The South

The South is usually identified as the eleven states that made up the Confederate States of America which consisted of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina.^{[Citation Needed]}

Although these states once fought against the United States in the Civil War, today they are known for their patriotism and commitment to morality in government.

Presidential politics

From the end of the Civil War to the 1960 election, the "Solid South" as political pundits called it, nearly always supported Democratic candidates. Since 1964, the South has become increasingly important to Presidential victors.

The Solid South began to break down in the 1964 election, when five southern states voted for Republican Barry Goldwater. The largest and President Johnson's homestate, Texas, remained Democratic. In 1968, Richard Nixon carried Florida, and the Carolinas, while Independent George Wallace carried the others with the exception of Texas, which remained Democratic. Alabama Gov. George Wallace commenting on his 1968 Presidential bid, thought by using a base of electoral votes in the Solid South and adding a few Northern and Midwestern industrial belt states he could accumulate enough electoral votes to win. This strategy failed for Wallace, succeded eight years later in the 1976 election for Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter. Beginning with the 1972 election, candidates Richard Nixon (1972), Jimmy Carter (1976), Ronald Reagan (1984), George H.W. Bush (1988), and George W. Bush (2000 and 2004) won their elections by carring a "Solid South" (that is, each of the southern states). In the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan carried all of the south with the exception of President Jimmy Carter's home state of Georgia. Bill Clinton carried Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia in 1992, but lost Georgia in 1996.

Large numbers of Southerners have served in the U.S. military. Ironically, southerners did not volunteer in large numbers during the Civil War. Approximately twenty percent of all Confederate soldiers were draftees (compared to eight percent in the Union armies), and they were subject to “compulsory reenlistment.” The "twenty negro" law, which exempted men who owned more than twenty slaves from military service, caused a great deal of resentment and was the basis for the saying "A rich man's war, but a poor man's fight."

The South also tends to lag behind the rest of the nation academically. Schools in the south tend to recieve less support. Reading and math scores of students in the region are somewhat slightly below national averages.