Everything about Old South totally explained
» This article is about Old South and the geographical, historical and cultural implications of the phrase. The article on the brand of orange juice can be found at Old South (orange juice).
Geographically,
Old South is a subregion of the
American South, differentiated from the "
Deep South" as being the Southern States represented in the original thirteen American colonies, as well as a way of describing the former lifestyle in the
Southern United States. Culturally, the term can be used to describe the
antebellum period.
Geographic usage
The Southern Colonies were
Virginia,
Maryland,
North Carolina,
Delaware,
South Carolina, and
Georgia. Despite Maryland's early association as a Southern colony and later as a state, based on customs, economy, and slave ownership, its failure to secede during the
American Civil War has resulted in a modern disassociation with the area known as the "Old South," a disassociation even more pronounced in the similar case of Delaware.
The "Old South" is usually defined in opposition to the
Deep South including
Alabama,
Louisiana,
Georgia and
Mississippi, and it's also further differentiated from the inland
border states such as
Kentucky and
West Virginia and the peripheral southern states of
Florida and
Texas.
The "Old South" also refers to the tradition of Southerners voting the
Democratic ticket. During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, many Democrats lost their ability to vote. This led to a Republican South until 1877, when southern Democrats returned to power. Recently this Democratic dominance has eroded, yet the south maintains its conservative stance. The majority of the southern population now identifies with the Republican party.
Cultural usage
After the Civil War, many southern
whites used it with
nostalgia to represent the memories of a time of prosperity, social order, and gracious living. A majority of
blacks saw it as being a reference to the past times of
slavery and the
plantation.
It is the adversus to the "
New South"
Once those with personal memories of the antebellum South were largely deceased, the term continued to be used. It was used even as a
marketing term, where products were
advertised as having "genuine Old South goodness" and the like.
Certain groups now wish to rescue the term from
racist connotations by stating that they desire to celebrate only the things about the Old South which might be considered good, such as Southern
chivalry. An important and sizeable group of this sort is the
Sons of Confederate Veterans, whose group is about "Heritage Not Hate" and make a point of honoring the memories of those blacks who served with the
Confederate armed forces and their descendants.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Old South'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://old_south.totallyexplained.com">Old South Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
