1. Individualistic Hard working Self reliant and often isolated Moved around a lot because of yearning of new land Were very absorbed in the work of their farms Did not have the advantages of the improvements of transportation like their northern counterparts, but still moved a lot Women often despised moving because they dreaded the loneliness and isolation it brought

2. Folk culture mainly based on family, church, and local religion Got together and had many religious revivals Had house-raisings, logrollings, quilting bees, corn- shuckings, and hunted for food and for sport Women worked in fields, worked around house, prepared food, bore children, and took care of them

3. A North Carolinian At age 18, in 1841, he went to Mississippi to seek fortune Was an overseer of slaves In 1846 he concluded that managing slaves and large farms was soul destroying because he could never please his employers Moved around to North Carolina then Louisiana then back to Mississippi Despite the depression, he was more inspired to become economically successful, so he started buying his own slaves After some rough times, he sold some of his slaves to buy 124 acres of land with the help of his in-laws He never really achieved the cotton planter status he desired but he was a good example of a farmer being able to move in and out of the slaveholding class

4. Moved from North Carolina to Tennessee to work as a riverboat man but eventually took up farming. He was very hard working and life was hard for him. He raised cotton as a cash crop, entered the market economy, and found that cotton cultivation was not profitable. His family had to pick their own cotton, make their own shoes and clothes, made their own soap, hunted their own game, and also were their own doctors. Steel represented the small farmers who were afraid to become slave owners because they depended too much on cotton process. Despite the hard life, religion and family were very important to him. He also never came close to owning a slave.