elite

Examples of elite in the following topics:

• White Society in the South

  • In his study of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton classified white society into the poor, the yeoman middle class, and the elite.
  • A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was never very distinct.
  • Yeomen were "self-working farmers," distinct from the elite because they worked their land themselves alongside any slaves they owned.
  • This plantation-owning elite, known as "slave magnates," was comparable to the millionaires of the following century .
  • Third, many small farmers with a few slaves and yeomen were linked to elite planters through the market economy.

• "Poor Whites"

  • In his study of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton classified white society into three groups: the poor, the yeoman middle class (also called the plain folk of the Old South), and the elite.
  • A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was less distinct.
  • They were "self-working farmers," distinct also from the elite because they physically labored on their land alongside any slaves they owned.
  • That is, plain folk soldiers had their own reasons for fighting, apart from those reasons held by the elite.

• Plain Folk of the Old South

  • The nostalgic view of the South emphasized the elite planter class of wealth and refinement who controlled large plantations and numerous slaves.
  • In his study of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton classified white society into the poor, the yeoman middle class, and the elite.
  • A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was less distinct.
  • Yeomen were "self-working farmers”, distinct from the elite because they physically labored on their land alongside any slaves they owned.
  • Though Southern society was dominated by a planter elite, plain folk supported secession to defend their families, homes, notions of liberty, and beliefs in racial hierarchies.

• The Colonial Elite

  • In New England and the Mid-Atlantic colonies, the elite were wealthy farmers or urban merchants; in the South, they were wealthy planters.
  • As in New England, the majority of the elite in the middle colonies were merchants.
  • The Southern elite consisted of wealthy planters in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina.
  • Summarize the central economic activities of the elites throughout the colonies

• Social Classes in the Colonies

  • The class system of the plantation South included the plantation masters and their families and the plantation elite.
  • The southern region had very few urban places apart from Charleston, where a merchant elite maintained close connections with nearby plantation society.

• A Communications Revolution

  • In the early 1800s, newspapers were largely meant for the elite.
  • They generally took two forms: mercantile sheets intended for the business community, which contained ship schedules, wholesale product prices, advertisements, and some foreign news; and political newspapers, which were controlled by political parties or their editors as a means of sharing their views with elite stakeholders.

• Plantation Masters and Mistresses

  • The wealthiest planters, such as the Virginia elite with plantations on the James River, had more land and slaves.
  • Planters are often spoken of as belonging to the planter elite or planter aristocracy in the antebellum South.

• Urban Recreation

  • In the early 1800s, newspapers had catered largely to the elite and took two forms - mercantile sheets that were intended for the business community and contained ship schedules, wholesale product prices, advertisements and some stale foreign news, and political newspapers that were controlled by political parties or their editors as a means of sharing their views with elite stakeholders.

• Middle Class

  • Terms used by scholars for the non-elite class include "common people," "yeomen," and "crackers. " In the colonial and antebellum years, subsistence farmers tended to settle in the backcountry and uplands.
  • The nostalgic view of the South emphasized the elite planter class of wealth and refinement, controlling large plantations and numerous slaves.
  • Critics suggest the vast difference in economic classes between the elite and subsistence farmers meant they did not have the same values or outlook.

• Higher Education

  • The more elite colleges became increasingly exclusive and contributed relatively little to upward social mobility.
  • By concentrating on the offspring of wealthy families, ministers, and a few others, the elite Eastern colleges, especially Harvard, played an important role in the formation of a Northeastern elite with great power.