And of course, to put it bluntly: slaves cost a LOT of money. I believe some slaves ran as a high as a couple thousand.
Another thing, slavery was much much more widespread and brutal in South America-but you never hear nearly as much about it.
Well, I’m up in North Carolina so, you’re actually a bit more southern than I am. 
I just finished reading a book called “Confederates In the Attic” by Tony Horwitz. It’s an account of his trips through the South of the 1990’s and his interviews with people to whom the war was still very much alive and important. It’s an amazing book and really sheds some light on the way people still interpret/misinterpret/think about the war 135 years after its conclusion.
I’ve heard this argument made but it’s definitely far from “pretty well accepted”. If nothing else, compare the number of slaves who ran away to the north to become free with the number of free men who ran away to the south to become slaves.
I know I’ve mentioned this book often enough to bore some people but in After the Fact the authors compare two interviews with a former slave in the 1930’s. One interviewer was white; the other was black. The woman told completely different stories despite the fact that she was answering an identical list of questions only a few weeks apart. It was obvious that even seventy years after her emancipation, this woman was still telling a white man what she thought he wanted to hear.
You aren’t boring me Little Nemo. Sounds like a fascinating book. Can you give me additional info (authors and publisher)so that I can track down a copy?