Slaveholding (Noun)
Meaning
The practice of owning slaves.
Classification
Nouns denoting acts or actions.
Examples
- The Southern colonies were characterized by a slave economy and a culture of slaveholding that perpetuated racial inequality.
- The slaveholding elite of the antebellum South fiercely defended their right to own slaves as a matter of economic necessity.
- Many Northerners opposed the expansion of slavery, viewing it as incompatible with the principles of freedom and democracy that America was founded upon, and thus despised slaveholding.
- Despite Abraham Lincoln's private misgivings about slaveholding, he initially took a moderate stance on the issue of slavery.
- The end of the Civil War marked the beginning of the end of the institution of slaveholding in the United States.