antebellum

Examples of antebellum in the following topics:

• Plantation Masters and Mistresses

  • While the term "planter" has no universally accepted definition, historians of the antebellum South have generally defined it in the strictest definition as a person owning property and 20 or more slaves, as noted by Peter Kolchin in his 1993 survey of American slavery.
  • Planters are often spoken of as belonging to the planter elite or planter aristocracy in the antebellum South.
  • Only a small minority of free white Southerners owned plantations in the antebellum era.

• "Poor Whites"

  • "Poor whites" were the lowest white class in the antebellum south; in spite of their poverty, most still supported the Confederacy.

• The Plantation Economy and the Planter Class

  • Plantations were an important aspect of the history of the American South, particularly the antebellum (pre-American Civil War) South.
  • Crops cultivated on antebellum plantations included cotton, tobacco, indigo, and rice.
  • Antebellum architecture is seen in many plantations, especially in the "plantation house," the stately residences of planters and their families.
  • While the term "planter" has no universally accepted definition, historians of the antebellum South have generally defined it in the strictest definition as a person owning property and 20 or more slaves, as noted by Peter Kolchin in his 1993 survey of American slavery.
  • Planters are often spoken of as belonging to the planter elite or planter aristocracy in the antebellum South.

• White Society in the South

  • Antebellum society in the South consisted of a class of wealthy plantation-owners, a middle class of yeomans, poor whites, and slaves.
  • In many areas, small farmers depended on local planter elites for vital goods and services including (but not limited to) access to cotton gins, access to markets, access to feed and livestock, and even for loans, since the banking system was not well developed in the antebellum South.
  • Only a small minority of free white Southerners owned plantations in the antebellum era.

• The Growth of the Cotton Industry

  • In the antebellum era—that is, in the years before the Civil War—American planters in the South continued to grow Chesapeake tobacco and Carolina rice as they had in the colonial era.
  • Cotton, however, emerged as the antebellum South’s major commercial crop, eclipsing tobacco, rice, and sugar in economic importance.
  • With the invention of Whitney's cotton gin, cotton became a tremendously profitable industry, creating many fortunes in the antebellum South.

• Women and Slavery

  • The sexual abuse of slaves was a common occurrence in the antebellum south.
  • In the antebellum period, black men accused of rape were punished with death whereas white men could rape or sexually abuse female slaves without fear of punishment.

• Plain Folk of the Old South

  • Historians have long debated how large this group was and how much influence its members exerted on Southern politics in the antebellum period, particularly why and to what extent these farmers were willing to support secession despite not typically being slaveholders themselves.
  • Phillips considered common southerners as minor players in the antebellum social, economic, and political life of the South.
  • Twentieth-century romantic portrayals of the antebellum South, especially Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind (1937) and the 1939 film adaptation, mostly ignored the role yeomen played.
  • Twentieth century romantic portrayals of the antebellum South, such as Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind (1937) and the 1939 film adaptation, mostly ignored the yeomen.

• Women and Church Governance

  • During the Antebellum Period, the Second Great Awakening inspired advocacy on a number of reform topics, including women's rights.
  • Antebellum reform in areas such as women's rights was affected not only by political enthusiasm, but also religious or spiritual enthusiasm.

• Middle Class

  • Terms used by scholars for the non-elite class include "common people," "yeomen," and "crackers. " In the colonial and antebellum years, subsistence farmers tended to settle in the backcountry and uplands.
  • Phillips, assessed common Southerners as minor players in antebellum social, economic, and political life of the South .
  • Twentieth-century romantic portrayals of the antebellum South, especially Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind (1937) and the 1939 film adaptation, mostly ignored the yeomen.

• Agriculture

  • In the American South, antebellum plantations were centered on a "plantation house," the residence of the owner, where important business was conducted.
  • As the upper South of the Chesapeake Bay Colony developed first, historians of the antebellum South defined planters as those who held 20 or more slaves.
  • Crops cultivated on antebellum plantations included cotton, tobacco, indigo, and rice.