Old South

The social structure of the Old South was made an important research topic for scholars by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips in the early 20th century.

[6] The Old South had a vigorous two-party system, with the Whigs being the strongest in towns, in the business community, and in upscale plantation areas.

By contrast in the North, revivals sparked a strong interest in abolition of slavery, a forbidden topic South of the Mason-Dixon line.

Additionally during the antebellum period, social issues such as public schools and prohibition, which grew rapidly in the North, made little headway in the South.

Most Southern church members used their religion for intense group solidarity, which often involved intimate examinations of the sins and failures of their fellow parishioners.

[10] Historian Bertram Wyatt-Brown has emphasized how a very strong sense of honor, rooted in European traditions, shaped ethical behavior for men in the Old South.

By claiming such control over their college environment, students reshaped the honor code and bridged the awkward gap between dependence and independent adulthood.

Regional definitions vary from source to source. Geographically, the states shown in dark red are usually included, though their modern boundaries differ from the boundaries when a part of the Thirteen Colonies . Those borders are shown on the map. [ 1 ]