Study Guide Fourteen

Southern Society and Economy

Prior to the Civil War

Exam Two

NOTE: If you can answer these questions satisfactorily, you should do well on this section of the second exam. The material below consists of important material from the lecture. Questions on the test will be largely taken from this material.

Terms (definition and significance):

fortress mentality

planters

Cotton Kingdom

Peculiar Institution

slave codes

Nathan Bedford Forest

Nat Turner Rebellion 1831

Ulrich Phillips

Questions to Think About:

What were the six elements of the Southern character?

How many whites owned slaves?

What was the proportion of slaves to whites in Southern society?

Describe the social structure of Southern white society. Why did most people choose to support the institution of slavery?

Which group(s) in Southern society did not support slavery?

Why was the South known as the Cotton Kingdom?

Why can Southern culture before the Civil War be considered a colonial culture or a cultural backwater?

What was the status of slaves in the legal system in terms of their rights or their lack of rights?

What was the relative value of a slave and how did that effect how slaves were worked?

What was the nature of the economy of the upper South and what was the nature of the economy of the lower South?

How did slaves resist their bondage? How did slave rebellions in the Old South compare with those of the Caribbean?

How did slavery in Old Slave compare with slavery in other parts of the Americas?