There he was-a country gentleman, living in "noble splendor, receiving the services of his coterie of subordinates, and discharging the obligation that his 'high position' imposed upon him." How best to transform this dream into a reality, where the old becomes the new, if not through the enslavement of other human beings?
He learns, this Europe immigrant, "the social and economic values of Negro slavery." Over time, the best of the Southern planters, Franklin explains, the most successful, "emerge as aristocrats," and few concern themselves with the rumblings of contempt from other white immigrants belong the station of the planter. As Franklin writes, "egalitarianism" was maybe important in American life but not in the Southern aristocrat's life. Whereas freedom was another matter-so long as freedom meant freedom for the aristocrat planter.
The system of slavery became a "cornerstone" of Southern civilization, so long as the enslaved black remained in her place and, in that place, remained "docile." Even the poor whites could dream of one day seeing themselves owning land and black slaves (rarely coming to fruition, but possible). But for the black enslaved for whom the enterprise of slavery for the colonies becomes "not only a central feature in commercial agriculture but also a major factor in the development of the South's domineering spirit." Soon children became witnesses to the systemic brutality directed toward black people, and thus it was common to see children, in turn, abuse their black guardians, Franklin writes.
The idea of white superiority is not only distributed across society but also passed down to subsequent generations as a way of being any white, planter or not. "That slavery tended to create tyranny in the South was not merely abolitionist prattle." As Franklin explains, "the system provided the despot with extensive prerogatives and ample opportunities for their abuse."
And the law? Well, the law was the slaveholder. And the slaveholder had the right to do as he pleased with his property. And as he breathe life into this right over property, including chattel slaves, the planter aristocrat developed the "swagger of the bully" who employed the "bludgeon" to solve disputes. Under the law of the planter aristocrat, the "assassination" is elevated to an art, and the "martial spirit" flourished in this milieu.
In the culture! Deep in the culture!
And so too is fear.
The Southern storytellers wrote of plantations populated with happy blacks. The poor whites, many unable to read these dream-like narrative, witnessed from afar black people neither not so happy nor complacent. Images of black faces, runaways, appear on posters near the homes occupied by the women and children of poorer whites living in town or rural areas. The planter aristocrat worried about the loss of property, that is, in terms of money, but occasionally he feared retaliation in the night, while he, wife, and children slept, by disgruntled blacks looking to execute revenge before escaping the plantation. For all his swagger, the slaveholder could never be sure the enslaved human being would remain docile. In place. Cruelty might put some blacks on the run or worse! What about uprisings?
Fear unifies so as to instigate a myriad of injustices against victims of systemic violence. Franklin explains, "the South's greatest nightmare was the fear of slave uprisings; and one of the most vigorous agitations of her martial spirit was evidenced whenever this fear was activated by even the slightest rumor of revolt."
And those posters viewed by the non-slaveholding whites gave voice to the narrative of fear. In plain language, citizens read aloud:
Let it never be forgotten, that our Negroes are freely the JACOBINS of the country; that they are the ANARCHISTS and the DOMESTIC ENEMY; the COMMON ENEMY OF CIVILIZED SOCIETY, and the BARBARIANS WHO WOULD, IF THEY COULD, BECOME THE DESTROYERS OF OUR RACE.
For the well being of the crucial economic and social system, the planter aristocrat turned to the community for "cooperation."
Cooperation took the form of the patrol, which in time, "became an established institution in most areas of the South," writes Franklin. It was demanded of all white men to own firearms, to carry firearms, to patrol the "beat." The "beat," a night-time job, required men white men to apprehend "any and all Negroes who were not in their proper places." If "free" or runaway, the person is "taken before a justice of the peace."
The citizen patrols were joined in time by the military. In South Carolina, the patrol system evolved into the militia, Franklin asserts, "making it a part of the military system." Soon, the patrol wasn't confined to plantations; the patrol came to be seen as a "preventative check" to keep "'all thoughts of insurrection out of the heads of the slaves, and so gives confidence to those persons amongst us who may be timorous.'" A good number of the citizen militia were seafarers and thugs, armed with "muskets and bayonets" as they made the "rounds" of Negro quarters. Committees of safety flourished as did more and more "military patrols and guards."
The unification of slaveholders and white non-slaveholders wasn't always welcomed, according to Franklin, who discusses uncomfortable relations between kin-that is, those who owned plantations and those who didn't. Class mattered, even among family! The owners insisted that race mattered: at least the poor white relations isn't black! But the poorer relations recognized class, too. It wasn't long before the establishment of organizations such as the Neck Rangers, the Light Infantry, and the Corps of Hussars. For large-scale plots, such as those of Gabriel, Vesey, and Turner, writes Franklin, "there was a strong show of military force" consisting of hundreds of militiamen.
"The citadels [Virginia Military Institute, Citadel Academy at Charleston], sentries, 'Grapeshotted' cannon" and minutemen became familiar and integral parts of the South's landscape, writes Franklin, so that the evolution of the militia is the institutional safeguard for the preservation of the "cornerstone" of Southern civilization.
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