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Judith Martin's Children On Etiquette And Social Propriety

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Etiquette and Propriety was so important to this agricultural aristocracy that training began at an early age. Enslaved the hierarchical house servants not only performed the accepted acts of propriety and hospitality, slave jobs like nannies, or “Mammies,” took on the specific job of educating the plantation owner’s children on etiquette and social propriety. Judith Martin, otherwise known as “Miss Manners” is an etiquette expert as well as a historian on the matter, described the role the slave women had played in this period of time: “The plantation owners thought they were being English country gentlemen, but who was teaching etiquette to their children? The house slaves. The house slaves often came from a more elevated background than …show more content…

Finishing schools encouraged artistic, intellectual skills, Christian morals along with the ability to withstand in society’s high criteria of propriety and hospitality by teaching courses on proper attire, speech, dancing, party planning and other talents of a proper lady in the antebellum south. Men, on the other hand, went on to universities worldwide to study business, law, or other professions or went to the notable military schools that were being built like West Point, Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy, or The Citadel Academy in Charleston. The Citadel, in particular, stands in the heart of the major antebellum city of Charleston, instituted in 1842, upheld the idea of “instilling in Cadets the core values of integrity, honest, and responsibility in a disciplined academic environment, thereby preparing its graduates to understand their obligations as citizens, and to become principled leaders in whatever their chosen field of endeavor…. diverse fields as military and government service, science and engineering, education, literature, business, the medical and legal professions, and …show more content…

The laws and expectations of society lead people to use agriculture and the abundant food to their advantage in order to keep face. In a cycle of agricultural wealth and the elite that grew from it lead to an American version of aristocracy and societal rules to separate these wealthy gentlemen and ladies as a higher class and a higher breed of people based on propriety, using the ritualistic practices of etiquette and cordiality at dinners, balls and other social gatherings. This social life revolving around crops and food gives light to an amiable and eminent hospitality that has lasted over hundreds of years to now be coined as “southern

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Law required a plantation with more than 10 slaves to have an overseer to ensure that work was completed. The overseers were outsiders in the system who were temporary, they lacked relationships with both the plantation owners and the slaves. Society was even more hierarchical in New England even though most residents did similar work. Families worked their own farms so unlike the south were the owners of the biggest plantations with the most slaves were the elites, in New England, the families that were oldest, with the best reputations held the highest standing. Founding families with the most holdings were often the town officials who governed.

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Valley Forge Military Academy is basically a rehabilitation camp for those who believe the rules of their parents or the law don’t abide by them. With its name comes the very definition of what it is, a Military Academy. Valley Forge has ranks in their units just as normal military system would, especially for their lesser ranks. The lowest of the Academy is called a plebe. According to Valley Forge plebes are lower than nothing.

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Throughout the development of the colonies in America, slave trade grew to be a significant source of labor in primarily southern plantations within the late seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. During the era, with slaves being condemned to be considered socially inferior by law, and the increase in demand of goods such as rice and indigo, the slave labor force became a notable source for southern plantations in the eighteenth century. Slaves and people of color had always been considered to be socially inferior even before the colonies existed. With a sense of paternalism in Great Britain, people have always believed that those considered slaves,or servants rather, were second class citizens, and these people needed to be suppressed for their own best interests.

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In colonial America, white women and white men had two different and distinct roles, whether it may be the first migration, the transitional period, or the revolutionary era, women had to the responsibility of taking care of domestic matters. In the early colonial period, women had the expectation and role of ensuring the colony’s survival and longevity through childbirth and rearing. As new colonies emerged and the original colonies of New England and Chesapeake expanded, women were not only responsible for birthing children, mostly boys that will inherit their father’s wealth, now they were also expected for the moral upbringing of their children. Women, in predominantly patriarchal religious communities like the Puritans, had to raise religious

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During this time period, blacks had many different statuses. Some were slaves forever, some were like indentured servants. They were allowed to actually own property, get married and after they served their time they were freed. Slaves were at the bottom of the social order but the individuals above them were not much better. The white people that were poor did not have as many hardships because they always thought at least they were not slaves, even though they were towards the bottom of the social structure.

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Deaf in the Military “Sorry, no. You’re deaf.” That is what Keith Nolan was told too many times to count. Because of ideologies, the general public considers deaf individuals to be handicapped or disabled. However, this is not the case.

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The treatment of slaves between the North and the South was drastically different. Slaves in the North typically lived in the same house as their master and worked by themselves, or in small groups (pg. 94). Slaves in the South tended to live in large plantations in which they were housed in plantation outbuildings (pg. 104). The difference between the North and the South in housing and working environment had a direct effect on the integration of African Americans into their new American society. When they were housed in the North with their masters and had limited exposure to other slaves, they tended to adopt the ways of their masters.

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Specifically, southern white women used this period to elevate their social status so that they could climb the social tower to gain power and compare to men. Southern women wanted to get out of the ideal that women should only be housewives, so they used slaves to relieve themselves of house chores, which brought them away from just being housewives. This elevated them socially because instead of being ridden with housework, they were give leisure time and time to focus on their husbands and wives. Slaves were thought to benefit because slave owners would take care of the slaves and that they would be better off being a slave than running around Africa. Slave owners would give slaves food, shelter, and clothing, take care of their children, and teach them christianity (Jones, 102).

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Slave owners were full of themselves, they valued their slaves as domestic

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Among the upper class, the traditional importance of housekeeping increased. There was a possibility that it increased due to the fact that the roles of friendly neighbor and deputy husband had begun to decline. As early American women kept up with the daily housekeeping,

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Food is a major aspect of the overarching Southern cultural identity shared among all groups of Southerners, but the importance of Southern food is different for each of these communities. As a part of human culture food is an aspect of community and often times perseverance through hard times. It makes sense as to why food became an important part of Southern cultural identity because food is an aspect of human perseverance and community identity. According to Marcie Cohen Farris “Southern food reflects the abundance, beauty, and richness of southern culture, but also the dark underside of slavery and racial disfranchisement” (5). This quote shows that Southern food is a part of total Southern cultural identity but its roots in race are still present and important.

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Furthermore in this journal entry, slaves held occupations from all backgrounds such as food,

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This proves that ideas about social gatherings and manners have changed tremendously over the years. Firstly, during the 1800s, dinner guests were treated solely off of their social status. This is because people during the time period viewed it to be impolite if the principal guest wasn't treated the best. " Take care, if you are not the principal guest, not to offer your hand to the handsomest, for it is a great impoliteness.

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The houses also had rooms designated for slaves. In front of the houses they had two to four tall buildings that were their temples and where they prayed and do

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Another point of view hold in the 18th century is that Politeness has been used to distinguish one social class from another and it was used to exclude members of the upcoming commercial class access to positions of wealth and power. Politeness can thus be seen as a central concept in the formation of social

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