Antebellum Society

By: Jackson Callis

Jackson Callis
Due December 5, 2014
7th/8th Grade Combined
Social Studies

In the pre-Civil War society there were multiple different things that added up to the social
standings of each person in Georgia, and the other states of this time. The amount of cotton grown,
your default social standing, education, religion, and social reforms all contributed to everyones
way of life in antebellum society.
Much earlier on, in 1786, cotton was introduced into Georgia. Two types of cotton were
already growing before they came to Georgia, one that could be used to make the highest quality
cloth and one that had very short fibers, opposite of the other which had long fibers, and could be
grown in much higher quantities and in more areas. So obviously the short fiber cotton was to be
the farmers choice, but this cotton had an enormous problem: since the fibers were so short the
cotton seeds were tightly entangled with the fiber. This made for an issue of being able to sell the
crops readily and made the process of harvesting them slower and more expensive. Fortunately the
innovative American mind was at work, and soon there was an answer to the problem. Eli Whitney,
a man who was hired on a small plantation and eventually became an inventor, invented the cotton
gin. In cotton gin, the gin stands for engine, so the full name is cotton engine. Eli Whitneys
cotton gin consisted of a roller with wire teeth that would pick out the seeds and produce pure
cotton. Unfortunately the cotton gin clogged easily, but as I said before, the American mind was
already at work creating a solution to the problem. In fact, it was the same man who created the
solution to this problem. Eli Whitney fitted in a row of brushes rotating in the opposite direction to
keep the cotton lint from clogging the gin. Once fully finished and patented the cotton gin was a
work of art, and would bring planters and Whitney lots of extra funds. Unfortunately it didnt
happen that way, at least for Whitney. The design was easily copied, but thankfully for Whitney he
would create more profitable inventions in the future.
Once cotton had been mastered, almost every social group in Georgia was in on the
production of it, but in different ways. Your social status was contributed to by a large amount of
things including race and money. Here are the various social groups in antebellum society in
Georgia:
Planters were the highest social class of antebellum society in Georgia. They were often the
richest and happiest of the social groups, but their lives arent as amazing as you mightve heard.
The smallest class, they made up around less than 3,000 of Georgias circa 600,000 people. Planters
were those who owned 20 or more field slaves. A larger amount of field slaves contributed to
quicker harvesting and planting times, so planters could cut down on costs and increase profits.
Also, with more slaves they could work more land, and increase profits that way. Unfortunately for
the planters, cash was generally not readily available, with funds tied up in assets like slaves and
land. So often instead of the miraculous southern mansions that come to mind when thinking of
antebellum life in Georgia they had unpainted slightly furnished houses that were moderate in size.
Besides the main house, a plantation consisted of a kitchen, smokehouse, barn, grain storeroom,
and the best one: the outhouse. The women on the plantation did all of the daily jobs such as
supplying food, clothing, and keeping the slaves healthy. Outside of normal life working the
plantation there was quite a lot to do. The families often went to political gatherings, barbecues,
and lots of Church-related activities. A big pastime was traveling, and related and unrelated guests
would stay at each others houses for weeks. After finishing in private schools, children would go on

