Unification of a Slave State

Klein, Rachel N.

ISBN 10: 0807818992 / ISBN 13: 9780807818992

Published by University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1990

About this Item

published for the institute of early american history and culture, williamsburg, va. by the university of north carolina press. the rise of the planter class in the south carlina backcountry.

Seller Inventory # 017755

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Unification of a Slave State
• Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807818992
• ISBN 13: 9780807818992
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

This book describes the turbulent transformation of South Carolina from a colony rent by sectional conflict into a state dominated by the South’s most unified and politically powerful planter leadership. Rachel Klein unravels the sources of conflict and growing unity, showing how a deep commitment to slavery enabled leaders from both low– and backcountry to define the terms of political and ideological compromise.

The spread of cotton into the backcountry, often invoked as the reason for South Carolina’s political unification, actually concluded a complex struggle for power and legitimacy. Beginning with the Regulator Uprising of the 1760s, Klein demonstrates how backcountry leaders both gained authority among yeoman constituents and assumed a powerful role within state government. By defining slavery as the natural extension of familial inequality, backcountry ministers strengthened the planter class. At the same time, evangelical religion, like the backcountry’s dominant political language, expressed yet contained the persisting tensions between planters and yeomen.

Klein weaves social, political, and religious history into a formidable account of planter class formation and southern frontier development.

About the Author

Rachel N. Klein is associate professor of history at the University of California, San Diego.