1. colonial economy
   • slave economy "grew" but did not "develop"
   • slaves were both capital and labor, profitable to planter but not to workers
   • "key figure" was the factor who gave credit, kept profits
   • lack of diversity, dependent on cotton
   • Edmund Ruffin
2. racism
   • "Herrenvolk democracy" of whites sharing bond of race
   • concept of sociologist Pierre van der Berghe
   • hill country, piney woods, nonslaveowners participated in staple economy, tied by kinship to planters, invited to barbecues
   • slavery was a method of social control
3. cavalier values of the South
   • chivalry, honor, code of the gentleman
   • Walter Scott novels, Norman knights, military schools, slave patrols
   • Macon Volunteers, Bibb County Cavalry, Gate City Guards
   • code of duel emphasized personal action, not law
4. slavery defended as a positive good vs free-labor ideology
   • Cannibals All by George Fitzhugh was "most extreme proslavery indictment of free society"
   • William Seward - slavery and capitalism were incompatible
5. work ethic was not honorable
   • "general air of shiftlessness" and inefficency, slowdowns, carelessness
   • heavy, clumsy hoes; shallow shovel plow rather than deep moldboard plow
   • mules better able to withstand abuse of slaves
   • Frederick Law Olmsted observed no "improvements"

Links:

• Gone With the Wind
• Military Schools