Racism in the Antebellum South (Pt. 3 of 9)

(Cont. from Part 2) Georgia formally responded to Mississippi's appeal with a declaration whose first list of "whereas"-es was:

WHEREAS, A large portion of the people of the non-slave-holding States, have for many years past, shown in many ways a fanatical spirit bitterly hostile to the Southern States, and have through the instrumentality of incendiary publications, the pulpit and the newspaper press, finally organized a political party for the avowed purpose of destroying the institution of slavery, and consequently spreading ruin and desolation among the people in every portion of the States where it exists ...  (See page 11 of Appendix at the link above)

So, the climate for non-slaveowning whites was not only heavily white supremacist, but highly supportive of slavery as well. There was certainly no illusion on the part of white Southerners about slavery being the reason the Confederacy began its armed revolt.

(Cont. in Part 4)