The solidarity of public opinion in the South has been so often commented upon that it is difficult to realize the heterogeneous elements employed in making her population. The “solid South” is not only a political but in many respects a social and even a religious fact, so confirmed has the section become in conservatism and orthodoxy. First by reason of slavery and then of the war and then of reconstruction, the people have been bound together by the strongest of ties. They have acted together and thought together.
The popular tradition that has been cherished as most typical of the South is that of the Virginia Cavalier—his hospitality, his refinement, his chivalric spirit. Widely different as are other elements of the population, they have all been modified to some extent by this tradition. It is strange that some historians still speak of the War of Secession as if it were a renewal of the old conflict between the Puritans and Cavaliers.
Diverse Elements in Southern Society.
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