The Economy of the South

Abstract

A REVIEW of the history of the United States from Colonial days to the present time would reveal a changing role played by the southern states from that of leadership to that of decline in comparison with other regions of the country. Before i830 the South was strong economically; it held leadership politically and was the center of many social reforms. In I790 Virginia led all the states in population, and North Carolina was third. The four southern states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia included almost one-half of the total population of the country, and fully one-half of the area, and accounted for one-third of the exports. Virginia ranked second in value of exports and South Carolina third. As late as i8io the value of manufactured goods in North Carolina was thought to exceed that of Massachusetts. Pre-eminence of southern leaders in national political affairs was apparent during the formative and developmental period of our governmental structure. The Declaration of Independence was written by a Virginian; the Articles of Confederation were largely the work of Virginians; four of the first five presidents were Virginians; the chief expounder of the Constitution in its early years was a Virginian; and fourteen of the seventeen presidential administrations to i85o were headed by southerners. The South was the center of a liberal philosophy in education, religion, and social reform during this early period. Obviously, this liberal point of view did not apply generally to the slave question. Although the South had fitted well into the English Colonial system prior to the Revolution, much manufacturing had developed in this region. In I79i Tench Coxe estimated that many