially when confronted with the idea of being removed to Africa, slaves became relatively contented with their situation, and Southerners grew to see the institution as benign.
B) In the aftermath of Nat Turner's Rebellion, more Southerners became inclined to agree with such earlier slaveholders as Thomas Jefferson and believe the institution was evil.
C) As cotton agriculture became more important to the economy and abolitionist fervor increased, white Southerners were compelled to defend the institution.
D) Under the influence of such thinkers as Thomas R. Dew and John C. Calhoun, white Southerners began to evangelize about their "peculiar institution," hoping it would spread to Northern factories.
E) As abolitionist literature poured in from the North, white Southerners began a long re-examination of the role of slavery in their society.

Answer 1

C