What social, legal and economic status did slaves have in antebellum south?

Support your
response by referencing primary source material.

Slaves in the pre-war South had very few rights. They were considered hardly human, second class
citizens in comparison to their free, white counterparts. This culture of racism and prejudice was
embedded into southern society, and this made it very difficult for the abolitionist movement to take
hold, unlike in the northern states, which abolished slavery long before the south.

The dramatic differences in points of view on the subject are demonstrated in the article SLAVERY
AND TRUTH (Figure 1), which states that slavery should be tolerated by all Christians and is also an
institution in their country which states have the right to hold different views on, and in Susan B
Anthonys speech MAKE THE SLAVES CASE OUR OWN (Figure 2). This speech argues that if the roles
were reversed and if white people saw from the slaves perspective, that how very easy would be
the task of converting us all to Abolitionists. Figure 1 was written in the Deep South at the beginning
of the civil war, whereas Figure 2 was written in pre-war New York the cultural capital of the
Northern States. This exhibits the vast cultural differences between the geographical regions of the
United States, which would ultimately climax in the Civil War.

Because of the Souths agricultural focused economy, Slavery was a key factor which drove their
economic success. Without it, they would have to rely on the industrial prowess of the north,
diminishing their strong economies. Because of this economic significance, the question of
abolishment turned from one of morals to one of economics, which diminished slaves rights in the
south even more.

In pre-war United States, measures were taken by the federal government in order to keep the union
together, and prevent the inevitable war. This included the fugitive slave act of 1850, which required
all escaped slaves to be returned to their masters, even in non-slave states. It was nicknamed the
bloodhound law by abolitionists, and is pictured in figure 3; a satirical cartoon drawn in 1840. This
controversial law did not prevent the civil war, and further cemented the southern view of slaves as
only property, and not as Human Beings.
 Figure 2 1859

Figure 1 1861?

Figure 3 Satirical cartoon picturing northern states as bloodhounds chasing after slaves, who are
escaping to Canada, 1840