slave state

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.

Slave State

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of slave state¹

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

Example Sentences

The most pointed Jewish response to Morris Raphall’s pro-slavery sermon came from David Einhorn, a Reform rabbi who bravely denounced the institution though he lived in Baltimore, the largest city in the northernmost slave state.

From Slate

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

From Los Angeles Times

Rock went on to describe Los Angeles as a “slave state” where there’s an “acceptance that Mexicans are going to take care of white people … that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

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

In other words, the Louisiana Purchase, one of President Thomas Jefferson’s greatest accomplishments, added dangerous fuel to the fire of slave state versus free state.

From Literature