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Chapter 13
The Old South
1820–1860
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Describe the culture and environment of the cotton kingdom.
• Detail the distinctive cultural and societal characteristics of the South that resulted from
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
The religious changes of the Second Great Awakening, the Romantic movement, the
development of a democratic political culture, and the creation of a domestic national market
fundamentally transformed the United States in the years after 1815. These changes were
not limited to the North; they affected the South as well, often in dramatic ways. The rapid
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THEMES
The Social Structure of the Cotton Kingdom
Cotton was not the only crop grown in the South, but it was the crop that fueled the southern
economy and drove the slave population steadily westward and southward. As cotton prices
boomed on the world market and the southern Native American tribes were forcibly removed,
southerners poured into the fresh lands of the Southwest, eager to take advantage of the
The prosperity of southern agriculture helped keep the South overwhelmingly rural. Few cities
and towns developed, and southern wealth depended heavily on agricultural exports. The lack of
Class Structure of the White South
At the top of the class structure of the Old South were slaveholders. Only one white southerner in
four belonged to a slaveholding family, and only 1 out of every 30 were members of the wealthy
planter class, defined as those who owned 20 or more slaves. Most slaveholders owned only a
few slaves. The refined plantation society of the Tidewater, with its elegant homes and strong
sense of family, was much different from the raw society found on the cotton frontier, where
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The Peculiar Institution
Most Black southerners were enslaved. They worked long hours and were subject to strict
discipline, including physical punishments. Their standard of living was generally below that of
The Culture of the Enslaved
Excluded from white society, enslaved Blacks developed their own culture that helped them cope
with the pressures of bondage. They tried to preserve a sense of family even as the slave trade
tore apart one out of every five first marriages and took one third of enslaved children from their
Southern Society and the Defense of Slavery
As slavery came increasingly under attack, white southerners rallied to defend their “peculiar
institution.” In 1832, in the aftermath of Nat Turner’s rebellion, the Virginia legislature debated
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LECTURE STRATEGIES
Myth of the Old South
This chapter examines the society and culture of the Old South, noting its complexity and its
diversity in regions, crops, and social classes. One way to begin a lecture would be to examine
Southern Class Structure
Having traced the myth of the Old South, a number of topics can be examined to show the
inaccuracies of this view. Explain the southern class structure, in which a majority of whites
Predominance of Agriculture in the South
In the South (unlike the North), agriculture remained predominant before the Civil War,
the consequences of which deserve elaboration. The rural nature of the South—the lack of
urbanization and industrialization—encouraged a continuing agrarian culture. Planters remained
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The Institution of Slavery
The other important topic to consider is the institution of slavery, both as a labor system and as
a means of regulating race relations. How slaveholders organized and controlled slave labor and
the general treatment slaves received might be discussed. Good material is available in Kenneth
Stampp’s classic, The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South, as well as in the
The Proslavery Argument
One might conclude this section by examining the rise of the proslavery argument and perhaps
contrasting it with abolitionism. It is important to get across to students the various ways
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
Diversity or Unity?
One important point of departure for the material in this chapter is to ask whether diversity or
Approaches to Slavery
The issue of slavery, of course, is central. Slavery is what set the South apart from the North,
and it is important to get across to students the manifold ways, both broad and subtle, in which
slavery shaped southern society and the lives of not only southern Blacks but southern whites,
White Southern Identity
Why white southerners developed a regional identity and sense of psychological unity is a
major question posed by the history of the Old South. The next two chapters will explore the
POWER OF PROCESS FOR PRIMARY SOURCES
Power of Process for Primary Sources is a critical thinking tool for reading and writing about
primary sources. As part of Connect History, McGraw-Hill Education’s learning platform, Power
of Process contains a database of over 400 searchable primary sources in addition to the
capability for instructors to upload their own sources. Instructors can then select a series of
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The following primary source documents, carefully selected by the authors to coordinate with