Why did slavery become increasingly worse the further south one went during this time period? (Narrative of Frederick Douglass)

-- Anonymous, February 09, 2000

Answers

I think slavery probably was worse or more severe in the southern states partly because of the difference in economies. In the north, there was more industry, prosperity, and the people were more sophisticated. In the south, the economy still relied heavily on farming and agricultural products, and needed more laborers to produce large enough crops. It was probably hotter in the South too, so slaves grew tired more quickly, and the slave owners had to be even fiercer to keep them working.

-- Anonymous, February 09, 2000

I think slavery got worse the further south you got because it made it harder for northerners to do anything about it. They had more freedom to treat them like they wanted to.

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2000

Another possibility for slavery being harsher the further you got south could be the change in population. In the north part of the south for example Virginia there were more people and more cities and there wasn't much room for a plantation obviously a plantation would have harsher work than a "house slave". I also agree with the first answer that people in the south lived in a different culture and slavery was accepted all your neighbors would have slaves but if you moved further north to the point where the north and the south mesh you would find slave owners intermingled with nonslave owners and people probably treated their slaves better because of this peer pressure.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2000

I feel that slavery was worse in the South because that is how it was to be expected. The people who lived in the North felt slavery was wrong and as for the people who lived South, they felt it was ok, and I think people knew this and understood if they wanted slaves they had to live south and if they wanted to treat them really badly they had to go farther south. Besides, the North and South's idea of life often collided which brought about the civil war.

-- Anonymous, May 31, 2000