In many aspects,slavery dominated the south, the southerners often denied it, stating that cotton was the one who dominated that region. The southern part of the country produced cotton, millions of pounds, but also produced tobacco, rice, and sugar. The ones who had the task of the hard labor producing these crops were the slaves, but were also forced to do a vast variety of other tasks including cleaning, sailing boats, building houses, managing the labor of their fellow slaves, and even have sexual intercourse with their masters. The about to be mentioned documents express the tension that was granted for slavery between whites and blacks.
James Henry Hammond ,was the governor of the state of South Carolina. as well as a slave owner. He wrote the “Letter to an English Abolitionist” in order to argue that slavery was good, and man should not fight it, in other words, he believes slaves should remain slaves, and masters should remain masters. Hammond said that there was nothing that could be done against slavery, and that it was similar to a disease, poverty, or deformity. He also states that slavery has been part of human nature and is actually acceptable, the southerners did what they believed was God’s Will. Hammond believed that Thomas Jefferson's statement “all men are created equal” was not right at all, because there have never existed a society without a variety of classes.
White masters often had sexual relationships with their women slaves. One of the most notorious was Thomas Jefferson who engaged in sexual intercourse with Sally Hemings multiple times.
Sally Hemings went to France with Jefferson (where Jefferson got her pregnant), she was a free woman who did not wanted to return but her master convinced her of returning to Virginia telling her she would receive many privileges, including the freedom of her children at the age of 21. Sally Hemings