The cultures of the
North and the South differed greatly if you were wealthy and white. Well to do
white men depending on where they called home, differed in how they made their
money, the type of places they lived, who their work help was, and even their
overall manners themselves. If you were black, poor white, or an immigrant your
situation though slightly different based on Northern or Southern location was
more similar.
During the early 1800’s
white men of wealth earned their income in very different ways. Those in the
North were largely of the merchant class, where industry was slowly beginning to
take place, including the fishing industry. Along with the arrival of the
cotton gin came an expansion in slavery in the Southern states, along with
plantation lifestyle. Workers of northern industry included immigrants, poor
whites, and eventually free blacks; all paid little and working long hours. Southern
workers were largely slaves, bought to work on farms or in houses doing hard
labor, and occasionally poor whites who were hired for day labor. [1] The
lifestyles and homes of the wealthy white class were also distinct in each
location. Large homes, in largely populated cities, with many distractions such
as the theater, shops, and bars were the surroundings in the North. While in
Southern states there were smaller cities, but large private properties with
large homes. Southerners too had the
theater, but plantations proved a great deal to manage and took up a great deal
of time. A large distinction of the South was what is referred to as the
Southern gentleman. The manner, in which
Southerners prided themselves, generally referring to hospitality for strangers
and very refined behavior, was a distinct attitude portrayed in the southern
white elite. George Washington was evident of this as well especially in
regards to visitors to his Mount Vernon home, “between 1768 and 1775 alone, the
Washingtons hosted, fed, entertained, and prepared guest rooms for about two
thousand people, or twenty-four guests per month. Later years were even more
hectic.” [2]
There is one area in which
wealthy white men of both the North and South were similar it was in their
estimation of the black man. “Overwhelmingly, Northerners and Southerners
believed in innate white superiority and the need to defended white supremacy.”
[3] Both Southerners and Northerners generally believed that once slavery was
over the black race could not survive, that Southern slaveholders were keeping
them alive by keeping them in bondage. Remarking on two gentlemen with opposing
viewpoints in other political matters Genovese states that, “both gentlemen
agreed that the inherent weaknesses of the black race forecast its
disappearance.” [4]
Another large
cultural similarity between the North and South was the treatment received by
blacks, poor whites and immigrants. While slavery clearly was a distinct
horror, the treatment received in the North towards free blacks was no better.
In most cases northerners did not want them enslaved by the south, but they
also did not wish them in their territory, on many occasions making plans or
coming up with ideas to evict them somehow. Poor whites and immigrants also faced many
difficulties everywhere in America. Tending to work as day laborers alongside
free blacks in some areas and slaves in others, they were looked down upon by
some as being inefficient or lazy. “Many Southerners, especially elite women,
had difficulty in seeing Irish servants as white. Northerners did no better.”
[5] All over Immigrants and the poor were treated with contempt and
condescension.
Culturally the north
and the south seemed far different to the wealthy white planter, or the
northern business owner, however both worked towards a better future for
themselves and their children. That better future was far harder for those so
similarly treated in the north and south, as the black, poor white, and
immigrants were. Truly, “the limits that were placed on access to the dream of
upward mobility were at least as important as eligibility.” [6]
This painting titled
Slaves Waiting for Sale in Virginia by Eyre Crowe was put on display in 1861.
This, along with others the website above tells about, are paintings depicting
the many facets of slavery, and how their artists used them to combat it.
[1] Karin Enloe, American Cultural History. June 25,
2012. https://sites.google.com/site/drecultural/home/early-republic-through-civil-war
(accessed September 3, 2012).
[2] Dave DeWitt, The Founding Foodies: How Washington, Jefferson, and
Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisine (Illinois: Sourcebooks, 2010), 89.
[3] Eugene D. Genovese and Elizabeth
Fox-Genovese, Fatal Self-Deception:
Slaveholding Paternalism in the Old South (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2011), 114.
[4] ibid., 118.
[5] ibid., 41.
[6] Jim Cullen, The American Dream: A Short History of an
Idea That Shaped a Nation (New York: Oxford Press, 2003), 70.
