My understanding of the system of enslavement increased based on the work we learned in class. The info we learned in class highlights the severe importance of slavery for the South because the production of cotton relied on the work of thousands of slaves. The cotton that was produced would later be exported to the North as well as Great Britain. My understanding however shifted a little bit because I believed that after the invention of the cotton gin, the amount of slavery required would decrease. However, I was wrong, the only thing that changed was rate at which the cotton was being produced. The South's dependence on slavery can be highlighted by the pro-slavery arguments which attempted to justify slavery. These factors helped me develop my understanding of how slavery was in the antebellum South.