The Impending Crisis

How does Helper describe the economic and social conditions of non-slaveholding white southerners? 

Helper describes the economic and social conditions of the non-slaveholding white southerners as being that which is fairly destitute. Economically, a great number of the white non-slaveholding southerners have “sunk a large majority of our people in galling poverty and ignorance.” This has forcibly caused our poorer farmers to migrate to the West since they are not in a position to favorably compete with the slave plantations. According to Helper, the white individual who has to work is occasionally visualized to be equal to that of a slave and as such, they are shunned with the utmost disdain. Such kinds of whites are seen as nobodies. The poor whites had to continuously compete with the slaves for work and that was generally a bad bargain. They had limited economic opportunities. They had greatly deteriorated lifestyles and thus made them lose a better social standing in the society. 

How does Helper explain what he considers the South’s economic backwardness? 

Helper utilizes facts and statistics to account for what it considers the South’s economic backwardness. At the start of the essay, he explains how the South is immensely dependent on the North for a majority of things if not everything except cotton. In addition, the South is relying on the North to attain building of infrastructure for instance canals, railroads among other infrastructure. Helper continues to explain the manner in which the South’s agricultural resources has undergone poor management and therefore, have not lived to attain its full potential as a result of slavery. The slavery highly hurt the small-scale farmers, laborers and skilled tradesmen. The North also produces more wheat as compared to the South. The slavery in the south restricted modernization and thus limited its ability to competently compete with their North allies. All these pointed to what Helper considers South’s economic backwardness.