to either colleges or seminaries (a seminary is a girls school). The planters made up part of the 1%,
but there are still quite a lot of people left to talk about who didnt have as many privileges as they
did.
Yeoman farmers part of the next class down. They were extremely self-sufficient, normally
owning no more than 100 acres, and no or a few slaves. This small area gave them confidence and
helped feed into the feeling of self-sufficiency and independence that helped keep them mostly
running on their own steam. Instead of planters, who planted virtually only cotton, they split up
what they grew into two sections. One was the cash crop section, where they grew cotton that they
could sell easily. With the money earned from selling the cotton they often paid off debts, and
bought items that they couldnt make themselves. Some of the items that they did make on their
own are: furniture, clothes, mattresses, quilts, and even soap. The other section was just made up
of foods such as beans, corn, and wheat that they could eat. Besides growing what they needed,
yeoman farmers often kept around animals, such as pigs, chickens, and maybe a few cattle. Yeoman
farmers lived in log cabins, or variations of them called dogtrot cabins. Dogtrot cabins consisted of
two-open air rooms with a hallway in between that had a roof and floor. Dogtrot cabins got their
name because this hallway was very pleasant to be in during warm weather, and dogs often hung
out in this area. Outside of farming and working, yeoman farmers attended many, what would
today be called, country activities. These activities included shooting, wrestling, and hunting
matches, or less competition centered ones like dancing, barbecues, and other forms of socializing.
Yeoman farmers made the best of their situations, and had quite a bit of fun with each other.
Poor whites were at the bottom of white society, and almost on the same level as slaves
themselves. They didnt have certain occupations and didnt own any land. They simply found
uninhabited areas, mostly in the north, and build rough houses, which could hardly sustain bad
weather conditions. To keep alive, the men fished and hunted, and the women often raised small
gardens of corn to eat or sell. Most poor whites had just been born into their situation and couldnt
help it, but they were normally characterized as having no goals and being castaways of society.
Poor whites normally went into life and left it the same way they came, poor and mostly unable to
change this. Normally their lives didnt last long due to a bad diet and many diseases which left
them weary and fatigued.
Black Georgians were the bottom class of antebellum society. Needless to say, the group
was mostly slaves with less than a tenth of a percent of the total amount of blacks being free blacks.
Every slaves life was different depending on what they were told to do, and the owner that told
them to do it. Although work in the fields was hard and tiring, the slaves did get time to rest, the
times that owners would let their slaves rest from field work are: a midday lunch break, rainy days,
most of the winter, and Saturday afternoons and Sundays. Slaves are known best for working
plantations, but they did many other types of work from being nursemaids to factory workers. A
slave never knew how his/her master would be. Some used whips to discipline the slaves or worse,
and many times, the slaves hadnt even tried to do something wrong. Other owners could be caring
for their slaves, thinking that they were more part of the family than anything. Either way the blacks
were being kept from their fundamental rights as being a person. Everyone should have been equal,
but blacks were kept under oppression for far too long. As the antebellum era went on, more and

more slaves became free by being released from their owners or buying their way to freedom. Once
free, life didnt get easier. Blacks were still persecuted for taking white jobs or being lazy if they
couldnt find one. Outrageously, a state law was passed that stated free blacks must register in their
county. This angered many free blacks because they were part of the communities just like whites.
The truth, although whites of the time couldnt and wouldnt believe it, was that blacks deeply
improved Georgia and brought many new things to help us Georgians prosper.
For much of Georgias early history and fairly well into antebellum society education was
not attended to with great care, for there were many bigger problems such as transportation and a
low overall desire for education that public schools would fill. Few attempts were made to set up
schools, and even these were destined to not do very well. First, farmers just built one-room
schools and paid a person in the community who had a fair understanding of the things needed to
be taught. Then came the poor school fund for poor children. This failed because many people were
too proud of their children or didnt like the labeling of their children as poor. The lower school
systems in Georgia frankly stunk, but the higher systems fared well. Generally attended by mostly
upper class members many colleges were developed. Many of these Georgian colleges were
actually founded by Protestant denominations, showing that religion could have a large role in
everyday life.
After decades of low religious activity came a period called the Great Revival. This period
saw a large amount of restoration in the protestant denominations. Through religious ceremonies
called camp meetings, and a varied other amount of techniques, blacks and whites were drawn
together for a unifying purpose: religion. Thousands were converted, and in the beginning most
churches urged the abolitionist cause, but it couldnt last. The opinions of most southerners began
to creep in and distort what was Gods word. Slowly, churches in the south became pro-slavery,
and northern churches were pro-abolitionist. This urged the development of black churches
because blacks sure didnt want to listen to sermons about why they should be enslaved. The
development of these churches was slow though, and didnt come about for a while. Since they
couldnt attend church, slaves held secret congregations to keep religion among them alive.
One of the last aspects of the great antebellum society were social reforms. Thankfully,
people began to notice that many of their ways were terrible and inhumane. Others were just plain
mean. So pillories were done away with, and a state penitentiary was opened. Those with mental
illnesses were no longer thrown in jail, they were put into a special hospital for care. People in jails
and penitentiaries were given blankets, heat, and medical attention if so needed. So now the
government of Georgia was now focused on its people as well.
Antebellum society experienced a giant leap in everything. People found ways to adapt to
their conditions, ethics towards whites and blacks took a major step forward, religion came back,
education was improved upon, and the cotton production and trade industry was mastered. With
all of these developments, it is no surprise that the antebellum society was extraordinary in almost
every way.

Works Cited:

Stakes, Mary E., and Edwin L. Jackson. The Georgia Studies Book: Our State and the Nation.
Athens: Carl Vinson Institute of Government, U of Georgia, 1999. Print.