Geographically, the Old South are the U.S. states in the Southern United States that were among the original Thirteen Colonies, which declared independence in 1776 and formed the United States of America. The region term is differentiated from the Deep South and Upper South, by being limited to these states present-day boundaries, rather than those of their colonial predecessors. From a cultural standpoint, the "Old South" is used to describe the rural, agriculturally-based, slavery-reliant economy and society in the Antebellum South, prior to the American Civil War (1861–65), in contrast to the "New South" of the post-Reconstruction Era.
