Entrepreneurs in the Southern Upcountry: The Case of Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1815–1880

Most business histories of the nineteenth-century southern upcountry focus on the shift from a protocapitalist, yeoman-oriented antebellum period to the rapid commercialization and industrialization of the New South era. These studies generally argue for a sharp break in the economic leadership of the region either through the rise of a new business elite, or the reorientation of an agrarian regime. Through a study of Spartanburg, South Carolina, my work challenges this notion of a sharp break and instead finds a vibrant, town-based entrepreneurial elite in both the antebellum and postbellum periods. The revolution that occurred was in the nature of South Carolina's political economy. Spartanburg's entrepreneurs, who struggled to achieve their goals in the antebellum era, found new opportunities as a result of post-war political realignments and the racial politics of Reconstruction. This business history at the community level adds an important chapter to our understanding of the political economy of the Old and New Souths.