Within the federal union, the slave-dependent states had access to a national market in which they could sell the products of slave labor to merchants and manufacturers throughout the country.
Entitled to representation under the supreme charter of the federal union, slave owners could accumulate political power that they could deploy to defend and extend their interests.
And because the states had considerable latitude over their internal affairs, the leaders of slave-dependent states could shape their communities to their own satisfaction, especially with regard to slavery.
But the federal union wasn’t perfect for slaveholders.
They could, for example, declare enslaved Black people free once they entered.
Persons:
—, Kate Masur, Be
Organizations:
Civil Rights
Locations:
“, Ohio