DeBow's Review was a widely circulated magazine of "agricultural, commercial, and industrial progress and resource" in the American South during the upper middle of the 19th century, from 1846 until 1884. It bore the name of its first editor, James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow

James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow

James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow was an American publisher and statistician, best known for his influential magazine DeBow's Review, who also served as head of the U.S...

 (J. D. B. DeBow, 1820–1867) who wrote much in the early issues; however, there were several various writers over the years (see below: Contributors). R. G. Barnwell and Edwin Q. Bell, of Charleston, appeared as editors in March 1867, after DeBow's death,
and W. M. Burwell was editor from March 1868–Dec. 1879.

Publication history

The magazine was often published monthly, with several interruptions, from January 1846 until June 1880, then changed up through 1884. The magazine's publication was disrupted during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 after August 1864 but resumed publication again in January 1866. After 1880, it underwent a number of name revisions, and in 1884, it was either renamed to or absorbed by the Agricultural Review and Industrial Monthly of New York. (DeBow himself had died in 1867).

DeBow began this magazine in New Orleans in January 1846 as the Commercial Review of the South and West. It was published in New Orleans almost every year, except 1865 when disrupted and 1864, when based in Columbia, SC. He also published it in other cities as well: in Washington, D.C., between 1853 and 1857 (during his tenure as Head of the U.S. Census), continuing until 1860, then in Charleston, SC, 1861-1862. By the start of the Civil War, it was the most widely circulated southern periodical. DeBow wrote much of each issue himself.

The editors of DeBow's Review were: from Jan. 1846 to Feb. 1867, J. D. B. DeBow; from April 1867 to Feb. 1868, R. G. Barnwell and E. Q. Bell; from March 1868 to Dec. 1879, W. M. Burwell. DeBow's Review was published in New Orleans, 1846–52; then New Orleans and Washington, DC, 1853–60; New Orleans and Charleston, SC, 1861–62; only Columbia, SC in 1864; then again in New Orleans/etc. during 1866–80.

Content

Before the Civil War the journal contained everything from agricultural reports, statistical data, and economic analysis to literature, political opinion, and commentary. The magazine took an increasingly pro-Southern and eventually secession

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

ist perspective in the late 1850s and early 1860s. It defended slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 in response to abolitionism

Abolitionism

Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...

, published an article in the 1850s that urged the South to resume the African slave trade

African slave trade

Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient world. In some African societies, the enslaved people were also indentured servants and fully integrated; in others, they were treated much worse...

, and advocated southern nationalism as the Civil War approached. After the war, the magazine resumed publication on commercial, political, and cultural topics, urging acceptance of the Reconstruction program of the Union under President Johnson, and even printed articles from former abolitionists.

Contributors

DeBow's Review is known for several famous historical figures - both esteemed and controversial - who published material in the magazine:

Judah P. Benjamin Judah P. Benjamin Judah Philip Benjamin was an American politician and lawyer. Born a British subject in the West Indies, he moved to the United States with his parents and became a citizen. He later became a citizen of the Confederate States of America. After the collapse of the Confederacy, Benjamin moved to... J. D. B. DeBow James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow was an American publisher and statistician, best known for his influential magazine DeBow's Review, who also served as head of the U.S...  (editor) George Fitzhugh George Fitzhugh George Fitzhugh was an American social theorist who published racial and slavery-based sociological theories in the antebellum era. He argued that "the negro is but a grown up child" who needs the economic and social protections of slavery... James H. Hammond Thomas Prentice Kettell Francis Lieber Francis Lieber Francis Lieber , known as Franz Lieber in Germany, was a German-American jurist, gymnast and political philosopher. He edited an Encyclopaedia Americana...

Matthew Fontaine Maury Matthew Fontaine Maury Matthew Fontaine Maury , United States Navy was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator.... Albert Pike Albert Pike Albert Pike was an attorney, Confederate officer, writer, and Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C... Edmund Ruffin Edmund Ruffin Edmund Ruffin was a farmer and slaveholder, a Confederate soldier, and an 1850s political activist. He advocated states' rights, secession, and slavery and was described by opponents as one of the Fire-Eaters. He was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy and a longstanding enemy of the North... William Gilmore Simms William Gilmore Simms William Gilmore Simms was a poet, novelist and historian from the American South. His writings achieved great prominence during the 19th century, with Edgar Allan Poe pronouncing him the best novelist America had ever produced... Lysander Spooner Lysander Spooner Lysander Spooner was an American individualist anarchist, political philosopher, Deist, abolitionist, supporter of the labor movement, legal theorist, and entrepreneur of the nineteenth century. He is also known for competing with the U.S... William Henry Trescot William Henry Trescot William Henry Trescot was an American diplomatist born in Charleston, South Carolina, on the November 10, 1822. He graduated at College of Charleston in 1840, studied law at Harvard University, and was admitted to the bar in 1843.From 1852 to 1854 he was secretary of the U.S. legation in London... Samuel Adolphus Cartwright Buckner H. Payne, AKA, Ariel

Other contributors from 1847-1867 included R. G. Barnwell, Edwin Q. Bell, and William MacCreary Burwell.

External links

• "Slavery and the Bible" (September 1850).
• Archived issues 1846-1869
• University of Virginia - selected articles
• Making of America