Antebellum Social Classes

Children were taught by private tutors at home or at private schools.

• elite

• middle class

• independent farmers

• free African Americans

It was illegal for this group to learn to read or write because their masters were afraid they would escape.

• elite

• free African Americans

• lower class

• enslaved African Americans

Had jobs such as merchants, doctors, lawyers, shopkeepers

• Elite

• Independent farmers

• middle class

• lower class

Owned large plantations with lots of land

• elite

• middle class

• lower class

• independent farmers

Uneducated, unemployed, and landless

• elite

• independent farmers

• lower class

• enslaved African Americans

Had to carry freedom papers with them to prove they were free

• elite

• lower class

• free African Americans

• enslaved African Americans

Political leaders. Very powerful and influential

• lower class

• free African Americans

• elite

• middle class

Most lived in cities and towns; their children learned to read and write at home.

• elite

• middle class

• lower class

• independent farmers

Owned small farms and did the work themselves or with the help of family members

• lower class

• middle class

• independent farmers

• free African Americans

Were known to squat on land and take it as their own; used subsistence farming to survive

• elite

• enslaved African Americans

• lower class

• middle class