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Summary Of I Ll Take My Stand: The South And The Agrarian Tradition

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Throughout the history of Southern America, a key period of time was the Southern Renascence. During this time in the south was transforming its beliefs to form a new way of thinking in a new era of living. This way of thinking was composed of three main beliefs: The old history and loss in the civil war will always be a burden to those hailing from the south, expressing conservative views that make up the south’s culture, and emphasizing the idea that in a society where religion, family, and community used to often be more important than a single person shall no longer be more important and mask a person’s identity. This new era forming was following in the footsteps of progress the remainder of the United States had already made. Due to big …show more content…

These twelve writer published an agrarian manifesto also known as I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition. Within this manifesto there is arguments and opinions explaining the importance of retaining certain agricultural traditions in society. They apply the importance of the old beliefs of “The Lost Cause” in appealing to the audience. The audience the Southern Agrarians are targeting are those who are not entirely decided on the impacts of pursuing a more industrialized society. What they want is to keep the old traditions which is a respectable goal, but in doing so they seem to be wanting to preserve too much of the traditions as to hold the south back from any sort of …show more content…

Going more deep into these beliefs, we find that the arguments are to keep this culture where religion and community come before the individual. I find in today's modern society this act of community before individuals is still present in the south as this is a plausible root of the manners and hospitality the south is known for. Some arguments the agrarians had for preserving the “Lost Cause” mentality is represented in this excerpt, “How far shall the South surrender its moral, social, and economic autonomy to the principles of the Union?” (Agrarians 391) From this view it is evident that the Southern Agrarians aren’t fond of the Union and the north’s society and how it has progressed. This is one strong argument that can target specific audiences that just don’t want to merge with beliefs of the Union. Another main argument the agrarians have is that machines are immensely malicious to a proper society. From one excerpt it states, “Even the apologists of industrialism have been obliged to admit that some economic evils follow in the wake of the machines. These are such as overproduction, unemployment, and growing inequality in the distribution of wealth.”

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