White plantation owners banned their slaves from reading pamphlets and books as well as newspapers, which were distributed throughout the south. This was because they did not want their slaves to get any ideas about organizing a revolt. The pamphlets and books; that were being distributed came from the Northern parts of the country, making its way over to the southern side of the country. In the North the slaves were free from slavery and the abolitionists in the North as well as the South wanted nothing more than to help free the remaining slaves located in the south. Fear also kept southern blacks in the United States from revolting. Harsh beatings and in some occurrences, death, was the penalty for disobeying your master. "Most large slave owners believed that constant discipline and coercion were necessary to make slaves work hard. Slave owners used their slaves with great brutality. Owners who killed their slaves were occasionally brought to trail, but no legal action was taken in much more frequent cases of excessive punishment, general abuse, and rape"(Out of Many pp. 317) So, the fact that most-white slave owners could murder their slaves without being punished instilled a great fear into their hearts. Southern Paternalism was kept slavery so strong. Paternalism was how slavery existed among whites with no or little resistance. This was due to a lack of hope among the slaves in the South. The underlying theme for lack of black resistance was southern paternalism. Many slaves had a lack of hope for freedom. Most slaves were located in the south where slavery was widely accepted. The slaves had a destiny to be slaves, from the cradle to the grave. "The child born of a slave was destined to remain slave" (Out of Many pp.303). The myth of the "contented slave" was essential to the preservation of the South's "peculiar institution," and the historical record of rebellions was frequently clouded by exaggeration, censorship, and distortion.