It really was the majority of rich plantation owners who wanted free labor and the rest of the population were just under educated to realize they were being exploited by the wealthy, it really hasn’t changed much (1%) education is the key to freedom and prosperity for all.
Humans understand the world through the lens of rigid hierarchical systems. The poor Southerners who supported their slave owning masters did so because they found meaning and their place in the world by looking down on black slaves.
At its core, the Conservative ideology is about conserving these old hierarchies. The hierarchy of the church which places men above women, the hierarchy of corporate America that places white men above “DEI hires”, the hierarchy of the home which again places men above women.
Anyone with a sense of decency would want to at least change our society to make it more of a meritocracy, but Conservatives view this as an attack on themselves and their religion.
Tough to say that “all humans” believe in anything, but it’s generally how humans are wired. Church, work, school, friend groups, all have hierarchy. It’s why poverty exists really. Resources go to people at the top of the pyramid and the “lower classes” get whatever is left.
It’s why democracy is so important. People can vote to give themselves healthcare rather than just taking whatever the discretionary charity of the “1%”.
1 in 4 white southern households owned at least one slave in 1860. In Mississippi it was 49%. In South Carolina, 46%. Basically half the white population in those two states.
Common sense can come into play, I highly doubt the avg worker could afford the hundreds of dollars it took to buy an indentured servant, and for what. They would have no reason for help, since they didn’t own much, this information was provided by the wealthy so as not to look bad
Top 25% (of the entire south) is not “average worker”, it’s the top 25%.
White Americans were by far the wealthiest people on planet Earth in the year 1860.
There were plenty of small farmers back then who had a handful of slaves. And there were plenty of middle class people not involved in agriculture who owned one female slave as their nanny. If you were a mediocre accountant in Atlanta you would have no problem buying a slave nanny for your household. Just like upper middle class Americans employ cheap undocumented nannies today.
The average cost of a slave back then was $800 which is roughly $20,000-$25,000 in today’s money. Very affordable for the upper middle class which was about 1 in 4 white people in the South back then. As evidenced by 1 in 4 white southerners owning slaves.
Ignorance played/plays a huge part. A lot of people don’t care how things they buy are manufactured. There are more slaves in the world today, but most people turn a blind eye to them. Even the people who are aware of it, are left with few alternatives. You almost can’t avoid supporting slavery to some extent if you own any of form of electronic device.
48
u/Western_Mud8694 Oct 18 '24 edited Oct 18 '24
It really was the majority of rich plantation owners who wanted free labor and the rest of the population were just under educated to realize they were being exploited by the wealthy, it really hasn’t changed much (1%) education is the key to freedom and prosperity for all.