Origins of the New South, 1877-1913

A foundational work that analyzes the transformation of the post-Reconstruction South into a new political and economic order between 1877 and 1913. The book examines the rise of an industrial economy, the continued rural distress, political shifts, and the complex and often contradictory character of the "New South," which aimed to modernize the region while preserving white supremacy.

Classic on the emergence of a new southern economy and social structure in the wake of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The book was written sixty years ago, which means that it is dated in some ways, and some of its underlying attitudes would offensive were they voiced today (though Woodward was definitely a progressive for his time). Nonetheless, this book still has a lot to say about the way the South got the way it was, and says it well.

In Chapter VII, "The Unredeemed Farmer," Woodward takes on another myth. This time it is the myth that "Emancipation freed the poor whites more than it did the Negro!" This, as Woodward amply demonstrates, simply was not true. The poor white farmer's plight was miserable. A the root of his misery was the crop lien system. Credit was in the saddle and rode the farmer merciless. It was not the local merchant at the South whom Woodward blames for the exploitation of the Southern poor, but rather the financiers at the North, for "the merchant was only a bucket on an endless chain by which the agricultural well of a tributary region was drained of its flow" (p. 184- 5). Woodward also describes the Farmers' Alliance attempts to short circuit show more this exploitative system by co-operative buying and selling (p. 196). The example of successful agitation by the Alliance to which he points is the destruction of the jute trust.

In Chapter VIII, "Mudsills and Bottom Rails," he discusses the relationship between black and white freedoms. Poor whites and freedmen were in pretty much the same economic position, 8 yet the transformation "from slavery to caste as a system of controlling labor" proceeded apace as the New South integrationist ideology attempted to pit workers against each other --divide and conquer (p. 209). The New South was not solid in ~he sense of labor quiescence in the face of management any more than it was politically unified. Addressing the activities of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor in the South, Woodward provides ample evidence of Southern labor's militancy.

In Chapter IX, "Southern Populism," he points out that the Southern Alliance men were oriented toward the West, as opposed to Southern Conservatives who had entered into a colonial relationship with Eastern capital. At the heart of Southern Populism was the Farmers' Alliance. As a test of Alliance loyalty the Southern Alliancemen chose fealty to the sub treasury system ( p,. 239) .This is an idea upon which Goodwyn would later build, more on this under Goodwyn entry. Analyzing the socio-economic structure of Southern Populism, Woodward finds its leadership to have been drawn from a variety of strata but its rank and file to have been predominantly of the lower orders (p. 246). There would be considerable agreement with Hofstadter I here. This agreement would extend to granting the Southern Populists' position among the national muckraker phenomenon. Indeed, the Southern Populists challenged the New South integrationist ideology head on (pp. 249, 252). Most radical of all was the attempt to integrate blacks into Populism, which itself engendered considerable violence against the movement (257-259). One more example of the fractioned New South!

Finally, in Chapter X, "Revolt Against the East," Woodward addresses the great depression of the nineties in the South. The South was torn by industrial conflict in exactly the same way as the North. The Populists of the South chose to ally themselves with those of the West under the free silver banner. Woodward spends considerable time analyzing Populist electioneering at the South. The detail is good but one could easily def lost. He concludes that revolting against the Democratic leadership, these new silver leaders eventually became as entrenched as the Eastern oriented leadership they had had replaced !(p. 290). show less

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