realized that they were victims of an injurious system; but they
had no effective organ for expression. The ruling minority gained
an early and an easy victory and to the end held a firm hand. To
the inhabitants of this section it appeared to be a self-evident
truth that the white race was born to rule and the black race was
born to serve. Where negroes outnumbered the whites fourfold, the
mere suggestion of emancipation raised a race question which
seemed appalling in its proportions. Either in the Union or out
of the Union, the rulers were determined to perpetuate slavery.

Slavery as an economic institution became dependent upon a few
semitropical plantation crops. When the Constitution was framed,
rice and indigo, produced in South Carolina and Georgia, were the
two most important. Indigo declined in relative importance, and
the production of sugar was developed, especially after the
annexation of the Louisiana Purchase. But by far the most
important crop for its effects upon slavery and upon the entire
country was cotton. This single product finally absorbed the
labor of half the slaves of the entire country. Mr. Rhodes is not
at all unreasonable in his surmise that, had it not been for the
unforeseen development of the cotton industry, the expectation of
the founders of the Republic that slavery would soon disappear
would actually have been realized.

It was more difficult to carry out a policy of emancipation when
slaves were quoted in the market at a thousand dollars than when
the price was a few hundred dollars. All slave-owners felt
richer; emancipation appeared to involve a greater sacrifice.
Thus the cotton industry went far towards accounting for the
changed attitude of the entire country on the subject of slavery.