Life in Antebellum Georgia

Antebellum means before the war. In America, this has become to mean before the
American Civil War. Life for people in Georgia at this time was much different than you think it
was. Everyone wasnt in giant mansions that they got from slaves working on their plantations.
Not that many people even had slaves. This was a period of prosperity for Georgia.
The main crop that was grown in Georgia at this time was cotton. There were two types
of cotton that could have been grown at the time. There was a cotton that could only grow on the
coast and another that can be grown inland. The inland cotton could grow more but it was very
difficult to remove the seeds from it. The invention of the cotton gin fixed this problem and
more people started to grow the inland cotton. Another reason that so much cotton was grown in
Georgia is that the Piedmont and Coastal plains had the perfect conditions for growing cotton.
Another part of Georgias geography that helped were the rivers near the Fall line. They were
able to power cotton gins, textile mills, and factories. The invention of steamboats and trains
made it easier for people to be able to transport large amounts of cotton. Growing cotton
required a lot of hard labor. The planters needed cheap labor that could work long hours. Slaves
were how planters were able to do it.
Wealthy planters were part of the upper class. These were landowners with 20 or more
slaves working for them. Many planters were short on cash even if they were wealthy. This is
because most of their money was going into land and slaves. A typical planters house was very
plain and modest. A plantation had to be well managed to be successful. Planters were very
busy operating their plantations. They would usually have overseers or trusted slaves watch over
the slaves and make sure that they were working. Many of these planters became community
leaders. The wives would supervised the day-to-day life on the plantation. This work was
mainly taking care of the slaves. Planters had very comfortable lives. There were political

Life in Antebellum Georgia

gatherings and barbeques at home. They also enjoyed church activities, traveling, and when
friends or relatives visited. Their kids would be educated in private schools and academies and
leave to continue their education at universities.

Yeoman farmers were middle class farmers. These people had a strong sense of independence.
They were often in a cycle of wanting more land and slaves to be able to grow more cotton to
earn more money. They grew cotton on as much of their land as possible. The cotton will give
them a steady supply of cash to buy supplies and food that they couldnt grow at home as well as
pay debts and taxes. They mostly grew what they ate and lived in log cabins. Women tended to
the domestic chores like cooking, canning, gardening, making clothes, and raising kids. The
men farmed, fed the family, and kept the buildings repaired. Yeoman farmers had shooting
matches, barbeques, dancing, wrestling, fighting, hunting, fishing, and visiting the courthouse for
fun.
The bottom of the white society was poor whites. 1 in 10 whites were poor. They had no
land and got by as best they could. They mainly lived in the Pine Barrens and in the mountain
regions. They often built crude houses on land that they dont own with a couple of animals.
The men would hunt and fish for food and money while the women grew cotton and corn for
money. Poor whites were looked down upon the rest of society. People thought they were idle
trouble makers with little ambition. Diseases like malaria caused the lack of energy. They also
were usually illiterate.
At the very lowest point of Georgia society were black Georgians. Over 99 percent of
these people were enslaved. The life of slaves varied considerably. Life could be very hard for

Life in Antebellum Georgia

slaves that were growing cotton. The slaves had to wake up before it was light and were
expected to dress, eat, and be at work by sunrise during the busy season on large plantations.
They would have a break for lunch later and then went to work until it was sundown. There
were a few exceptions to this like rainy days and between seasons. Slaves were also used as
house servants, cooks, nursemaids, skilled artisans, and factory workers. Life for these people
was much better than the life of a field hand. Some owners were very cruel to their slaves and
whipping them for discipline continuously. Some slave owners treated their slaves as if they
were part of an extended family. Most people were in the middle somewhere. Slave owners
needed to make sure that their slaves were doing their work since most of the owners money
went into slaves. Slaves were deprived of their freedom and human rights. They had no political
or civil liberties. There were laws that said slave owners couldnt excessively beat or kill their
slaves, but these laws were hard to enforce especially since slaves could not testify against
whites in court. Families of slaves had a chance, and sometimes were, separated. If the owner
was short on cash they would sell a slave or two. There were about 3,500 free blacks in Georgia
by the end of the antebellum era. Most of these people were former slaves who had either been
freed by their owners or maybe even bought their freedom. They usually lived in the cities
where it was the easiest to find jobs. Unfortunately, they were criticized for taking jobs away
from whites if they got one and those who didnt get jobs were considered lazy. State law then
required that all free blacks had to be registered. West African traditions combined with
southern traditions to make new ones.
Education in Georgia started to form during the antebellum era. Georgias first
constitution called for a school in each county, but the legislature did not have enough money to
make an actual public school system. Georgians also did not demand public schooling since they

Life in Antebellum Georgia

need their kids to be able to help them on their farms. The legislature made created a poor
school fund in 1817, but most parents were too proud to send their kids to these poor schools.
Farmers built one room schools in rural areas. Unfortunately, the teachers were not very
qualified and the kids got a basic education. The only kids that got an actual education were the
kids whose parents had enough money to send their kids to private schools and academies.
Higher education was much better in Georgia than lower education. The University of Georgia
was the first state university in the nation. The Medical College of Georgia started formally
training doctors which were important in dealing with the dangerous epidemics that were
spreading at the time.
Not that many people were religious in Georgia at the time, but many different religions
were represented at the time. There had been many different early protestant denominations
including Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Baptist. A Jewish congregation in Savannah started on the
first year that Georgia was a colony. Catholics first came to Georgia in 1796. Most of them
lived in Wilkes County. A Protestant religious movement called the Great Revival swept
through the south. Thousands of Georgians were converted through camp meetings and revivals.
Church membership increased greatly and even more churches were built. Many churches in the
area denounced slavery until the 1830s when slavery was being defended by many different
people. Most slaves attended church with their masters. For many slaves, religion meant secret
meetings in the slave quarters where they would looked to the time that they would be freed from
slavery. Multiple black churches were started during the antebellum era. These churches started
in the north and opposed slavery. This made them not have much influence on the south since
the people there needed their slaves to get an income.

Life in Antebellum Georgia

State government was slowly moving to a more active role in society and started
improving the welfare of the people living in Georgia near the end of the antebellum period.
Georgia and other southern states started taking a humane approach to dealing with criminals.
The state abolished cruel punishments like whipping and pillories in 1816. A penitentiary was
opened in 1817 and the next the state gave prisoners clothes, blankets, heat, and medical
attention. A law was passed in 1823 that made it harder to throw someone in jail for not paying
their debts. A hospital was opened in 1842. Before this mentally ill people were thrown in
prison. A school for deaf persons opened five years later. The Georgia Academy for the blind
opened in 1852.
If the antebellum period was good or not completely depends on who you asked about it.
It was a great period of time for the people in Georgia and the rest of the south since Georgia was
prospering at this time. People in the north thought that this was horrible because of the horrors
of slavery. This period of time ended up leading to the deadliest war in Americas history. This
time before the war was when cotton was king and life was starting to improve with technology.