They made the myth of the happy slave and said that slavery actually helped slaves.
The slave owners.
Southern pro-slavery whites argued that slavery was a necessary economic institution that was vital to the Southern way of life. They believed that slavery was justified by the Bible and that it was beneficial for both slaves and slave owners. Additionally, they argued that African Americans were inferior and better off under the care of white slave owners.
Some pro-slavery advocates used The Bible to defend slavery,citing passages that counseled servants to obey their masters.Southern slave owners argued, actually benefited blacks by making them part of a prosperous and Christian civilization.
Slave owners would almost always defend slavery. Slaves were their workers, after all, and they needed to produce food, tobacco, and cotton (especially in the King Cotton years). Some slave owners did have it just as bad as the slaves, or owned a few, and they actually were a bit nicer to those slaves and probably didn't care much for slavery. But a vast majority of slave owners defended slavery; hence the reason for the Civil War.
No they loved slavery it was important to the slave owners
The slave traders who sold slaves to slave owners.
Southern slave owners defended slavery, by stating that slavery had existed throughout history and was the natural state of mankind. Defenders of slavery argued that the institution was divine, and a good thing for the enslaved. They also noted that in the Bible, Abraham had slaves.
they passed strict laws and controls pertaining to slavery.
Southerner and a slave holder
Some pro-slavery advocates used The Bible to defend slavery,citing passages that counseled servants to obey their masters.Southern slave owners argued, actually benefited blacks by making them part of a prosperous and Christian civilization.
BOO
It was a factor, but not a sole cause. Most Southerners were not slave owners, and had zero interest in fighting for the sake of slave owners.