Articles relating to the Antebellum South (1815–1861), as part of the history of the Southern United States. The Antebellum Period (from Latin: ante bellum, lit. 'before the war') spanned the end of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The Antebellum South was characterized by the use of slavery and the culture it fostered. As the era proceeded, Southern intellectuals and leaders gradually shifted from defending slavery as an embarrassing and temporary system, to a full-on defense of slavery as a positive good, and harshly criticized the budding abolitionist movement.