The manners of the gentry were better than those of the middle class; nevertheless they drank overmuch, had a passion for gaming, and sometimes engaged in brawls at the polling-places. The fist, especially in Virginia and Maryland, was preferred to the duel as a means of settling controversies. The landed gentlemen, born aristocrats, were indolent, vain, haughty, arrogant, and sensitive to restraint,—a natural outgrowth of the social conditions of the times. But they had great virtues as well as great faults. There was a keen sense of honor among them, and great pride of ancestry. They were of good, vigorous English stock, especially those who came after the Restoration, and in the struggle for independence, two generations later, furnished to the patriot cause a high class of soldiers, diplomats, and statesmen.
Scarcity of professional men.
There were practically no professions in Virginia and North Carolina. In Maryland and South Carolina a litigious spirit prevailed, and there arose a small body of lawyers fairly well equipped. Medicine was in a crude state. The clergymen of the English Established Church—except in South Carolina, to which colony the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel sent out good material—were as a rule sadly deficient in manners and education, although there were among them many men of superior attainments and noble character. This was especially noticeable in Maryland. The dissenting ministers were often of quite inferior calibre.
Agriculture.
Agriculture was the mainstay of the people, tobacco being the one great crop; although in the Carolinas rice and indigo came to be close rivals. Naval stores were also a staple export. In South Carolina there was a greater area devoted to mixed tillage than elsewhere in the South, and corn and cotton were raised in considerable quantities. In both the Carolinas cattle-raising was an important industry, the large branded herds roaming the glades and forests at will.
Economic independence of the planter.
A great plantation, with its galleried manor-house, its rows of negro quarters, and group of barns and shops, was in a large measure a self-sustained community. The planter needed little that could be obtained elsewhere in his own colony or in the South, and conducted his commercial operations direct with England, the West Indies, and the Northern colonies. Vessels came to his landing, bringing the supplies which he had ordered of his correspondents, and loading for the return trip with such material as he had for export. Under this independent system, whereby the rural magnate was his own merchant, and negro slaves his only workmen, neither general trade nor industries could flourish. Manufactures of every sort—even tables, chairs, stools, wooden bowls, and birchen brooms—were, along with many necessaries of life, imported from England and neighboring colonies. There were a few negroes on every plantation who were trained to the mechanic arts; and a small number of white craftsmen found work in travelling around the country, doing such jobs as were beyond the capacity of the slaves.
Commerce.
There was a considerable trade with the other continental colonies, as well as with sister colonies in the West Indies and with England. Small vessels were built in Virginia and Maryland for the coasting traffic, though Englishmen, New Englanders, and Dutchmen were the principal carriers. The independent methods of the planters, with their systems of barter and direct importations, suited the lordly notions prevalent among them; but the luxury was an expensive one, for it placed them quite at the mercy of their foreign correspondents. Tobacco was the chief export, and barter was based upon its value, which, despite legal restrictions, was subject to great fluctuation. The importance of the crop, as the basis of exchange, led to governmental supervision of its quality, which was uniformly excellent except in North Carolina, where public spirit was at a low stage. The importance attached by the government to this industry is illustrated by a famous remark of Attorney-General Seymour. In 1692, when a delegation from Virginia were soliciting a charter for the College of William and Mary, on the ground that a higher education was necessary as a step towards the salvation of souls by the clergy, he blurted out: "Souls! Damn your souls; grow tobacco!" The Southern colonies had also a large and profitable export of lumber, tar, turpentine, and furs; from the Carolinas beef was shipped in great quantities to the West Indies; and rice, indigo, and cotton were sent to the Northern colonies and England. The trade with the Indians grew to considerable proportions in Virginia and Maryland, but was long neglected in the Carolinas.