The ones who were able to comprehend the fact that all people are born equal opposed abolition for one of two reasons. The first reason focuses on the idea that most of these arguers were in fear of the unknown. When talking about the pro slavery argument, analysts at Boundless.com said, "Southern pro-slavery theorists felt that this class of landless poor was inherently transient and easily manipulated, and as such often destabilized society as a whole. Thus, the greatest threat to democracy was seen as coming from class warfare that destabilized a nation's economy, society and government, and threatened the peaceful and harmonious implementation of laws." This quote illustrates the fact that southern whites saw abolition as a threat to their way of life. While it can easily be argued that the southern motives against slavery were solely based on embedded racism, it is important to note that most Americans felt the exact same way about the issue. It is very easy to point the finger solely at those in power; however, all of those individuals grew up in an environment that caused them to view African-Americans as inferior. When trying to conceive how generations of American scholars and politicians were able to allow something as evil as slavery to take place, it is important to understand this fact. A simple look into the financial benefits of slavery helps in understanding why the plantation owners were so adamantly against abolition. Why would a plantation owner want to pay for labor when they could have slave labor instead? In order to achieve their goals, pro-slavery lobbyists used many different terms and language to put down African-Americans in hopes of continuing the evil. One of the biggest examples of this is the use of the term property in describing slaves. The term property enabled slave owners to treat slaves however they felt necessary, and caused an utter disregard amongst neutral Americans in the fight for abolition.
