James Huston

author of "The British Gentry, the Southern Planter, and the Northern Family Farmer: Agriculture and Sectional Antagonism in North America"

November 4, 2015

Born in Canton, Illinois, James Huston went to public schools, attended Denison University, and then earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in history at the University of Illinois in 1980. He has been at Oklahoma State University since graduating in 1980. During his career he has had published nearly 40 articles in refereed journals and has published five books. Three of his books have been earned national recognition.

American agriculture derived from two British traditions. One tradition was estate agriculture: huge tracts of land belonging to one family, gentry or aristocracy, worked by tenants who managed poor agricultural laborers. This tradition became imbedded in the plantation system of the South: huge plantations worked by slaves. The other British tradition was family farming: small scale, 80-120 acres, worked by a family and one hired help. This system took root in the North. The southern system mimicked aristocratic ideals; the northern system fostered democratic ideas and politics. The two systems resided peacefully next to one another as long as one system did not broach the Mason-Dixon line. By the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, it appeared that the southern plantation system was warring on the family farm, and thereby gave rise to the Republican party.

URL: https://library.okstate.edu/news/celebratingbooks/2016-honorees/james-huston

Last Updated: 11 February 2016