If a man wants to keep his property, he does not allow it to go free. He does not want itto be independent and strong, but rather, submissive and powerless. Knowledge is one kind of power. In many states, it was illegal to teach a slave how to read or write, for if slaves could read and write, they could also make their own " freedom papers." They might even read about other slave revolts and unite together to fight for their freedom. Slave owners obviouslydid not want their property to run away or fight back. Consequently, they tried to intimidate their slaves and keep them illiterate. From childhood, slaves were taught that they were nothing, that they would always be nothing. Blacks, it was also believed, were naturally not as intelligent as white people. Therefore, it was not worth the trouble to try to educate them. Whites gave their slaves poorly constructed cabins with dirt floors and then said that black people were dirty by nature. Blacks, they said, did not deserve nice houses because they could not keep their own cabins clean. Owners did not give their slaves any rewards or money for their labor and often beat them when they failed to do their work. They then accused blacks of being lazy, shiftless, and incompetent. These attitudes about blacks helped slave owners to justify the system of slavery and soon developed into stereotypes about an entire race of people.