Three out of four white southerners did not own slaves and lived on self-sufficient farms with little education. While most supported slavery, some like Andrew Johnson and Joseph Brown spoke out against the wealthy planter elite. Slavery was defended on the basis that it guaranteed white southerners' freedom and equality in the South. Slaves had virtually no legal rights and masters enforced discipline through whipping, exploiting divisions, and threats of sale or sexual exploitation. Slave culture developed in opposition to bondage and many resisted through work slowdowns, poisonings, or dramatic rebellions like Nat Turner's in 1831.