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The Abbeville Institute 2007 Scholars'
Conference
"The
Origin of Southern Identity and the Culture of the Old South"
University
of Virginia, February 1-4, 2007
The fifth annual Scholars' Conference
was held February 1 - 4 at the University of Virginia. We
met at The Colonnade Club, one of the oldest Jeffersonian
buildings on campus, located on the Lawn of the University
- the site where Jefferson, Monroe, and Madison laid the corner
stone in Monroe's cornfield for what was to become Jefferson's
university.
The topic of the conference was
"The Origin of Southern Identity and the Culture of the
Old South." What constitutes "American identity"
has always been a contested question, and is even more so
today. Samuel Huntington of Harvard University recently wrote
an anguished book titled Who Are We?, The Challenges to
America's National Identity. America was not founded in
a national identity, but in a federation having strong regional
identities. From the very beginning there was a division between
North and South. The questions for discussion were: When did
Southern identity first appear? What was its character and
how did it change? The discussion was limited to the ante-bellum
period, although we sometimes wandered beyond it.
A book of reading running some
200 page was the basis for the discussion, which occurred
in six sessions. To gain a concrete picture of Southern identity
we often contrasted a representative New England thinker with
a Southerner engaged in the same activity. In Session I the
Diary of the New England Puritan Cotton Mather was contrasted
with the diary of the Virginian William Byrd. Session II explored
the relation between the "first South" (17th and
18th century) and the :Old South" framed from a post
bellum 19th and 20th century perspective.
Session III compared two "Enlightenment"
thinkers: the Virginian Thomas Jefferson and New England raised
Benjamin Franklin". The Southern "Enlightenment"
does not look like its New England counterpart. In this session
we also examined two types of individualism: John Randolph
of Virginia and David Thoreau of New England.
Session IV compared the oratory
in Congress of Robert Hayne of South Carolina with that of
Daniel Webster of New England. Session V examined two visions
of American identity and culture through two literary figures:
the South Carolinian William Gilmore Simms and the New Englander
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Finally, Session VI explored Southern
identity in the religion and literature of the Old South.
Professor Bill Wilson, Dean of
Honors Students, gave us a tour of what Mr. Jefferson called
his "Academical Village," pointing our interesting
facts about its history, architecture and mission. After lunch
on Saturday we visited Monticello and found it a delight even
in its winter aspect.
Professor Clyde Wilson, M. E.
Bradford Distinguished Fellow of the Institute was to give
an opening lecture, "Southern Culture from Jamestown
to Walker Percy." A winter storm that caused confusion
and delays for a number of us grounded his plane for two days,
so he was unable to attend. Fortunately he sent a copy by
e-mail, which was read to the conference by Institute President
Donald Livingston after the last Session on Saturday evening.
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