Going to go on a general rant here because, well, things are getting close to outright defamation of the Old Dominion here, and I think folks are much to quick to condemn and demonize while forgetting things that Southerners ACTUALLY did contribute.
For instance, despite this so called "evil" Virginia plantation culture, almost ALL the core concepts of the US Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, originated with those VERY PLANTERS and was pushed for by many predominate Virginians as they tended to be part of the Anti-Federalist factions in the 1780s. The entire Bill of Rights was modeled on the
Virginia Declaration of Rights written in 1776 by
George Mason (one of the lesser known, but probably more important, Founding Father and Framer) who, yes, was a plantation owner, but one who had decidedly negative feelings on slavery and one who would hardly fit in with OC's caricature of the Virginia planter class.
I would also note that if the Virginia planter class was so toxic culturally and so assured of its own superiority... why in the world to George Washington not seize the chance to be made King? Why did he voluntarily step down after serving two terms as President? These are not the actions of a man from some culture of self serving self superior attitudes.
Further, as I noted above, Virginia was a hotbed of anti-Federalist sentiment, and because it and New York basically tag teamed on the topic (oh, look, the supposed evil southern state agreeing with a noble Northern state! It's almost like this shit is a lot more complicated and not anywhere near so just so as OC is making it out to be) is why we even HAVE the Bill of Rights, as those amendments were adopted specifically to address the concerns of the Anti-Federalists over the expansive powers the US Constitution gave Congress, as the US wouldn't be able to function without either of those two States at the time.
Anyway, the entire argument from Albion's Seed stinks of a "just so" story meant to aggrandize one section of the US while demonizing another. The US Southern culture, while it has decidedly negative aspects, also has significant positive ones too, even in the 18th and 19th centuries. There's a reason historically you saw larger percentages of the volunteer military of the US come from the US South, part of Southern Culture is an emphasis on martial duty from ALL strata of society (after all, the famous southern heroes of the 18th century tended to be both planters AND military men... G. Washington, Harry Lee, Francis Marion, etc.). The emphasis on individual enumerated liberties basically
originated in Virginia from Mason and Jefferson, while the idea of a Federal government ruling all with an iron fist pretty much originated from the North with Hamilton and Adams.
So to sit here and pretend that the US South has been nothing but a serpent to the US is nothing short of historical revisionism and sectionalism. It's historically inaccurate, and is nothing more than presenting a "just so" story to justify demeaning a full third of the country.