1. White Society in the Antebellum South
Popular perceptions of the antebellum south that portray the era with aristocratic splendor like we saw here in Gone with the Wind are far from reality
Only about 1% of White southerners could afford to own 50 slaves, lavishly entertain, and live in a mansion.
Most southerners were non-slaveholding yeoman farmers.

2. The Planters World Big planters: Owned more than 20 slaves
About 1% of the population
Self-made
Earned initial money in commerce, land speculation & slave trading
Shrewd business sense

3. Planters and Paternalism
Owned more than ½ of all slaves
Paternalism
Planters viewed slaves as an extension of family
Protectors-they felt blacks were like children
Testimony: Planters did NOT have close familiar relationships with most of their slaves

4. Small Slaveholders 80% owned fewer than 20 slaves
Most of these possessed less than 10
More intimate contact
Not necessarily better treatment

5. Yeoman Farmers Concentrated in the backcountry Self-reliant
Did not get involved in national/global economies
Women played a vital role in maintaining household

6. Slavery and the Southern Economy
Internal Slave Trade
Tobacco farming-less important in “upper states” (VA, MD, KY)
These states began selling “surplus” slaves to the lower South
Rise of Cotton
Invention of the Cotton Gin-South’s most important export, and the most profitable
Slavery and Industrialization
Most investment dollars went into cotton
Dependence on slavery and cotton impeded industrialization in the South
Cotton/Slavery-profited the planter, but limited the South’s development
Southern society rested economically upon the institution of slavery. Between , the number of slaves owned tripled, increasing to 4 million.