The South:
A Separate Civilization?

History 103
Nov. 9, 1998

"On the left bank of the [Ohio] river the population is sparse; from time to time one sees a troop of slaves loitering through half-deserted fields; the primeval forest is constantly reappearing; one might say that society had gone to sleep…. But on the right bank a confused hum proclaims from afar that men are busily at work; fine crops cover the fields; … on all sides there is evidence of comfort; man appears rich and contented; he works.

"On the left bank of the Ohio work is connected with the idea of slavery, but on the right with well-being and progress; on one side it is degrading but on the other honorable."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

The Rise of King Cotton

Social Order of the "Old South"

Proslavery Ideology

The Antebellum Slave Experience

Major Slave Revolts