Plain Folk and Gentry in a Slave Society: White Liberty and Black Slavery in Augusta's Hinterlands (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780807122655)

In this exciting study of the communities on both sides of the Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina, J. William Harris explores two great ironies of American history--the South's commitment to a liberty supported by slavery and its attempt to maintain the status quo with a war that undermined southern society. Relying on strong research in quantifiable data as well as manuscript records, Harris examines why white southerners--most of whom did not own slaves--united in a long, bloody war to preserve the institution. He argues that slaveowners relied on an ideology of liberty, a potential for social mobility, and a web of personal relationships between classes to contain white class divisions and ensure control over the black population. The strains of war, Harris shows, dissolved these bonds of community and made Confederate victory impossible, forever changing southern society.

Author: J. William Harris
ISBN-10: 0807122653
ISBN-13: 9780807122655
Publisher: LSU Press
Language: English
Published: 04/01/1998
Pages: 278
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.83lbs
Size: 8.62h x 5.54w x 0.65d