Lower South
LOWER SOUTH
LOWER SOUTH, or the Deep South, is that part of the southern United States lying wholly within the cotton belt, including South Carolina, Georgia, and the Gulf states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Before the Civil War, the Border States and the Middle South states (Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) had more diversified economies than did the Lower South states, which relied more heavily on cotton and sugar as their main cash crops and on slave labor. In the later antebellum period, these states (Florida excepted) secured political leadership in the South and led the drive for secession.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Freehling, William W. The Roadto Disunion: Secessionists at Bay, 1776–1854. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Morris, Christopher. Becoming Southern: The Evolution of a Way of Life, Warren County and Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1770–1860. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Haywood J.PearceJr./c. p.
See alsoCotton Kingdom ; Secession ; Slavery ; South, the: The Antebellum South .