In the Missouri Compromise, why do the South states need slaves?

Answer 1

Large plantations for raising tobacco were labor intensive. The Southern economy was dominated by large plantation owners. Slave labor was cheap and made the plantations economically viable.
The Northern economy by small family owned farms and small business engaged in commerce and manufacturing.

Answer 2

They don't.

The fact was that according to the Constitution at the time a slave counted as 1/5 of a person for reasons of plurality and the South wanted to keep those census numbers in their favor.

Assuming the slaves were free then just like happened after the civil war, freed slaves would migrate to the North, giving those states even more political power.

Not to mention, it would have set the South at a serious financial difficulty as well. Slaves supplied cheap labor. that is how the south competed economically with the North and it's import export trade.

It was all about political and financial power and not necessity.

Oh yea, slaves were a commodity at that point so when they became free all money invested in them was lost.

Answer 3

To add on to the previous person's answer, the south isn't as populated as the north. So, to be able to have successful large plantations like there were in the south, you needed alot of labor, which wasn't available at the time. So the solution was to import people that worked for free, day in and day out, and could reproduce and lead to more slaves, at no additional price.

Answer 4

Because they have larger tobacco plantation
They also have larger cotton plantation too, plus because of Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, slaves in the south increased even more so therefore it increased the population.