Question

Which of the following statements is a common misconception about white southerners in the antebellum South?
A.
All whites in the South were middle class farmers.
B.
Most southern whites treated their slaves very fairly.
C.
The majority of whites owned slaves.
D.
The majority of slave owners freed their slaves after 10 years.

Answer 1

C.

This is a common misconception. In reality the planter elite who owned many slaves were a minority; only about one-quarter (or fewer) of Southern white families owned any slaves. Most white southerners were non-slaveholding yeoman farmers, poor whites, or urban workers.