The Distressed State of the Country

Abstract

White men, veterans and non-veterans alike, faced financial ruin and political emasculation in the postwar South. With the southern economy in shambles, men faced business failures and joblessness. The resulting ‘pecuniary embarrassment’ drove some to suicide. Men’s identities were closely tied to their work and their ability to provide for their families. Unemployment thus undercut one’s manhood. Further taxing masculine identity was a rise in indebtedness, endemic after the war, that signalled a man’s dependency, marred his reputation, and made financial recovery difficult. The volatile political climate also taxed southern white men creating a bleak future of life under Yankee rule. Unable to imagine a better, improved life, suicide offered men relief from embarrassment, humiliation and emotional suffering, even if the self-inflicted death of a male head of household further endangered his family dependents and jeopardize their futures.