Honor, Honour, etc.

As the Doc well knows, I am a sort of limited-Honor thesis guy. This hinges on the question, I think, of when "southern anxiety" begins. The majority of historians of Colonial America see a spirit of anxiety pervading Virginia and Carolina society from 1720 on upwards, with the Civil War being a major point in its development...but, as the Doc points out, continuing through the period of segregation.

I am skeptical of that view. The more primary sources I read from amongst the gentry of Colonial Virginia, the more I ask myself "where's the anxiety?" I just don't see it. My developing view is that anxiety stems from the Revolution, and that for at least two reasons. One was the appeals by Lord Dunmore and later Lord Cornwallis to the enslaved population of the American South. This in many ways moves Britain towards abolition, first by placing limits on the slave trade, then with the outright abolition of slavery. (Done, as the Doc likes to say, without a hideously bloody civil war; the Civil War was not inevitable.) The societal memory of those British appeals is vivid for both the enslaved and their owners. It leads to rebellions and fears of rebellions. Sure, there were rebellions before the Revolution; but remember, there was a Revolution. Slave rebellions are both encouraged by events in the Revolution, and are transmuted in their appearance in the minds of Revolutionaries and their descendants.

Secondly there is a deep financial crisis following the Revolution, a crisis of debt, a matter which offends the honor of a gentleman who regards himself as self-sufficient. Sure, there had always been debt. But it is hard to overstate the impact of the post-Revolution financial crisis, and its effects on the Southern gentry. It leads, among other things, to a Westward movement. But at its simplest it creates a new spirit of vulnerability and anxiety.

There are some other reasons as well. I'm not completely certain where to locate the religious dimension vis a vis Southern anxiety; certainly Anglicanism has transmuted, in antebellum Virginia where the Anglican order was strongest, into a much smaller and very evangelical Episcopal Church. The varieties of Calvinism adhered to by Episcopalians, Baptists, Presbyterians (of course) and (believe it or not) some Lutherans may have given a certain spiritual anxiety to Southern life; but I am uncertain about that.

As for honor. It was a living concept in early 18th century Virginia. It was not created after the Revolution. And certain of its manifestations, such as the duel, were slavishly imitated from England in the 1760's as Virginia gentlemen sought to make themselves more English. (That's ironic considering the subsequent decade, but only in hindsight; nothing is inevitable.) Some scholars have tried to make Southern gambling habits a question of anxiety, but that's ludicrous and only shows that they haven't read anything about contemporary English society.

So I think it's the Revolution that makes a big difference...but a lot of the raw materials were there beforehand. Just not the fully-formed Southern anxiety that most want to locate there.