1. owning enslaved people or relating to the ownership of enslaved people
Usage: historical

1. the practice or system of owning enslaved people
Usage: historical

Examples

• The slaveholding states opposed the abolition of slavery.
• Many slaveholding families in the South owned large plantations.
• Slaveholding was a central issue in the American Civil War.
• The economy of the region depended heavily on slaveholding.
• Anti-slavery activists worked to end slaveholding throughout the country.
• Slaveholding created deep divisions between the North and South.