Download Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South (Cambridge Studies on the American South)

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Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South (Cambridge Studies on the American South)

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Review

'In Masterless Men, Keri Leigh Merritt offers a sweeping analysis of how we should understand the place of poor whites in the larger narrative of the Old South. Her detailed examination of the Deep South's impoverished white class will deepen our understanding about the human and economic costs of America's system of black slavery.' Charles Bolton, University of North Carolina, Greensboro'Merritt moves class front and center as she documents the brutal, unfair realities of life for poor whites struggling to survive in a society structured against them. Her work holds tremendous implications for our understanding of social relations, the economy, politics, and the law in the Old South.' Jeff Forret, author of Race Relations at the Margins: Slaves and Poor Whites in the Antebellum Southern Countryside'Keri Leigh Merritt reveals the parallel roots of white poverty and slavery in the antebellum South. With precision and conviction, she demonstrates that landlessness, low wages, and illiteracy, accompanied by legal and extra-legal harassment by the state, were not mere by-products of slavery, but the result of policies that enriched slaveholders while muting dissent by poor whites.' Victoria Bynum, Texas State University, San Marcos'Eloquently argued, Merritt's work will be of interest to economic, social, and legal historians as its attention to poor whites' place in southern society provides a more complete understanding of the history of the 19th-century South. Essential.' T. K. Byron, Choice

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Book Description

Owning neither land nor slaves, poor whites comprised about a third of the American South's white population in 1860. Focusing on land, labor, and legal history, Masterless Men shows what happens to excess workers in a slave society.

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Product details

Series: Cambridge Studies on the American South

Paperback: 372 pages

Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition (December 14, 2017)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1316635430

ISBN-13: 978-1316635438

Product Dimensions:

6 x 0.8 x 9 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.8 out of 5 stars

26 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#77,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

I am 3/4 through and take it everywhere because it is full of revelations. I did not know how many voter suppression laws (poll taxes, literacy tests) were aimed at poor whites and date to before the Civil War. Same with vagrancy laws, i.e. arrests for walking while white (and poor). Slavery was a disaster for poor whites whose wages cratered. Author makes a strong case that slave owners were frightened of landless whites for good reason and suppressed them aggressively. Can't wait for the Civil War chapter on the great Negro scare designed to whip up enlistment for the cause. I teach in the South and will base a lecture on this book.

Before I read Masterless Men by Keri Leigh Merritt I had but passing knowledge of the Antebellum South. Her book, in addition to enlarging my understanding of the social and economic conditions particular to the Southern power structure, also gave me a broader understanding of American history. Most of us outside academic history would not know about the Homestead Acts and Merritt goes into quite a bit of detail to explain how the government's land grants created a nation that favored the white race. The author details how the maintenace of black slavery in the South also created second degree of slavery for poor whites as they were kept in poverty by having to compete with slave labor for jobs and income. Her examination of the interplay of power and wealth, race and class are given a thorough and convincing examination. Most rewarding for me in reading Masterless Men were the parallels from past events to the present that I was able to find. The archeology of knowledge shows that the aristocracy of the past has never really left us. It has endured a few generations of democratic reform only to return yet in another hideous visage from the not so distant past. History matters. And the truthful telling of history matters even more."He who controls the past controls the future." -- George Orwell

I love history and don't shy away from things that are more academic in nature. This book is certainly based on rigorous research, but is readable and really really interesting. Definitely something that could be given to people who are unaware of the nature of race relations in the south in the lead up to the Civil War. And even to those who think there was a unified southern identity that believed in the Confederacy's goals. Of course, anyone who prefers the Lost Cause myth or a generalized view of the South as being victimized by the North might resist any book discussing the more complex relationships between poor whites and the elites. Still, I think this book does a fantastic job of supporting it's central argument -- especially because it outlines how the myths of pre-war America became accepted truths by so many.

There is much to admire in this book. In addition to uncovering an often overlooked and misunderstood segment of the population of the antebellum South, Masterless Men reinserts class into our understanding of race relations. We often assume that race trumped class, which is to say that poor whites felt more in common with the planter elite than poor blacks in the antebellum South, thus closing off the potential for an interracial alliance among the downtrodden. Merritt skillfully challenges this assumption. Poor whites, she argues, were not dupes of large slaveholders. They harbored deep class resentment toward planters--a phenomenon so pronounced that Merritt even goes so far as to say that it contributed to secession. If poor whites were ever willing accomplices to racist policies enacted by wealthier whites, this was to be found in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, not the antebellum era. Readers will also find some interesting insights on immigration, economic policy, and the state's police powers. This is a valuable addition to anyone's bookshelf.

This is a well researched history of the antebellum south and how poor whites, while not enslaved, were not well off. Their labor was made unnecessary by slavery, so they had to scratch for a living. The legal system was stacked against them and the master class panicked upon realizing they were outnumbered by slaves and poor whites. So they controlled a labyrinthine legal system which punished anyone who challenged them or whatever trumped up charge they came up with.

As a long time SC resident and great great grandchild of those masterless men and women its nice to see the truth in print.

Best history book I’ve read in 3 years. Amazing book.

It is an interesting read, so far. I find myself reading and re-reading it, thinking about the implications of the insights presented and wanting to make sure I understand what the footnotes say.

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