“The great evil of Northern free society,” insisted a South Carolina journal, “is that it is burdened with a servile class of mechanics and laborers, unfit for self-government, yet clothed with the attributes and powers of citizens.” A Georgia newspaper was even more emphatic in its distaste. “Free Society! we sicken at the name. What is it but a conglomeration of greasy mechanics, filthy operatives, small-fisted farmers, and moon-struck theorists? … The prevailing class one meets with [in the North] is that of mechanics struggling to be genteel, and small farmers who do their own drudgery,
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