How did the institution of slavery affect social relations in the South?
A) Poor whites identified more with free blacks than with planters.
B) People who owned no slaves generally disapproved of the planters' practices.
C) Planters treated whites who owned no slaves as far inferior to themselves.
D) Whites were unified around race rather than divided by social class.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The institution of slavery in the South led to a unity among whites around the issue of race. Whites who owned no slaves still identified with the slave-owning class and supported the institution of slavery as a means of preserving white supremacy. This racial unity trumped any divisions based on social class. Poor whites, in fact, often looked down on free blacks, rather than identifying with them. While there may have been disapproval of the practices of the planters who owned slaves, this did not lead to a greater identification with free blacks, as suggested in option A. Planters did treat non-slave-owning whites as inferior, as suggested in option C, but this did not divide the white population in terms of social class.

How Did the Institution of Slavery Affect Social Relations in the South