[citation needed] Mountain whites generally despised the aristocratic structure found in much of the Deep South, where rich slave-owning planters controlled legislatures and stood as cultural heroes and figures for most southerners.

Pro-Union attitudes were likelier to prevail in the Upland South where mountain whites lived, where in the case of western Virginia, this sentiment was seen as one of the leading causes of West Virginia's secession from the rest of the state.

Voters in the mountain areas of Eastern Tennessee elected Republican Party members of Congress for since 1859, with the exception of four years.

[citation needed] Mountain whites also developed their own styles of music which borrowed from Scottish and Irish tradition as many were of Scots-Irish descent.

[citation needed] People classified as "Mountain whites" during the time of the Antebellum South were noted for their impoverished conditions.