Date of Award

Spring 5-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Program

History

Department

History

Major Professor

Andrea Mosterman

Second Advisor

Marc Landry

Third Advisor

Gerald Bodet

Abstract

In general discussions and teachings about the American Colonies before the Revolution, South Carolina is often oversimplified. Students are presented with a picture portraying the beginnings of American slavery, with large, cash crop plantations being worked by enslaved Africans while the white owners of the enslaved reap the benefits and enjoy a life of relative ease and luxury in their plantation houses and in the city of Charleston. Even when this picture includes extreme measures the planter elite took to enjoy this lifestyle in the form of slave laws and punishments, the more indirect methods of suppression are often left out. Often excluded from the picture is the role the white settlers of the frontier had in the maintenance of this system. The inclusion of the Backcountry in this picture allows all to see just how extensive the efforts to maintain the wealth and power of the planter elite.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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