The South and the Slave Controversy

1. What factors helped make cotton "king?" What were some of the social effects of the "planter aristocracy" in terms of class structure, education, custom, and economic structure?
2. How widespread was slave owning among Southern families? Into what groups were non-slave owning whites divided? What was the situation of free blacks?
3. Why did slavery gradually die out in the North but revive in the South? How were slaves treated? Did slavery brutalize life generally?
4. Who were some of the leading abolitionists? What approach was advocated by William Lloyd Garrison? Why were abolitionists so often unpopular in the North? How did the South respond to abolitionism? Why was it choked off in the South after 1830?
5. What circumstances tended to polarize the debate over slavery, making a peaceful solution all but impossible? What were the fruits of the resulting extremism?