Cynthia Wilbur

                                                                                                            July 25, 2005

                                                                                                            HIST 4000

           

Social Class and Etiquette in the Antebellum South

 

            I chose to research the topic of class etiquette and its influence on the social hierarchy of the antebellum South.  While in the process of gathering information, I very quickly found that the vast majority of both primary and secondary sources focus on the role of the Planter or Master class within this hierarchy.  This is a natural phenomenon, in that the elites of any society are the most likely to leave behind detailed accounts of their lives, and in this respect the wealthy plantation owners of the South are certainly no exception.  As a result, the sources reflected here are inherently biased toward the lifestyles and perspectives of that group.  However, from their perspectives, one can get at least a vague understanding of the interaction of all social groups upon one another and society at large.  As a result, this bibliography is meant to explore issues of class distinctions, quality of life and the resultant lifestyle choices of individual social groups (including rules of etiquette and morality), and the mobility between these social groups.

 

Secondary Sources:

Books

 

  1.       Bushman, Richard L. The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.

This book focuses on “social gentility” and the transformation of etiquette

as an exclusive trait of the gentry during the Colonial years before the

Revolutionary War to an accepted aspect of middle-class life by the

antebellum era.  This work is useful for examining and comparing the

workings behind class distinction in the early years of the United States.

 

  1.      Kasson, John. Rudeness and Civility: Manners in Nineteenth Century Urban

America. New York: Hill and Wang Press, 1990.

     A nice starting point, this is a study of etiquette books and the rise of the

     nineteenth century urban middles class.  Specific chapters focus on the art of

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     public appearance, dining, and entertainment.  As a cultural work, this book

     focuses on the latter-half of the nineteenth century, but is still useful as a 

     comparison against the established Northern (especially New England) social

     norms.

 

  1.      Newton, Sarah. Learning to Behave: A Guide to American Conduct Books Before 1900.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.

     This work contains over 500 annotated bibliographic entries covering etiquette

     and conduct manuals published prior to 1900.  Included are manuals guides 

    designed for men, women, children, and mixed audiences.  This is a wonderful

    reference guide to go along with any of the secondary sources listed, and even

    some of the primary sources as well.

 

  1.      Scarborough, William K. Masters of the Big House: Elite Slaveholders of the Mid-Nineteenth Century South. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003.

     This is a look at the most elite planters of the South, those that owned 250 or 

more slaves.  This book explores this multi-faceted group, destroying the

common belief that all big plantation owners were the same.  Of special

interest is the discussion of the Natchez, Mississippi “nabobs”—plantation

owners who had strong Unionist ties before and during the Civil War.

 

  1.       Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

Southern Honor argues that in antebellum Southern society, honor and shame played the same dominant social-shaping role that middle-class morality and respectability did in the North.  This book is a very useful and revealing look at relations between families and acquaintances within all southern white classes.

 

  1.      Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. The Shaping of Southern Culture: Honor, Grace, and

War, 1760’s-1890’s. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

In this book, Wyatt-Brown explores the relationship between religion, honor, patriotism, and racial bias and the combined effects of these on the “ruling” planter class of the antebellum Deep South.  This is an interesting explanation of why a social hierarchy existed in the South, as well as an exploration of the many different justifications used for secession and slavery.

 

Articles

 

  1.      Melton, Brown. “‘The Town That Sherman Wouldn’t Burn’: Sherman’s March and Madison, Georgia in History, Memory, and Legend.” Georgia Historical Quarterly 86, no. 2, p. 201-231.

     This article focuses on General Sherman’s march through Madison, Georgia

                                                                                                                       

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     on his way to Milledgeville and eventually Savannah in late 1864.  While it

     deals mainly with the events of the Civil War and postbellum era, it has some

     interesting insights into the antebellum life of individual citizens and the entire

     town as a whole.  Especially good is the contrast between pre-war and post-

     war conditions and lifestyles.

 

  1.      Stowe, Steven M. “The Rhetoric of Authority: The Making of Social Values in Planter Family Correspondence.”  The Journal of American History 73, no. 4 (March 1987), 916-933.

     This article is an overview of a study involving detailed reading of a variety of

     antebellum planter families’ correspondence.  Most of the letters referenced

     are addressed from parents to their adolescent children of both sexes away at

     school, or vice versa.  This is a valuable study in that is highlights the personal

     and social etiquette and qualities planter families hoped to instill in their

     progeny, as well as the intimate familial relations betweens parents and their

     children.

 

 

Primary Sources:

 

  1.       Bailey Family Papers Collection, 1801-1876. Georgia Historical Society.

Savannah, Georgia.

This collection of family diaries and correspondence includes details of the life   and residence of the Bailey family of Georgia, offering insight into the lives of wealthy antebellum Georgia “coast aristocrats”.  It is located at the headquarters of the Georgia Historical society located in Savannah, Georgia.  This collection can be accessed by contacting the society by mail or phone and requesting copy information, or by visiting its on-site headquarters.

 

  1.      Farrar, Eliza W. The Young Lady’s Friend. Boston: American Stationers’ Co., 1837

     This mid-antebellum etiquette guide was widely read by Southern as well as

     Northern young ladies-in-training, and is referenced by both Kasson and

     Newton in their works cited in the list of secondary sources.  A copy of the

     original published in 1837  has been converted to microform by the University

     of Georgia and is available for viewing at the Main Library.

 

  1.      Hundley, D.R. Social Relations in Our Southern States. New York: Henry B. Price Publishing, 1860.

           Hundley, a native Southerner, explains the South’s different social classes in

     detail, devoting a chapter each to Planter Gentlemen, Displaced Yankees, the       

     Nouveau Riche, Yeomen Farmers, Poor White Trash, and Slaves.  This

     invaluable book is a  wonderful treatise on antebellum Southern culture and

     the intricate rules of etiquette as viewed by antebellum Southerners.  Social

  

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     Relations is available online in its entirety thanks to the University of North

     Carolina at Chapel Hill digitization project, Documenting the American South.

 

  1.      Leslie, Eliza. Miss Leslie’s Behaviour Book: A Guide and Manual for Young Ladies. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson and Brothers, 1859 (reprinted in 1972).

     This is another antebellum etiquette book popular throughout the middle classes of the United States.  The original manuscript was republished in 1972 under the same title, and is available through the University of Georgia Main Library.

 

  1.      Olmsted, Frederick L. Cotton Kingdom: A Traveler’s Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States. New York: Mason Brothers Publishing, 1861.

     A recollection of Olmsted’s travels throughout the South, reflecting

     contemporary biases against the slave states, this book is useful in interpreting

     how non-Southerners viewed different Southern social classes.  This title was

     reprinted in 1996 along with several other of Olmsted’s works, and is available

     at the University of Georgia Main Library.

 

  1.      Trollope, Frances. Domestic Manners of the American. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.

     Trollope published her decidedly unflattering viewpoint of the United States

     population (with considerable emphasis on the “backwards South”) upon her

     return to England.  Much like Olmsted’s work, Domestic Manners is valuable

     as an outside look at the region and its inhabitants, especially the relationship

     between white Southerners and black slaves.  This book was reprinted in 1997

     and is available through the University of Georgia Main Library.