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Review Of Creating An Old South By Edward Baptist

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It is no secret that slavery and American expansion go hand in hand. The social reality spilled into politics and divisions between states. The interactions between the North and South caused the nation to go into war. When examining the nature of slavery, these two books do just that.
Creating an Old South by Edward Baptist analyzes the time period before the civil war in middle Florida, focusing on two counties. It emphasizes the encounters by slaves, countrymen, rich, and women. The “old south” is attached to a myth where all the plantations were prosperous. He is retelling the story of the Middle South in order to create an old south. People are moving into new lands and he illustrates that through his book. How the women, slaves, countrymen …show more content…

Both authors focus on slavery during the 17th century. When researching deeper into the books, socially is where it all started. In class, we talk about the theory “manifest destiny” how it was a God- given belief that expansion happened. Manifest Destiny in the beginning was defined by westward expansion in the beginning. Manhood in the south was based on how much land you could own, equivalent to if one was rich or poor. Southern states believed that it was their divine right to own slaves. The deep south “daily living” contributed to the expansion of slavery (204). Rothman throughout his book explains this and specifically on pg. 21 he talks about life as a slave. He explains how smuggling of slaves, kidnapping of free people, and slave coffles trekking provided way for growth of slavery and growth of antislavery opinions in the North. Such as in Baptist countrymen wanted acceptance as white men equal to planters (282). Countrymen felt as if slavery was their only way of manhood and it was being challenged, what else didn’t own land and property? When comparing to Northern states, they didn’t own slaves. Slavery disappeared in the North due to Northers finding their manhood in business and filibustering. This division in North and South was like a competition, southern states (deep south) felt as if they needed to prove something. Slavery was the only thing they

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