slave state


noun
  1. any state, nation, etc., where slavery is legal or officially condoned.

  2. Slave States, U.S. History. the states that permitted slavery between 1820 and 1860: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Origin of slave state

1
An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

Words Nearby slave state

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use slave state in a sentence

  • Our forefathers—yours and mine—voted for the admission of Kentucky as a slave state.

    The Slavery Question | John M. Landrum
  • Thus, which ever way they should vote, Kansas would still remain a slave state.

  • They lived the life of outlaws, and neither slave-state nor free-state officers dared to try to capture them.

    Historic Adventures | Rupert S. Holland

British Dictionary definitions for Slave State

Slave State

noun
  1. US history any of the 15 Southern states in which slavery was legal until the Civil War

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