The History and Effects of Slavery on the South Essay -- History, War

You would think that a society which takes up an institution as immoral and barbaric as slavery would benefit from it on the whole, but that is not the case with the American South. The only people who benefited from slavery were the top 3% of Southern society. For the rest of the people the institution of slavery would prevent them from gaining an education, proper literacy, wealth, and movement up the social ladder. If viewed as an independent nation the South was a socially stagnant aristocracy, extremely dependant on foreign trade , had fairly weak industry, and finally had a small population compared to the North. Perhaps the greatest tragedy was that all those confederate soldiers died for a cause that kept them poor. This is not all though, slavery itself was horrible, and even after slaves were given their legal freedom they were still slaves in nearly every aspect save for the title. Literacy in the South was very poor compared to the North. The only Northern States that were surpassed by the South in terms of reading and writing were the states of Illinois and Indiana, and this was mainly due to an influx of illiterate foreigners, and immigrants from the slave states. The worst literacy rate in the South was in North Carolina, the ratio was 1 illiterate for every 7 white persons which is roughly a 14% illiteracy rate. In contrast the worst state in the North for literacy was Illinois at a 1:17 ratio or 6% illiteracy rate. These figures also take into account children so if you only count adults illiteracy increases particularly in the South..Finally if you look at the whole chart the slave states have the worst literacy rates in general.( Helper, 407) There are vast differences in education between the North... ..., and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant. 11th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Print. "Black Codes (United States)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. . Helper, Hinton Rowan. The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It. 1857. The Project Gutenberg. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. h.htm>. Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition And The Men Who Made It. New York: Knopf, 1973. Print. Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-present. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. Print. Fuller, John. "How the Civil Rights Movement Worked" 06 May 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. 30 January 2012.