Dueling in the Southern United States

The act of dueling was often condemned by public figures throughout early United States history and seen as unnecessarily violent and instigated by trivial matters.

In the Southern US, whose economy was mostly agricultural (including plantations) and production cycles were longer-term than those of their manufacturing-oriented Northern counterparts, planters were often highly leveraged and heavily dependent on personal credit to carry them through to the harvesting and sale of their crops.

Given that Southern credit markets were rather opaque until the early 20th century – lenders could not readily view an applicant's financial statement—having a reputation as "honorable" was almost essential to obtaining approval for loans.

[2] Dueling in the US virtually disappeared by the start of the 20th century with the rise of modern banking institutions and commercialized lending in the South, which were characterized by greater transparency and lower transaction costs.

The larger, commercialized financial institutions that slowly took market share in the South took a quicker, more impersonal approach to screening that placed less importance on personal character.