slave state

American  

noun

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

2. U.S. History. Slave States, 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.

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Slave State British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of slave state

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

Example Sentences

The federal government’s failure to enforce these amendments in the former slave states ultimately gave rise to the civil-rights movement, which succeeded in moving these paper guarantees closer to reality.

From The Wall Street Journal

It was held, even in the South, to be a regrettable evil which the slave states would eventually abolish or allow to die out in some undefined way.

From Salon

Many of the earliest separatists wanted to transform Southern California into a slave state.

From Los Angeles Times

She was found but refused to come to Virginia—perhaps fearful of being a free black woman in a slave state.

From Literature

But the issue was supposedly resolved with the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state.

From Salon