Creating an Old South - by Edward E Baptist (Paperback)

About the Book

Creating an Old South: Middle Florida's Plantation Frontier before the Civil War

Book Synopsis

Set on the antebellum southern frontier, this book uses the history of two counties in Florida's panhandle to tell the story of the migrations, disruptions, and settlements that made the plantation South.

Soon after the United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1821, migrants from older southern states began settling the land that became Jackson and Leon Counties. Slaves, torn from family and community, were forced to carve plantations from the woods of Middle Florida, while planters and less wealthy white men battled over the social, political, and economic institutions of their new society.

Conflict between white men became full-scale crisis in the 1840s, but when sectional conflict seemed to threaten slavery, the whites of Middle Florida found common ground. In politics and everyday encounters, they enshrined the ideal of white male equality -- and black inequality. To mask their painful memories of crisis, the planter elite told themselves that their society had been transplanted from older states without conflict. But this myth of an "Old," changeless South only papered over the struggles that transformed slave society in the course of its expansion. In fact, that myth continues to shroud from our view the plantation frontier, the very engine of conflict that had led to the myth's creation.

Review Quotes

"A lively account of the transformation of Middle Florida's frontier into a slave society. . . . Baptist's well-written book . . . should appear near the top of the list of recommended reading for the state's antebellum history." -- Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"An exemplary local study. . . . This book wonderfully blends social and political history. . . . This fine book will work well in the classroom." -- Journal of American History

"Baptist . . . is the type of capable historian who can write about the detailed social aspects of a complex time while also placing the overall political scene into proper framework. . . . He has done a masterful job of presenting rare insight into a neglected area of antebellum studies and, really, a neglected area of Floridian history. . . . A superb account of Middle Florida." -- North Florida News Daily

"Baptist has rendered a provocative analysis that is likely to force a rethinking of the way the antebellum slave plantation system operated on the southern frontier. . . . This is a deeply researched and perceptively argued study that establishes Baptist as a fine scholar and a cogent writer. It has much to offer those interested in both the Old South and in Florida, Texas, and Arkansas. It should spur scholars on to fresh examinations of slavery on the frontier." -- American Historical Review

"Deeply researched and original . . . Challenges a priori history in general and basic assumptions about the development of the old southwest. . . . For all college and university collections." -- CHOICE

"Engaging and well-researched. . . . A masterful example of the ways in which historians can bring together the contributions of the past thirty years of scholarship in a style that promises to reach a broader public audience as well as other academics and college students. . . . A provocative book that raises important questions for the study of the South as a whole; questions that other historians will want to ask about other states and about Southern culture." -- Civil War History

"Students of the antebellum South who are interested in utilizing their sources in sophisticated ways and who wish to craft analytically strong narratives will be well advised to study the arguments, structure, and style of Baptist's book." -- Journal of Southern History

"Uses small places to answer big questions. . . . [A] well-researched and gracefully written study." -- Journal of the Early Republic

About the Author

Edward E. Baptist is Charlton W. Tebeau Assistant Professor of History at the University of Miami.