Topic 4.13, Southem Society in the Early Republic, pp 247-252 As you read the chapter, jot down your notes in the righthand column. Consider your notes to be elaborations on the Main Ideas presented in thb'ht cc you finish each section, analyze & process what you read by answering the analysis questions. Learning Objective: Explain how geographic and environmental factors shaped the development of the South from 1800 to 1848. MAIN lDEAS: NOTES: In the South, although the Introduction.. majority of Southerners owned no slaves, most leaders argued that slavery was part of the Southern way of life. Agriculture and King Cotton Southern business leaders continued to rely on the production and export of traditional agricultural Staples; conmbUtjng t0 the Slavery,the "Peculiar Institution: growth of a distinctive Southern regional identity. As overcultivation depleted arable land in the Southeast, slaveholders began Population... relocating their plantations to more fertile lands west of the Appalachians, where the institution of slavery continued to grow. Economic... White Society... Aristocracy... Farmers... Poor Whites