Domesticating slavery: Patterns of cultural rationalization in the antebellum South, 1820-186

Following the War of 1812, the United States underwent a significant restructuring of its economic, political, and social institutions produced by the market revolution. Two distinct cultures emerged as the North developed a diversified, internal economy while the South specialized its operations to dominate the international cotton market. These two basic types of economies evoked different patterns of cultural rationalization, i.e., the alignment of political, social, and cultural institutions to their respective economies. This study identifies patterns peculiar to, but appropriate for the South's rationalization, characterized as 'domesticating slavery.' These include: christianization, domesticated individualism, corporate communalism, rejection of abstract rights, constituted legalism, and domesticated relations within the capitalized Domestic Institution. Textual analysis reveals these patterns in three areas of Southern prescriptive literature: the mission to the slaves, agricultural reform, and the education of young masters. As these patterns emerged, the cultural gap dividing North and South widened, eventually evoking war.