Why do you think the white South was so committed to keeping a slave-based economy?

During the 1850s-1860s, the South was being particularly beaten financially, due to spending tactics issued from the North. For example: A farmer in Texas, who's crop is cotton, would have to pay for it's shipping, both to AND from the looms in the North. They had to pay for cross-state toll fees wherever the train tracks crossed a toll road. They had to pay for the coal and wood used to keep the trains going.

As a result of these tactics, the South become financially unstable, as farmers would go bankrupt, resulting in some cases to theivery of Northern goods as being the only recourse the South had, in many cases, to sell and use the proceeds to feed a given town, city, area.

The Northern Looms also stipulated payment by weight. If the load they received was not the exact agreed weight, whether in lack or excess, the farmers in the south would not get paid.

The farming of cotton, before the cotton gyn, was gruelling work which no one person can possible do alone. It took several teams of people, usually between 53-102, in order to succesfully harvest a full crop sufficient for payment from the Looms in the North. Since money was extremely tight, the only means the South had to accomodate the need for personnel, was through slavery. Slavery was recognized as a standard for basic survival. Since farmers could not make enough money to pay for the help they needed, they would, instead, provide housing, clothing, and food. These resources, which were plentiful in the South, were recognized by the North as being of little or no monetary value.