Chapter 11: The South and Slavery, 1790s-1830
Cotton production transformed the South. Expansion west opened new lands and slavery became integral to cotton culture. Slavery matured into a stratified oppressive system, but slaves constructed a strong community. The white population was divided between a small planter elite and a majority of middle-class professionals, yeomen farmers, and poor whites. Planters developed a paternalistic ideology and a strong defense of slavery.
