At this time the .
labor force in the South had about 4 million slaves. These slaves were .
very valuable to the slaveholding planter class. They were a huge .
investment to Southerners and if taken away, could mean massive.
losses to everyone. Slaves were used in the South as helpers in the .
fields in the cultivation of tobacco, rice, and indigo, as well as .
many other jobs. The South especially needed more slaves at this time .
because they were now growing more cotton then ever because of the .
invention of the cotton gin. Cotton production with slaves jumped from .
178,000 bales in 1810 to over 3,841,000 bales in 1860. Within that .
time period of 50 years the number of slaves also rose from about .
1,190,000 to over 4,000,000. The plantation owners in the South.
could not understand why the North wanted slavery abolished that bad.
Southerners compared it with the wage-slave system of the North. They .
said that the slaves were better cared for then the free factory .
workers in the North. Southerners said that slaveowners provided .
shelter, food, care, and regulation for a race unable to compete in .
the modern world without proper training. Many Southern preachers .
proclaimed that slavery was sanctioned in the Bible. But after the .
American Revolution slavery really died it the North, just as it was .
becoming more popular in the South. By the time of 1804 seven of the .
northern most states had abolished slavery. During this time a surge.
of democratic reform swept the North and West. There were demands for .
political equality and economic and social advances. The Northerners .
goals were free public education, better salaries and working .
conditions for workers, rights for women, and better treatment for .
criminals. The South felt these views were not important. All of.
these views eventually led to an attack on the slavery system in the .
South, and showed opposition to its spread into whatever new .
territories that were acquired.
