[Southern States of the Union]

Vilification of the south [Southern States of the Union][All States south of and including Virginia] has gone on long enough. I am not sure how a Christian defense of the south would work but from an Old Testament point of view it is fairly simple. One of the 613 Mitzvot is the set of laws that deal with a Jewish slave, and another one of the Mitzvot is the set dealing with a gentile slave. The reason you have a Mitzvah dealing with each is that the laws are many. It is like we have  a  law dealing with a burnt offering. There are plenty of rules dealing with it [as you can see in the very first chapter of Leviticus] but it all comes under one large category. In any case Slavery is allowed in the Torah. But one is not allowed to be inhumane to ones slaves.
You can see in in the Rambam in "Laws of Slaves" in the Book of Laws 
ספר המשפטים.