How did southerners justify the institution of slavery?
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: The ideal answer should include:
1. Members of the ruling class in the South used their control of government and communications to ensure all southern whites were of one mind on the slavery issue.
2. Apologists commonly described the institution as “a necessary evil,” and a host of books,
pamphlets, and newspaper editorials published between the 1830s and the Civil War carried the message to the people of the South.
3. One of the main arguments used to justify slavery was that enslavement was the natural and proper status for people of African descent.
4. Biased scientific and historical evidence was used to support the claim of inferiority.
5. The Bible and Christianity were said to sanction slavery, with Ancient Hebrew slavery held up as a divinely sanctioned model.
6. Efforts were made to show that slavery was consistent with the humanitarian spirit of the
nineteenth century, as the benevolent masters guided and ruled this race of “perpetual children.”
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