The document discusses the agricultural economy and social structure of the American South prior to the Civil War. It summarizes that the South's economy remained focused on agriculture, particularly cotton farming, due to its profitability. This was done using slave labor, with the majority of slaves working as field hands cultivating and harvesting crops from dawn to dusk. The social structure consisted of plantation owners and a small elite class that owned most of the wealth and land, yeoman farmers that owned medium-sized plots, tenant farmers that rented land, and slaves that performed all agricultural labor and worked in plantation owner's houses.

1. The Good Ol’ South

2. Myth
Why I just adore
living in the
South!
Or…

3. vs. Reality
All by myself…
don’t wanna be
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4. Slave Quarters on a South
Carolina Plantation, 1860

5. Industry in the South
• Stayed agricultural because farming
was so profitable
• Lack of capital to invest in industry
• Money was invested in land and slaves
• The market in the south was smaller
than that in the North
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6. Yeoman Farmer Tenant Farmer
Plantation Owners Slaves

7. Yeoman Farmers
• Largest group in the South
• Their farms ranged from 50-200 acres
• Grew crops for their own use and to sell
• Lived in one story houses or log cabins
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8. Tenant Farmers
• Rented land or worked on their
landowners estate
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9. Plantation Owners
• Small percentage of the population
• Owned more than half of the slaves
• Plantations could be up to several thousand
acres
• Measured wealth by slaves and their
possessions
• Many were kept in debt because they sold
their cotton to agents who kept the product
until it could be sold at a higher price
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10. The Enslaved
• Most worked as field hands
• Planted and raised crops from sun up to
sun down
• Domestic slaves worked in the house.
– Cooked, cleaned, served meals, etc.
• Others were trained as blacksmiths or
carpenters
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15. "Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was two months in
bed sore from the whipping. My master come after I was
whipped; he discharged the overseer. The very words of
poor Peter, taken as he sat for his picture."
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16. Slave Sale in Easton, MD.
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17. QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.