Essay Database

In the essay, Maturation of the Plantation System 1776-1860, John B. Boles writes about the evolution of the Southern way of life from the end of the Revolutionary war to the beginning of the Civil war. Unlike the North, the South depended on agricultural products for revenue such as sugar, indigo, and tobacco, but mainly cotton in the later years. In order to produce these products, the plantation owners of the South used the cheapest …

…small, personal ways some slaves even gained a sense of fulfillment and even pleasure from the performance of their duties. Slaves knew that if the plantation was unsuccessful, they were sold and their families separated. Overall, Slavery was the economic backbone of the South. Without slaves, the way of life for many Southerners was not obtainable. The evolution of the plantation system is really the evolution of the early black population of the United States.