A slave was worth about $1,000, and thousands of slaves
escaped. The financial loss was very real. When Southern masters
came north to recapture runaway slaves, Northern consciences were
outraged.
Finally, as the new states from the West were being permitted to
join the Union, the question as to whether slavery should be
legalized in them became important. Even Northern white bigots
opposed the extension of slavery into these states. From their
point of view, slavery was unfair competition with free labor,
and they wanted the new states for the purpose of expansion. As
the middle of the century approached, dark clouds of crisis could be
seen on the horizon.
Growth of Extremism
During the 1850s American racial attitudes grew more extreme.
While slavery continued to flourish throughout the South,
discrimination was rampant throughout the North. Instead of
gradually withering away as some had expected, the peculiar
institution had been thriving and spreading into the Southwest
ever since Eli Whitney's discovery of the cotton gin in 1793 had
given new life to the growing of cotton.
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