Upland South
They differ from the Deep South and Atlantic coastal plain by terrain, history, economics, demographics, and settlement patterns.
The term Upper South is a geographic term, generally consisting of the Southern states that are geographically north of the Lower or Deep South, primarily Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee and to a lesser extent the District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri.
[1][2] The Upland South is defined by elevation above sea level; it is west of the population centers on the East Coast.
This can also include the southern border states of Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware as Upper South.
It also doesn't include the coastal lowlands of North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, located in the Tidewater region.
Migration and settlement patterns from colonial coastal regions into the interior had been established for many decades, but the scale grew dramatically toward the end of the 18th century.
[10] These migration streams eventually spread through Appalachia and westward through the Appalachian Plateau region into the Ozarks and Ouachitas, and ultimately contributed to the settlement of the Texas Hill Country.
For example, the Swedes and Finns of New Sweden—relatively few in number but pioneers in Pennsylvania before the Germans and Irish arrived—contributed techniques of forest pioneering such as the log cabin, the "zig-zag" split-rail fence, and frontier methods of shifting cultivation, such as girdling trees and using slash and burn methods to convert forest into temporary crop and pasture land.
These early settlers of the Upland South tended to practice small-scale farming, stock raising, and hunting.
[10] Due to their early settlement of the Midwest, Upland Southerners initially controlled territorial and state governments, and played a major role in establishing the political and social culture, such as the Black Laws of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
A key difference was the Deep South's plantation-style cash crop agriculture (mainly cotton, rice and sugar), using African American slaves working large farms while plantation owners tended to live in towns and cities.
The sharp division between town and country, the intensive use of a few cash crops, and the high proportion of slaves, all differed from the Upland South.
Its history of slavery predates the West Indian plantation model, relying on tobacco as a cash crop from the start.
Cotton and rice operations were large and factory-like, while tobacco profits hinged on skilled, careful, and efficient labor units.
[14] In addition, the Cotton Belt of the Deep South was controlled by Indians (mainly the Five Civilized Tribes of the Cherokee, Creek (Muscogee), Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole) who were powerful enough to keep pioneering settlers from moving into the region.
The Deep South's cotton boom did not occur until after the Indians were forced west in the early 19th century.
In contrast, the Upland South, Kentucky, and Tennessee especially, were the scene of Indian resistance and pioneering settlement during the late 18th century.
The differences between the Upland South and lowlands of the Southern Atlantic Seaboard and Cotton Belt, often resulted in regional tension and conflict within states.
The fertile lowlands of the Nashville Basin and the Bluegrass Basin gave rise to the cities of Nashville, Lexington, and Louisville, which grew into banking and mercantile centers during the late 19th century, home to an elite class of Upland Southerners, including bankers, lawyers, educators, and politicians.
[citation needed] Although historically very rural, the Upland South was one of the nation's early industrial regions and continues to be today.
[citation needed] The region became the United States' primary source of timber after railroads allowed large-scale industrial logging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Textile mills and industry served as an important factor in the Upland South's economy from the late through the mid-20th century.
[22] Similar to the Deep South, the region is part of the Bible Belt and heavily evangelical Protestant, with Baptists making up a plurality in the vast majority of counties.
[25] The Upland South voted for Democratic presidents into the 1990s, being won by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996.
