Life in
the
South
chapter 9 Section Two
California State Standards 8.7.3, 8.7.4
Looking Back, Looking
Ahead
• In the last section,
you learned about
the economy of the
South. In this
section, you will
read about the way
of life of the
Southern people.
Focusing on the Main Idea
• Most farmers in the South did not own slaves
and lived in poor rural areas.
• Plantations varied in size and wealth and
contained varying numbers of enslaved
people.
• The South was home to several large cities,
and education began to grow in the mid1800’s.
Places to Know
• New Orleans
• Charleston
• Mobile
• Savannah
• Columbia
• Chattanooga
• Montgomery
• Atlanta
Did
You
Know?
• During the Civil
War, the MasonDixon Line became
symbolic for the
boundary between
the North and
South. The line
separated
Pennsylvania, a
free state, from
Maryland and
Delaware, slaveowning states.
What Was Life Like on a
Small Farm?
• Most white
Southerners were
small farmers
without—or with just
a few—enslaved
workers.
• Only a handful of
planters could afford
both a large number
of slaves and grand
mansions.
Who Were the Small
Farmers?
• Yeomen were farmers who did not have slaves. They
made up the largest group of whites in the South.
• Tenant farmers worked on their landlords’ estates, not
their own land.
• Rural poor people in the South would not take jobs that
resembled the work of enslaved people. They were
proud and self-sufficient, although other Southerners
looked down on them. They planted their own food and
hunted and fished.
What Were Homes Like in
the South?
• Most Southerners lived in
simple homes, such as
cottages made of wood
and plaster with thatched
roofs.
• Later many lived in frame
houses or log cabins.
Discussion Question
• Describe a yeoman’s farm life.
• (Yeomen owned their farms, which ranged in size
from 50 to 200 acres. Yeoman grew crops for their
own use, and they also sold crops to local
merchants. Often they traded their crops for goods
and services.)
hat Were Plantations?
• Plantations were large estates, some covering several
thousand acres, with comfortable farmhouses.
• Plantation owners measured their wealth by the number
of enslaved workers they had.
• About 12 percent of the Southern population had more
than half of the slaves.
Why Would Free African
Americans buy Slaves?
• Some free African
Americans had
enslaved workers.
Most of these
African Americans
purchased their own
family members, so
they could free
them.
How Did Plantations Make
Money?
• Plantations had fixed costs—regular expenses such as
housing, food for workers, and maintenance of cotton gins.
These prices remained the same, while cotton prices
changed from season to season.
• Planters sold their cotton in cities such as New Orleans,
Charleston, Mobile, and Savannah to get the best prices.
These trade centers were important to the cotton economy.
• The agents of the cotton exchanges extended credit—a
form of loan— to planters and then would hold the cotton for
several months, waiting for the prices to rise.
What Did Plantation Wives
do?
• Plantation wives were
responsible for watching
over household slaves,
tending to them when they
were sick, serving as the
plantation’s accountant,
and supervising the
plantations’ buildings and
the fruit and vegetable
gardens.
What Did Slaves Do On
the Plantations?
• Large plantations had many enslaved people to
perform different duties.
• Some slaves were domestic servants, blacksmiths,
carpenters, shoemakers, and weavers. Others
tended livestock. Most slaves worked in the fields,
planting and harvesting crops.
• They were supervised by an overseer, or
plantation manager.
Discussion Question
• Why would the life of a plantation wife be lonely?
• (Plantation wives were lonely because their
husbands traveled frequently to look at land or deal
with agents, so wives spent much time alone. They
were also isolated on large plantations, some of
which were out west in frontier country.)
What Were Southern
Cities Like?
• Several cities in the South were located at the
crossroads of rail lines.
• These cities included Columbia, South Carolina;
Chattanooga, Tennessee; Montgomery, Alabama;
and Atlanta, Georgia.
• In the cities, free African Americans could form their
own communities, although they still had limited rights.
They could not move to other states and were not
given equal rights in politics.
What Was Education Like
in the South?
• Plantation owners and other wealthy Southerners sent
their children to private schools, where they learned
mathematics, religion, Greek, Latin, and public
speaking.
• Although no statewide public school system existed,
some Southern cities established public schools. By
the mid-1800s there were hundreds of public schools
operating in North Carolina. Kentucky had also
established a funding system for public schools.
How Did the South
Compare to the North?
• Despite the growth in education, the South lagged
behind the North in literacy.
• Because homes were far apart, it was a great
hardship for people to send their children to school.
• Some Southerners also believed that education was
a private matter and that the state should not fund
education.
Discussion Question
• Why was it difficult for Southern children to attend
school?
• (Although the South was heavily populated, there
were few people per square mile. This created
great distances between people and school, so
children would need to travel far to attend school.)
Section 2 Review pg. 431
• 1. List two differences between yeoman and
plantation owners.
• 2. Explain why some free African Americans
might own slaves.
• 4. Describe the life of free African Americans
in Southern cities.