Is Wage Slavery a Challenge to the American Ideal of Independence?

In the south, there was a cultural geminy around slavery as a social good. People in the hills had a different opinion. They saw this distinction as meaningful because they could imagine falling into a subservient position socially. And now here is a back stop to prevent that from ever happening. But again, the farther you are from the wage relationship, the less pressing that fear is. So it his bought more time to let those small yeomen accommodate themselves and their way of life.