The Plantation South (1960)

a few gone columns rise majestically from an encroaching wilderness and to become or a moment stark monument to a vanished hero or there was a time when cotton was king and the plantation reflected a way of life peculiar to the south but those olden times have gone now and with them the great plantation all that remains are a few once lovely column that against the sky [Music] the plantation system can be said to have begun with the cultivation of tobacco tobacco flourish and with it the trade between England and the southern colonies along the rivers great homes were built testifying to the wealth and influence of these early colonial planters the tone of society has always been truly English in lower Virginia the Tidewater country that the people loved to call it is been settled by all classes of Englishmen who aspire to imitate in the new world the customs and manners of the old these planter homes fully expressed the taste and social standing of this small group of landed aristocracy [Music] by the middle of the 18th century the plantation had taken on well-defined characteristics they were complex and self-sufficient communities many outbuildings housed the materials and trades necessary to the functioning of a large plantation tobacco shelves ware houses stables dairies kitchens servant quarters in effect the plantations had come to resemble small villages the grounds were dominated always by the Masters residents called the great house like one of the patriarchs of old I have my flock my bondsman and my pawns women and every sort of trade amongst my servants so that I live in a kind of independence on everyone but Providence in contrast to the planter aristocrat the majority of land owners were small farmers whose sole means of self betterment was to settle in new areas and make large profits in tobacco but in order to make large profits large crops were needed new land became a necessity the system is such that the platter scarcely considers land as part of his permanent investment five land uses it until it's exhausted and then felled it it's something to be worn out not improved as new lands became exhausted by one crop farming planters gradually migrated to more distant areas always carrying with them the plantation system further south along with swampy coastal regions of Georgia and among the backwaters of the Carolinas early southern planters had discovered other money crops there was rice and sugarcane Negro slaves from the West Indies and Africa were acquired in increasing numbers to do the arduous work of planting and harvesting the peculiar institution of slavery had become an integral part of the plantation system as slavery became more entrenched wealth became more concentrated into the coastal regions flow the profits of the numerous rice and sugar plantations Charleston South Carolina epitomized the wealth and social standing of this planter class in Charleston the very streets and houses had an air of solidity and dignified repose the south near the close of the 18th century presented a picture of a society contentedly settled in the ways of the plantation system such a picture was in striking contrast to England which was rapidly being transformed by an industrial revolution new spinning and weaving inventions had suddenly created an enormous demand for raw cotton with which to supply the textile mills of Manchester and Liverpool but the limited supply of long stable or Indian cotton would never fill the demands of an industrialized England if only a way could be found to remove the seeds from the short stable cotton a variety so ideally suited for growing in vast areas of the southern United States a way was found in 1793 Eli Whitney invented a quick and practical way of cleaning cotton in about ten days I made a little model which will clear ten times as much cotton as any other way no the machine consists of a wooden cylinder fitted with wire teeth which draws the seed cotton through a wire screen that serves to separate the seed from the lint the cotton engine or gin as it came to be known was the solution that England and the South had been waiting for overnight as it were cotton became king car cotton they talkin nothing else from the cotton on the market the goods the cotton in the field the fluctuating prices the over trading and so on Rhonda the prices and prospects of cotton again my ears weary with the sounds of cotton cotton cotton cotton stimulated the plantation system on a huge scale and in the next quarter century following the war of 1812 and the subsequent defeat of the Indians new land were open for settlement and the march of cotton continued as far west as the great Mississippi [Music] along the Wars of New Orleans the steamboats gather loading and unloading cotton for shipment to the north into Europe cotton had transformed this old French town into a thriving and populous city the South was now producing three-fourths of the world's total cotton supply wealth however became a monopoly in the hands of a few planters their brokers and their bankers who has not heard of Mississippi fortunes that sprang up like Jonah's gourd in a single night the bulk of power and wealth is held by a tiny minority of men who have the gift to circumstance and the nerve for anything as the cotton Kingdom expanded there was a corresponding demand for manpower to clear and work the cotton growing area the South turned again to the Negro who constituted an immense reservoir of ready labour many in the South once believed that slavery was great moral and political evil it is no evil no skirt but a great religious social and moral blessed but 2/3 of the southern white families were small farmers who had little to do with slavery these yeomen farmers occupied the less desirable cotton growing areas to the north in the Appalachians and in the southern highlands lived the Mountaineers who were the least attached to slavery as an institution and who cotton as a means of livelihood inhabiting the swamp and Pine Barrens were the poor whites who were at the very bottom of the social scale thus out of the entire white population of the south few had any direct contact with slavery and even fewer less than 3% could ever hope to become members of that minority group of planter aristocracy who were influencing the whole of southern economy and society these planter aristocrats ruled the south by virtue of their wealth their upbringing and better education and their control of political machinery the rich planters promoted their own interests and were indirectly supported by the majority of southerners for the interests of all classes of southerners were now tied together by a single economy cotton plantation homes were designed in many styles from the classic proportions of Greek Revival to the rambling galleries of French Provincial there was even a special category called steamboat gothic but nearly all plantations regardless of style were laid out along similar lines they generally faced the waterway the primary route to the outside world and its markets the main house which was the center of the plantation unit was usually approached by an ally of fine old hopes to the side were the dovecote and the kitchens where all the plantation meals were prepared to the rear with the gardens flanked usually by the bachelor quarters directly behind were the stables and carriage houses and nearby with a simple slave cabin from the verandas of the main house the planter might survey the progress in his fields the more prosperous the plantation the more lavish the interiors associated with the plantation was an ease of living a graciousness of manner that had become a legend throughout the south plantations were often separated from their neighbors by considerable distances so it was only natural that hospitality was freely extended visitors from outside were often amazed to discover the respect held by planters for all things cultural entertaining became an accepted routine of plantation life [Music] [Music] during the hot summer months most planters would take their families and follow society to the fashionable resorts of past Christian or White Sulphur Springs we are glad to say that much of the olden time still lingers here the propriety of demeanor polish of manners courtesy and cleverness which seemed inseparable from southern society in the fall they would return again to their homes and the agreeable rhythm of plantation life all this then became part of the legend surrounding the great plantation but there was also another side that was easily overlooked no large plantation could function without a sufficient supply of slaves and what of the Slayers what could be their feelings toward their masters of their life in bondage our miss Sally was the sweetest best thing in the world she was so good and kind to everybody she loved her slave - if all slaves had belonged to - like ours there wouldn't be any freedom motive no sir he won't good - none of us all around hated to be bought by him because he was so mean when he was - tag - flippers he had over said today and over still was meaner than a master but mister the people were the same as they is now that was Goodwin's new bag I just happen to belong to bed with slaves as an abundant and cheap source of labor the plantation could prosper without slaves the plantation would fail if there were many in the South who deplore the use of slave labor or who felt that nothing could justify it in point of economy there were equally as many who were ready and eager to defend it or slavery had become a fundamental part of the plantation system and the plantation system they had become the southern way of life there was now no turning back of course had been sent which could not be altered except by the passing of time or the clash of war