Slavery, Disease, And Suffering In The Southern Lowcountry (cambridge Studies On The American South)

On the eve of the Revolution, the Carolina lowcountry was the wealthiest and unhealthiest region in British North America. Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry argues that the two were intimately connected: both resulted largely from the dominance of rice cultivation on plantations using imported African slave labor. This development began in the coastal lands near Charleston, South Carolina, around the end of the seventeenth century. Rice plantations spread north to the Cape Fear region of North Carolina and south to Georgia and northeast Florida in the late colonial period. The book examines perceptions and realities of the lowcountry disease environment; how the lowcountry became notorious for its "tropical" fevers, notably malaria and yellow fever; how people combated, avoided, or perversely denied the suffering they caused; and how diseases and human responses to them influenced not only the lowcountry and the South, but the United States, even helping to secure American independence. Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 5 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Dedication......Page 9 Contents......Page 11 Figures......Page 14 Maps......Page 15 Preface......Page 17 Acknowledgments......Page 21 List of Abbreviations Used in Notes......Page 23 Part I: TALK ABOUT SUFFERING......Page 29 1 Rhetoric and Reality......Page 31 “The Sink of the Earth”......Page 46 Coming to Paradise......Page 48 A Hospital in the Making......Page 50 Contested Terrain......Page 55 “A Complication of Disorders”......Page 67 Fevered Bodies......Page 74 “An Inhuman and Unchristian Practice”......Page 75 The Suffering of the Shepherds......Page 78 The Dangerous Acadians......Page 83 Calculating Death......Page 84 Talk About Suffering......Page 86 “The Prevailing Disorder”......Page 89 Introducing Yellow Fever......Page 93 Discovering Yellow Fever......Page 96 Stealth Yellow Fever: 1750–1792......Page 99 Yellow Fever Resurgent......Page 107 Feverish Campaigns......Page 112 Partisans and Pestilence......Page 120 The Last Feverish Campaigns......Page 129 “Charleston’s Yellow Fever”......Page 134 Comparative Immunities......Page 137 “Sweeping off the Strangers”......Page 141 Misleading assurances......Page 146 Rice, Slavery, and Death......Page 153 The lucky slaves......Page 158 Toward a Theory of Racial Immunities......Page 167 Enter Uncle Remus......Page 170 Role Reversal......Page 175 Part II: COMBATING PESTILENCE......Page 177 Mcdoctors......Page 179 Practicing physick......Page 182 Pox Britannia......Page 188 The end of scottish dominance......Page 193 Doctors Differ......Page 196 “Negro Strollers and Old Women”......Page 202 Taking the Bark......Page 205 Can’t Get No Satisfaction......Page 209 Providence......Page 216 Prudence......Page 222 Patience......Page 229 “Few of Them Have Had It”......Page 232 Mass Inoculation......Page 235 “Inoculation Mad”......Page 238 The Inoculation Business Versus Commerce......Page 245 Chaotic Inoculating: 1780–1781......Page 248 Vaccination......Page 250 A Commercial Problem......Page 254 Quarantine Rejected......Page 261 A Sanitary Solution......Page 264 “This Dreadful Foreign Scourge”......Page 270 Peripatetic Planters......Page 277 Changing Airs and Places......Page 280 Flocking Up to the Backcountry......Page 286 Country versus City......Page 289 Piney Towns......Page 294 Island Refuges......Page 296 14 Melancholy......Page 299 Unpublished Manuscripts......Page 309 Published Manuscripts......Page 311 Index......Page 313 Half-title 3 Series-title 5 Title 7 Copyright 8 Dedication 9 Contents 11 Figures 14 Maps 15 Preface 17 Acknowledgments 21 List of Abbreviations Used in Notes 23 Part I: TALK ABOUT SUFFERING 29 1 Rhetoric and Reality 31 2 From Paradise to Hospital 46 “The Sink of the Earth” 46 Coming to Paradise 48 A Hospital in the Making 50 Contested Terrain 55 3 “A Scene of Diseases” 67 “A Complication of Disorders” 67 Fevered Bodies 74 “An Inhuman and Unchristian Practice” 75 The Suffering of the Shepherds 78 The Dangerous Acadians 83 Calculating Death 84 Talk About Suffering 86 4 Wooden Horse 89 “The Prevailing Disorder” 89 Introducing Yellow Fever 93 Discovering Yellow Fever 96 Stealth Yellow Fever: 1750–1792 99 Yellow Fever Resurgent 107 5 Revolutionary Fever 112 Feverish Campaigns 112 Partisans and Pestilence 120 The Last Feverish Campaigns 129 6 Strangers’ Disease 134 “Charleston’s Yellow Fever” 134 Comparative Immunities 137 “Sweeping off the Strangers” 141 Misleading assurances 146 7 “A Merciful Provision of the Creator” 153 Rice, Slavery, and Death 153 The lucky slaves 158 Toward a Theory of Racial Immunities 167 Enter Uncle Remus 170 Role Reversal 175 Part II: COMBATING PESTILENCE 177 8 “I Wish That I Had Studied Physick” 179 Mcdoctors 179 Practicing physick 182 Pox Britannia 188 The end of scottish dominance 193 9 “I Know Nothing of this Disease” 196 Doctors Differ 196 “Negro Strollers and Old Women” 202 Taking the Bark 205 Can’t Get No Satisfaction 209 10 Providence, Prudence, and Patience 216 Providence 216 Prudence 222 Patience 229 11 Buying the Smallpox 232 “Few of Them Have Had It” 232 Mass Inoculation 235 “Inoculation Mad” 238 The Inoculation Business Versus Commerce 245 Chaotic Inoculating: 1780–1781 248 Vaccination 250 12 Commerce, Contagion, and Cleanliness 254 A Commercial Problem 254 Quarantine Rejected 261 A Sanitary Solution 264 “This Dreadful Foreign Scourge” 270 13 A Migratory Species 277 Peripatetic Planters 277 Changing Airs and Places 280 Flocking Up to the Backcountry 286 Avoiding Swamps and Rice Fields 289 Country versus City 289 Piney Towns 294 Island Refuges 296 14 Melancholy 299 Select Bibliography of Manuscript Sources 309 Unpublished Manuscripts 309 Published Manuscripts 311 Index 313 9781107004153 Cambridge University Press pt. 1. Talk about suffering Rhetoric and reality From paradise to hospital "A scene of diseases" Wooden horse Revolutionary fever Stranger's disease "A merciful provision of the creator" pt. 2. Combating pestilence "I wish that I had studied physick" "I know nothing of this disease" Providence, prudence, and patience Buying the smallpox Commerce, contagion, and cleanliness A migratory species Melancholy. "In 1776, the Carolina lowcountry was the wealthiest and unhealthiest region in British North America. This book argues that the two were intimately connected, examining how people created, combated, avoided, and denied the virulent disease environment; and how disease and human responses to it influenced the region, the South, and the United States"--Provided by publisher. In 1776, the Carolina lowcountry was the wealthiest and unhealthiest region in British North America. Professor McCandless argues that the two were intimately connected, examining how people created, combated, avoided and denied disease; and how disease and human responses to it influenced the region, the South and the United States.