Georgia Almanac

The Lack of Political Messaging in 1760s Deep South Almanacs

My American nation is the Midlands, but I have decided to analyze an almanac from a different American nation. From Pennsylvania to Oklahoma and Ontario, the Midlands is a pluralistic American nation. No single almanac can represent the entire midlands. Instead, I will on the Deep South, a homogenous American nation characterized by white supremacy, aristocratic privilege, and classical Republicanism (Woodward 9).

Since Midlands almanacs often contained political messages, I expected Deep South almanacs to contain them too. The Preliminary check list of American almanacs, 1639–1800 lists only one almanac from Georgia, The South-Carolina and Georgia Almanack for 1764. Furthermore, it lists twenty-six almanacs from South Carolina, including The South-Carolina and Georgia Almanack for 1765. During this era, authors wrote almanacs by region, so it was not unusual for South Carolina almanacs to include Georgia and Georgia almanacs to include South Carolina. Hugh Morrison only lists the 1764 almanac for Georgia, suggesting that it is the most Georgian almanac. In the 1760s, Georgia’s slave population was multiplying (Wood 1). Thus, I expected the 1764 almanac to contain political messages about slavery; however, I was disappointed when I discovered that The South-Carolina Georgia Almanack contained none whatsoever.

The first seventeen pages of the almanac contain the usual tabular data: remarkable days, moon phases, public officers, eclipses, major roads, and tides. The last fourteen pages contain “sundry useful Receipts and Directions,” where I was expecting to find political messages about slavery, or perhaps slave ownership or management. The first selection is a poem titled, “A Receipt to prevent vexatious Law-Suits and Land-Affairs,” which provides practical advice to purchasing land. Namely, checking that the seller owns the property title, protecting yourself from mortgaging personal finances, and ensuring you are dealing with honest people. None of which come across as championing white supremacy, aristocratic privilege, or classical Republicanism. The remainder of the selections continues to provide practical advice. For example, the article “Method of saving Lives at dangerous Fires” explains how to fashion a fire escape ladder during an emergency. Similarly, the articles “For whooping Cough,” “Receipt to improve boggy lands,” and “To mend broken jars and Café-Bottles” fail to provide any implicit political commentary. However, there is still something to learn from the lack of political messages.

Coming into this assignment, I had set myself up, expecting to encounter political messages like those in Midlands almanacs. I had not considered the relative value of political commentary in almanacs between the Midlands and Deep South. On the one hand, the Midlands is a pluralistic society, a social mixing-pot of political viewpoints, where providing political commentary in a widely distributed almanac might persuade its readers. On the other hand, the Deep South is an already politically homogenous society, where there is almost no audience to attempt to persuade. Even while looking at other Deep South almanacs, I noticed this trend: Deep South almanacs are characterized by a lack of political commentary compared to their Northern counterparts, suggesting more political homogeneity in the Deep South.