What was Hinton Helper's view expressed in "Impending Crisis of the South"?

Hinton Helper's "Impending Crisis of the South" argues that non-slave owning whites were the group that suffered the most due to the institution of slavery. Helper, who was a Southern critic of slavery, contended that the existence of slavery hindered the economic development of the South and perpetuated a society that was divided along class lines. He believed that the majority of the South’s poor white population were negatively affected by the system of slavery, as it kept wages low and limited opportunities for social mobility.

Helper's viewpoint emphasized that many Southern whites did not own slaves and thus could not benefit from the economic advantages that slave ownership might bring. Instead, he argued that these non-slave owning whites were forced to compete against free labor provided by enslaved individuals, which created an imbalance that ultimately disadvantaged them. Helper's work was significant as it challenged the prevailing narrative of the time that portrayed slavery as a beneficial institution for all white Southerners, instead highlighting its detrimental effects on a significant portion of the population.