OLD SOUTH

:''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.

Contents

Geographic usage

Cultural usage

See also

External links

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 role as a Union state 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. Culturaly, the state of Georgia has many elements of both the Old South and the Deep South.
The "Old South" is usually defined in opposition to the Deep South including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and it is 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.
Still another definition are the states of the South where slavery was permitted after 1830. Especially those -- and/or portions of them -- where plantations oriented around cotton or rice, were a major part of the economy. This particular area stretched from lower Virginia into East Texas.

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.
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.

See also

★ Antebellum

★ New South

★ Deep South

★ Border States

★ Solid South

★ Middle America

★ Deep England

External links

★ Documenting the American South. A digital publishing initiative that provides numerous documents and information about the South of the United States before and after the American Civil War.

★ Jekyll Island Club - Victorian Playground of Northern Industrialists in the Old South

★ Southern Arts Federation