Prompted by the moral attacks by Garrison and his American Anti-Slavery Society, the southerners felt their very own livelihood is at stake. They, the southerners, decided to draw up an elaborate defense to counteract these “preposterous” accusations. The slaveholders went to no end to justify holding slavery. In my opinion, they were trying to justify it to themselves as much as they were justifying it to the abolitionists.First of all, anti-slavery movements were not popular in the south. Slavery is the foundation in which all the south’s economy stands upon. To take away the slaves would be to cripple the south. Only a small amount (2,292 out of 4,6274 planters) held over a hundred slaves. Those that hold zero to twenty slaves supported slavery in the hopes that they one day will become part of the “Planter’s Elite.” It is the holding onto that hope that they support slavery. The belief that the white race is superior to the black also played a role in retaining slavery in the south. If the south emancipated all the slaves then they would have to give all the rights of a free citizen to the black. This would lead to equality between the races, which the “superior” whites can not stand. Holding slaves is like “holding a wolf by the ears.” If they let go of slavery, the slaves can wage war upon the white race. Through fearing for their lives, the southerners also held onto their slaves.The south’s proslavery argument is a basis in which the southerners defend the right to own slaves as a positive good rather than a moral evil. They found sanction in history by pointing out that many of the great civilizations in the past (Greece, Rome, Egypt) used slavery. Thus thinking that the slaves made those civilizations great would in turn make this nation also great. The southerners also found some support of slavery in the Old and New Testament. However, there...
