An American planter: Slavery, entrepreneurship, and identity in the life of Stephen Duncan, 1787-1867

Through the use of letters, personal papers, legal documents, and government records, this dissertation analyzes the emergence of Dr. Stephen Duncan of Natchez, Mississippi as one of the antebellum South's largest and wealthiest slaveowners, planters, and entrepreneurs. By the 1850's, he operated over fifteen plantations on which over two thousand women, men, and children were enslaved. An examination of Duncan's world sheds light on the multifaceted nature of the slaveholding class, and recasts earlier debates over the character of antebellum slaveowning and plantation elites.;The dissertation explores how Duncan operated within his complex world. He masterfully utilized the interconnected and overlapping familial, social, and economic networks of Natchez elites to propel him to and maintain a position of social and economic power. Since such networks were central to Duncan's success and authority, this exploration examines how family and social dynamics helped Duncan construct his empire.;This study also explores questions about regional identity and its construction. Duncan's diverse economic foundation allowed him to define himself economically and politically in a broader fashion than many other larger planters in the South. Unlike many of his peers, Duncan did not depend only on mono-crop agriculture based on slave labor. He successfully merged the seemingly different worlds of nineteenth-century agriculture and that of high finance into a profitable capitalistic venture. As a result, Duncan did not declare regional loyalty or subscribe to regional politics, his identity was neither northern or southern. Instead, he developed a more complex and hybrid position. Duncan's career points to the fluidity of personal, regional, economic, political, and social identities during a period in American history when sectional lines and interests are assumed to have been sharply drawn.;Lastly, the dissertation examines Duncan's philosophy of slavery and his position as a gradual emancipationist and colonizationist. The final chapter of this study explores the slave communities and kin networks which developed over time on the Duncan plantations. An analysis of the lives of nearly 1,500 slaves through the reconstruction of over 330 slave households demonstrates that slave families lived in diverse arrangements. Most households were complex, extended, and wedded to larger networks of kinship and support. The conclusions drawn about slave life and families on the Duncan plantations thus contributes evidence to the growing debate over the nature and composition of slave families.