USH: Chapter 12 – The South Lecture Handout
Section 2
“______
______”
Main Ideas
1. ______and ______consisted of _____ main groups.
2. ______in the South faced a great deal of ______.
Study Aid: Social Groups in Free Southern Society
Use the information in this section to fill in each quadrant on your paper.
Poor Whites / Free African Americans
FOUR MAIN GROUPS OF SOUTHERN SOCIETY
• Only about ______of all southerners owned slaves.
• Far fewer were actually wealthy ______.
• However, those few planters were among the most influential southern citizens, and many were ______leaders.
• On the vast plantations, the planter ran the farm ______.
• A wealthy planter would have ______to help him.
• The planter’s wife ran the ______, which included many house slaves.
• She also was in charge of important social events such as ______and dinners.
• Most southern farmers were ______.
• Yeoman owned small farms averaging about 100 acres, and often they worked ______with the few slaves they might own.
• Many white southerners were poor. They owned no ______at all.
• Often they lived on land that could not grow crops. These farmers were on the ______of the economic ladder.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
• Religion was central to southern life. One reason was its ______impact.
• Often farm families only saw their far-spread ______at church functions.
• Some southerners also believed that Christianity ______slavery—a belief not shared by Christians in the North.
SOUTHERN CITIES
• The economy of the South also ______on the businesses conducted in its busy cities.
• As in northern cities, southern cities provided many services to residents, including ______and street maintenance.
• Southern cities used ______labor, too.
• Businesses either owned slaves or ______them out from nearby planters.
FREE AFRICAN AMERICANS
• Not all ______were slaves. Some were free. Some had been born free. Others had bought their freedom from their slave-owners or had run away.
• About ______of these free African Americans lived in the South.
• The presence of free African Americans ______some white southerners.
• They worried that those who were free would ______those who were enslaved to rise up against their slave-owners.
• As a result, southern cities and states passed ______aimed at limiting the rights of these free African Americans.
• Virginia went so far as to forbid former slaves from living in the state without ______.
• Free African Americans posed another ______to white southerners, too.
• Many whites felt the African Americans could not ______outside of slavery, and these free men and women proved that was wrong.
Main Idea 1 - Focus Questions
Recall About how may white southern families had slaves in the first half of the 1800s?
Contrast How did the social status of planters and yeomen differ?
Evaluate Why might some wealthy planters prefer to live simply?
Recall How big was the typical yeoman farm?
Summarize How was religion an important part of southern society?
Main Idea 2 - Focus Questions
Recall What were the main types of jobs that free African Americans held in the South?
Summarize How had free African Americans often gained their freedom?