Antebellum South

    One of the most romanticized periods in American history is the period before the Civil War.  This has become known as the Antebellum Period, meaning Before War.  For decades, authors have been writing stories, novels, poems, and plays all depicting life in the South prior to the Civil War as a land where all white southerners were wealthy plantation owners that were benevolent and kind to their slaves. 

      The truth of the matter is that Southern society was much more complex then how it was depicted in books such as Gone With The Wind.    The plantation owners were just a fraction of the population of the South.  Southern society consisted of Yeomen farmers, poor landless whites, free African Americans, and slaves.  All of these groups were competing for the resources of the land, and at times were manipulated by the wealthy plantation class. 

Prior to the Civil War, life in the North and life in the South began to become very different.  The economy of the North was based on manufacturing and trade.  Cities such as Chicago, Boston, and New York became the centers of industry. In the North factories, mills, and foundries churned out textiles, steel and iron, weapons, and farming equipment. Cities in the North grew rapidly, with more Northerners choosing to work in an urban center instead of being a farmer. Northern states invested heavily in improving transportation networks, with 72% of nation's railroad miles being located in the North.   These, and others would be an advantage to the North later on. 

    In the decades following the patent of Eli Whitney's cotton gin cotton production in the South skyrocketed.  As the production of cotton became more profitable, slaves became a necessity to cotton planters.  In addition to the invention of the cotton gin, there was an increase in the demand for cotton from textile mills in the North.  The Lowell Mills needed cotton from the South to mass produce the textiles that would be sold across the country.  

    Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana were the top producing cotton states in the South, these areas became known as the "cotton belt".  King Cotton did rule the Southern economy, but other crops were being produced as well.  In Virginia, tobacco became the most prominent crop. Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana were the top producing cotton states in the South. The tobacco plant did not exhaust the soil as much as cotton, and was more suited to grow in the Virginian climate.  Along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia, rice production became a highly profitable business to be involved with.  

   

   As industry and manufacturing grew in the North, agriculture became essential to the Southern economy.  The workers in the factories and the mills of the North helped create a different culture then the farmers and planters of the South.  Culturally, the nation had become divided.  

For Homework tonight:

Finish the Getting a Sense of the South handout.