James Henry Hammond And The Old South Summary

After reading Drew Faust’s book James Henry Hammond and the Old South, I agree that is a far more than suitable text upon which to end the semester. It is does indeed, bring together all of the themes and ideas we have discussed so far in this class. James Henry Hammond lived an interesting lifestyle and it was one that could have only occurred in the Old South. By examining the writings and of both Anthony S. Parent and Joshua D. Rothman respectively, it becomes clear to see how Hammond developed the personality and characteristics that he did. Parent lays out how the society that Hammond grew up in came to be, then describes how the class structure and elitist system became the way of life in the South and some of the problems that came with …show more content…
Parent spends much of the first part of his book simply explaining how the slave trade in America became as popular and profitable as it did especially in the agriculturally based economy of the south. He describes how the rise of tobacco as a cash crop created such a demand for slaves that there was eventually surplus of slave labor and severe drop in the price of tobacco. However, instead of cutting black of the importation of enslaved people, the planters just kept buying more and more: “The great planters promoted slavery as a remedy for the troubled tobacco economy. Enslaved laborers could produce the crop cheaper than servants could, but slavery carried with it a plethora of problems. The great planters had turned toward slavery at a time when they were anxious to restrict production aggravating their economic situation.” Here Parent is pointing out how profit driven the great planters were and how they did not always make the most rational decisions, This passage also shows that the great planters were a class that lived in constant …show more content…
He wanted to achieve a level of success they very few had ever been able to reach. Although, he did have a great passion for the society and the life style that Southern plantation elitism had produced he was never able to accomplish all his goals. There are a several reasons for Hammond’s failures, the largest being himself, to completely condemn Hammond would not entirely be fair. Hammond is much a product of his environment, he grew up in a society that where it was hard to reach elite social status and just as hard to keep it. Naturally, this caused Hammond to pursue a career and lifestyle that would allow him to reach his goals, unfortunately, his own fear of failure along with other anxieties that came with his pedantic nature and dangers of the elitist system he lived in led to his failure: “His human tragedy is particularly one of the Old South, of the demands made upon its native sons, of the rewards granted the deserving, of the texture and meaning of both success and defeat within that unique society that existed below the Mason-Dixon Line between the Revolution and the Civil War.” The reason why Faust’s book was the best way to end the class is because it really does include all the themes discussed throughout the semester such as the anxious people, class structures, over dependence, economically on slavery and cotton, and it provides such a detailed account of a man who was in many ways the living