Chris Calohan II
Well-known member
Antebellum: Chris Calohan
-
Please use real names.
Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed
Firstname Lastname
Register
We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know! -
Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!
Antebellum
- Thread starter Chris Calohan II
- Start date
Antebellum: Chris Calohan
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Antebellum: Chris Calohan
Chris,
Antibellum, of course, means before the war, specifically the Civil War that pit Americans against each other. This style of mansion was very common at the time. Great examples can be seen all over the South and many are now restored by preservation societies and trusts, and welcome visitors to learn about that rich period. I hope you have more pictures of the architecture. Did you get inside? I'd love to see the windows, ceilings and furniture and what a kitchen looked like and the form of the fireplaces.
Thanks Chris for bringing a glimpse of this older world. It was well mannered but hard to a lot of folk!
Asher
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
For those not familiar with the history of the United States, the Civil War pitted Southern States with a history of more slave ownership with the North, somewhat more attuned to notions of equality of man, no matter of what origin. But both sides were rich in culture and traditions with stratified society at the top of which were ladies and gentlemen of considerable means. In the South, mansions with considerable land hosted fine dinners and dancing befitting landed gentry of old Europe. The plantations surrounding these mansions needed a lot of manual labor and that was provided, not by tractors or oxen, but mostly by black slaves.
How did they get there? Well European slave ships transporting millions of souls stacked like so much firewood on the decks and holds of these prison boats. And how did they get them? Well, they purchased them from local African tribes that raided neighboring villages and did a booming export trade. And where did the finance come from? Well some of it from the U.K., which in the end sent its gunboats to the coast of West Africa, to end this trade altogether!
So while the southerners are heavily criticized for being slave owners, the chain of responsibility is much, much larger and it's hard for anyone to point a finger and completely exclude his or her own ancestors from such cruel behavior. After all, if one lived in the port of a slave trading nation as a baker, one benefitted from the wealth that poured in.
Asher
How did they get there? Well European slave ships transporting millions of souls stacked like so much firewood on the decks and holds of these prison boats. And how did they get them? Well, they purchased them from local African tribes that raided neighboring villages and did a booming export trade. And where did the finance come from? Well some of it from the U.K., which in the end sent its gunboats to the coast of West Africa, to end this trade altogether!
So while the southerners are heavily criticized for being slave owners, the chain of responsibility is much, much larger and it's hard for anyone to point a finger and completely exclude his or her own ancestors from such cruel behavior. After all, if one lived in the port of a slave trading nation as a baker, one benefitted from the wealth that poured in.
Asher