The Southern Middle Class in the Long Nineteenth Century Founder of Louisiana State University

Jonathan Daniel Wells and Jennifer R. Green provide a series of provocative essays reflecting innovative, original research on professional and commercial interests in the nineteenth-century South, often seen as composed of just two classes--planters and slaves. Rather, an active middle class, made up of men and women devoted to the cultural and economic modernization of Dixie, worked with the northern middle class, and independently, to bring reforms to the region.With a balance of established and younger authors, of antebellum and postbellum analyses, and of narrative and quantitative methodologies, these essays offer new ways to think about politics, society, gender, and culture during this exciting era of southern history. The contributors show that many like-minded southerners sought to create a ''New South,'' one similar to northern society. They supported the creation of public schools and an end to dueling, but less progressive reform was also endorsed, such as building factories with slaves doing the work rather than white wage-earners. The Southern Middle Class in the Long Nineteenth Century significantly influences thought on the social structure of the South, the centrality of class in history, and the events prior to and after the Civil War. The business of justice : merchants in the Charleston Chamber of Commerce and arbitration in the 1780s and 1790s / Sally E. Hadden Strangers in the South : Charleston's merchants and middle-class values in the early republic / Jennifer L. Goloboy Bonds of marriage and community : social networks and the development of a commercial middle class in antebellum South Carolina / Amanda Reece Mushal Middle-class benevolent societies in antebellum Norfolk, Virginia / John G. Deal Running Southern manufactories : the antebellum origins of managerial professions / Susanna Delfino Three faces of the Southern middle class : the Aikin brothers in the Old Southwest / Angela Lakwete Born of the aristocracy? : professionals with planter and middle-class origins in late antebellum South Carolina / Jennifer R. Green Navigating "the muddy stream of party politics" : sectional politics and the Southern bourgeoisie / Frank Towers The human and financial capital of the Southern middle class, 1850-1900 / Martin Ruef Reconstructing the Southern middle class : professional and commercial Southerners after the Civil War / Jonathan Daniel Wells Manufacturers and rural culture in the Reconstruction-era upcountry / Bruce W. Eelman Of culture and conviction : African American women nonfiction writers and the gendered definitions of class / Sonya Ramsey Epilogue : middle-class masters? / James Oakes.

Jonathan Daniel Wells and Jennifer R. Green provide a series of provocative essays reflecting innovative, original research on professional and commercial interests in the nineteenth-century South, a place often seen as being composed of just two classes -- planters and slaves. Rather, an active middle class, made up of men and women devoted to the cultural and economic modernization of Dixie, worked with each other -- and occasionally their northern counterparts -- to bring reforms to the region.
With a balance of established and younger authors, of antebellum and postbellum analyses, and of narrative and quantitative methodologies, these essays offer new ways to think about politics, society, gender, and culture during this exciting era of southern history. The contributors show that many like-minded southerners sought to create a "New South" with a society similar to that of the North. They supported the creation of public schools and an end to dueling, but less progressive reform was also endorsed, such as building factories using slave labor rather than white wage earners. The Southern Middle Class in the Long Nineteenth Century significantly influences thought on the social structure of the South, the centrality of class in history, and the events prior to and after the Civil War.

Jonathan Daniel Wells and Jennifer R. Green provide a series of provocative essays reflecting innovative, original research on professional and commercial interests in the nineteenth-century South, a place often seen as being composed of just two classes -- planters and slaves. Rather, an active middle class, made up of men and women devoted to the cultural and economic modernization of Dixie, worked with each other -- and occasionally their northern counterparts -- to bring reforms to the region. With a balance of established and younger authors, of antebellum and postbellum analyses, and of narrative and quantitative methodologies, these essays offer new ways to think about politics, society, gender, and culture during this exciting era of southern history. The contributors show that many like-minded southerners sought to create a "New South" with a society similar to that of the North. They supported the creation of public schools and an end to dueling, but less progressive reform was also endorsed, such as building factories using slave labor rather than white wage earners. The Southern Middle Class in the Long Nineteenth Century significantly influences thought on the social structure of the South, the centrality of class in history, and the events prior to and after the Civil War. In the past few years historians have begun to offer exciting accounts of the emergence of an influential and vibrant southern middle class during the nineteenth century. Wells and GreenÆs book provides a series of provocative essays reflecting innovative, original research on professional and commercial interests in a region often seen as composed of just two classesùplanters and slaves. Rather, the active middle class, made up of professional and commercial men and women devoted to cultural and economic modernization of the region, worked in tandem with its northern counterpart, and independ.