The First South

 

A review of The First South (LSU Press, 1961) by John Richard Alden

One of the things I’ve discovered since I began studying Civil War history is that the roots of that conflict go back to before the United States were declared “free, sovereign and independent”, and so a knowledge of the history of the early South is very useful and relevant in order to understand how the South of 1860 came to exist, as well as simply being interesting history in its own right. “The First South” (as contrasted with “The Old South” of John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis) is defined for the purposes of this book as the time between 1775 and 1789. “It appeared with the American nation”, Alden states, “and it clashed ever more sharply with a First North during and immediately after the War of Independence. This First South did not hasten under the Federal Roof with swift and certain steps, but haltingly and uncertainly.”

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