The plantations were large, and the people lived in
far greater isolation than in New England, where not only the town, but
more especially the church, developed a close social unit.
One other reason served to make it difficult for a poet of the plowman
type, like Robert Burns, or for an author from the general working class,
like Benjamin Franklin, to arise in the South. Labor was thought degrading,
and the laborer did not find the same chance as at the North to learn from
close association with the intelligent class.
The reason for this is given by Colonel William Byrd, from whom we have
quoted in the preceding section. He wrote in 1736 of the leading men of the
South:--
"They import so many negroes hither, that I fear this Colony will some
time or other be confirmed by the name of New Guinea. I am sensible of
many bad consequences of multiplying these Ethiopians amongst us. They
blow up the pride and ruin the industry of our white people, who seeing a
rank of poor creatures below them, detest work, for fear it should make
them look like slaves."
WILLIAM BRADFORD, 1590-1657
William Bradford was born in 1590 in the Pilgrim district of England, in
the Yorkshire village of Austerfield, two miles north of Scrooby.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38