Approximately one million enslaved African Americans were forced from the upper South to the newly conquered territories of the lower South during the first seventy years of America's existence. African Americans were enslaved on small farms, large plantations, inside homes, in the fields, and in manufacturing. In The World the Slaveholders Made, Eugene D. Genovese analyzes the society of the slave states of the antebellum South. The book is organized into two sections. Each section consists of an essay discussing a subtopic of this subject. The first part is entitled "The American Slave Systems in World Perspective", and the second "The Logical Outcome of the Slaveholders" Philosophy".
The first section is a comparison between slavery in the New World and in Western Europe and Africa. Genovese looks at the slave societies by breaking down the social classes rather taking the common route of discerning race from race. It is in this way that Genovese attempts to " advance the discussion of the comparative history of slavery- The author studies the differences and similarities, among the master class, non-slaveholding whites, other societies, and the slaves themselves. According to Genovese, slaveholders did not have a pool of potential slaves in their native land, so they went abroad for their slaves. Slavery was originally adopted for economic reasons, but eventually was justified by Southern whites on the basis of race, as many white slaveholders believed that they were the superior race. .
Slavery was based on legal ownership and "division along ethnic and racial lines". Slaves were expensive and relationships between slaves and slave owners were often long-term, sometimes multi-generational. Genovese discusses how enslaved people created community within the "plantation setting". This was an incredible accomplishment for people whose lives were ruled by forced labor. Slaves married, had children, and worked hard to keep their families together.