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I occasionally come across a posting by someone dreaming about the days of glory for the antebellum South. I think theyβre deceiving themselves.
Most White Southerners did not own slaves. Maybe they were small-scale farmers and could not afford / support additional mouths. Or maybe they were workers for hire β¦ in which case, the existence of slavery severely depressed their wages. Why pay someone a fair rate for their labor, when you could have a slave do the same work for free?
So longing for those days is like desiring to relive the days of cave dwelling, hunting antelope and fleeing bears in ice age Europe. If you listen to the stories, you may find yourself longing for those times. But if you stand back and picture what those times must have been like, few people should wish to switch places with ancestors from either time period.