The New South

There has been many historians and theorists who have tackled colonial slavery. One of them is Ira Berlin whose book Many Thousands Gone is his take on slavery diversity in American history and how slavery is at the epicenter of economic production, amongst other things. He separates the book into three generations: charter, plantation and revolutionary, across four geographic areas: Chesapeake, New England, the Lower country and the lower Mississippi valley. In this paper, I will discuss the differences between the charter and plantation generations, the changes in work and living conditions, resistance, free blacks and changes in manumission.

As we already noted – in the 1800s expediency of slavery was disputed. While industrial North almost abandoned bondage, by the early 19th century, slavery was almost exclusively confined to the South, home to more than 90 percent of American blacks (Barney W., p. 61). Agrarian South needed free labor force in order to stimulate economic growth. In particular, whites exploited blacks in textile production. This conditioned the differences in economic and social development of the North and South, and opposing viewpoints on the social structure. “Northerners now saw slavery as a barbaric relic from the past, a barrier to secular and Christian progress that contradicted the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and degraded the free-labor aspirations of Northern society” (Barney W., p. 63).

The Northern states had the pleasure of discovering abundant resources of coal. In addition, Richmond faced difficulties because of their existence on the margins of a plantation economy. Even though this was the nation’s first mine, it had various disadvantages that would not let it compete on an industrious scale. In the following paragraph, I will discuss how the South had a secret hand in textile mills within the United States.

The thesis of the book is that segregation of black and whites was developed later in life than it did when slavery was just introduce. In the earlier years blacks and white would live within the same residence and or property, sharing the same premises if not equal facilities. The black and white would attend the same church and sit in the pews. As life progress and economics and Political conflicts took place that’s when the segregation began.

The New South was mostly about development and growth that started to gradually increase after 1877 on into the 1900s. Iron and steel were the main contributors followed by tobacco and timber. Steel mills were popping up all over the south which provided numerous jobs and a better way of living. The downside was the effect it had on the farm industry due to the fact that cotton was cheap and so was labor. As a result most of the people preferred to work in the factories which paid higher wages.

While other authors focus their attention in regards to Reconstruction in the Southern states after the American Civil War on political matters and the meaning of Reconstruction itself, John Rodrigue ventures into the world of Sugar and the relationships between planters and freedmen to illustrate the creation of a labor system within the world of sugar cane plantations in Louisiana. By concentrating on this specific business and region, the author is able to illustrate the factors that shaped labor during and after the Civil War, while showing how Reconstruction altered life in terms of labor for both whites and African Americans. Rodrigue argues that by focusing on this specific region reveals how blacks were able to gain negotiating power with planters in an effort to support free labor. By utilizing primary and secondary sources, the author frames the narrative and provide the reader with a personal perspective into the free labor system.

The “New South” mentality attempted to modernize North Carolina’s previously agrarian economy through industrialization. Businessmen, such as Richard J. Reynolds, strategically erected factories in North Carolina for access to its prestigious railroads to swiftly transport their products. Factory owners had no trouble finding employees, as many North Carolinians were eager to avoid the hardships of farm labor. Towns began to rise around the factories after the influx of laborers came about. Such a plethora of potential workers allowed factory owners to pay their employees drastically low wages as they reaped the benefits of cheap labor. Low wages combined with pitiful working conditions resulted in these factory towns resembling life on slave plantations before the war.

As the capitalists continued their corruption, “the wealthy class became wealthier; but the poorer class became more dependant. The gulf between the employed and the employer was growing wider” (Document A). Similarly, many actions performed by these capitalists, contributed to the sorrowful lives of many farmers, who were struggling to survive.

And its abolitionist and free thinking.Meanwhile, the south’s colony is characterized by the controversy of slavery and the cash crops they produced

The two authors of these historical writing’s, Hinton Helper and Thomas R. Dew share similar interests about the economy in the southern states, however, they differ in opinion and desire. Take Thomas R. Dews’ stance on the economical well being of the south,” …slave labor, in an economical point of view, is far superior to free negro labor” (491). Dew is essentially making a case for the southern economy and he challenges anyone who questions the status quo that exists in the southern states during this time period. Dew is obviously in favor of continuing the slave labor market with a reliance on the demand for goods in the northern states. Hinton Helper on the other hand also makes a case for the well being of the southern economy and does so by outlining a plan to create a fixed point along the southern coast “…at some point or port on the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia or Virginia” (492). Hinton, unlike Dew wants to gradually see the southern economy move away from a heavy dependence from the northern markets and expand outward trying to establish trade with foreign markets “… open facilities for direct communication with foreign countries” (492). Both writers bring passion to their arguments and a sense of southern pride. The two writers’ by virtue of expression ultimately expose two distinct weaknesses of the

The North and the South also sought out different paths on how America’s future was going to be. In the article Antebellum Southern Exceptionalism, McPherson incorporated articles telling about each side’s way of life; southerners were the agricultural people they wanted to keep their lives traditional, full of the old ways and slavery. While the northerners were the manufacturers they had the big cities, lots of factories, over worked and underpaid workers.1 They are both gravely different and see the other side as ruining their definitions of the American way of life.

1. The image Henry Grady presented to potential northern investors, was the South will in strides take “noble revenge” . His sentiment he states at the North, is one of intrusion, and payback. Furthermore, the North set in motion the modernization of the industrial state of the South, and harness on all the natural resources and commodities she had to offer, as if she is the slave of the planation of the North. The North takes all the South has to offer, strips it, and profits on the Souths offerings by the finished product; nevertheless his notions to the fact the South is upcoming to take these profitability’s back, and meet them on their manufacturing level. Succeeding in the Souths our resources and manufacturing offerings, the South

Industrialization in the North caused social upheaval with the assistance of transportation innovation and the commercialization of agriculture. Paul E. Johnson uses Rochester, New York in the Antebellum period as a microcosm of the changes occurring in the North. He explains, “The loss of social control began, paradoxically, with the imposition of new and tighter controls over the process of labor.” This control over the process of labor sparked from the need to manufacture more goods

Throughout Cultural Perspectives, many influential texts have been read, analyzed, and discussed. One text, Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis, integrates the thoughts of quite a few authors that have been discussed this semester. Through employing a Marxist view of history—there are always the “haves” and the “have-nots”—one can see that Life in the Iron Mills exemplifies the struggles that face many “have-not” citizens throughout history. One can then see the clear connections to various authors such as Mary Wollstonecraft, W.E.B. DuBois, Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels, and Adam Smith.

Despite the challenges they have faced as a result of an overly swift modernization of their rustic home, the local populace continues to thrive and adapt. As a collective people, they are hard-working and uncommonly dependable. But life is hard for them. There is no debate in that regard. It was easier before; when hard work was rewarded and consequences were immediately realized.