From 1840 to 1860, the price of a "prime field hand":a.rose about 80 percent, which made it harder for southern whites to enter the slaveholding class. b.rose less than 10 percent, which kept the size of the planter class about the same. c.declined about 15 percent as the supply of slaves in the internal slave trade increased. d.became so inexpensive that the slaveholding class grew to include nearly two-thirds of southern whites. e.declined because labor-intensive agricultural work became less popular in the South.

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