[Awgie]

We “Moderns” have such a sense of superiority with our technology, science and comforts. We tend to categorize people from previous centuries as primitive, less knowledgeable. After all they didn't even know about things like “bacteria.” They didn't have cars! And they all had bad teeth and stunk!

Well I would stack up any average 19th century American with nearly any citizen of our current population. Most people today don't know where eggs come from. If you put the average citizen of today outdoors for 24 hours they would claim assault.

Just about any person of 19th century America was better educated, more aware of the natural world and more capable of living independent, then the idiots that roam the streets of America today.

[onedoug]

Just an aside: Mary Boykin Chestnut’s “A Diary From Dixie” is also quite a glimpse into Southern society by a woman who knew a lot of the principle participants including Jefferson Davis.