Racism was not the factor discouraging 1800s immigration (which largely was from Scots-Irish and other European backgrounds similar to the original settlers of

Racism was not the factor discouraging 1800s immigration (which largely was from Scots-Irish and other European backgrounds similar to the original settlers of the South) -- it was the climate, agricultural economy, and the fact that its elites preferred slaves over hired labor. The elite plantation owner class notoriously looked down on lower class whites, and the origins of anti-black American racism in part came from the animosity of workers who felt that they were forced to compete with slave labor. Not everyone hated though, some of the non-owner trades class at the time felt more kinship with the slaves than they did with the owners because that was who they were more commonly interacting with on a day-to-day basis when doing business and trading goods. The North arguably was more racist towards those Irish immigrants at the time, because the North was dominated by English Protestants (WASPs) while the South had roots in being from the poorer parts of the British Isles, which is the origin of the Southern accent.