The Old South

Read Before the Lexington Chapter U.D.C., February 14, 1909,
By Eugenia Dunlap Potts, Historian.


No pen or brush can picture life in the old Southern States in the
ante-bellum days. The period comprehends two hundred and fifty years
of history without a parallel. A separate and distinct civilization was
there represented, the like of which can never be reproduced. Socially,
intellectually, politically and religiously, she stood pre-eminent,
among nations. It was the spirit of the cavalier that created and
sustained our greatness. Give the Puritan his due, and still the fact
remains. The impetus that led to freedom from Great Britain, came from
the South. A Southern General led the ragged Continentals on to victory.
Southern jurists and Southern statesmanship guided the councils of
wisdom. The genius of war pervaded her people. She gave presidents,
cabinet officers, commanders, tacticians and strategists. Her legislation
extended the country's territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

A writer aptly says: "For more than fifty formative years of our history
the Old South was the dominating power in the nation, as it had been in
the foundation of the colonies out of which came the Republic, and later
in fighting its battles of independence and in forming its policies of
government. * * * Whatever of strength or symmetry the republic had
acquired at home, or reputation it had achieved abroad, in those earlier
crucial days of its history, was largely due to the patriotism and
ability of Southern statesmanship. Why that scepter of leadership has
passed from its keeping, or why the New South is no longer at the front
of national leadership, is a question that might well give pause to one