I agree with your points and provided sources for most statements made in my previous post. The main point which prompted my post concerns the oft-repeated statement that wealthy planters from the Black Belt "looked down" upon their less fortunate cousins in the Alabama hill country. Long-term Alabama residents have heard it repeated too many times to count. Despite the lack of supporting evidence, people are as certain of that contention as they are their own parentage.

Some years ago Howell Raines of the New York TImes wrote a novel titled Whiskey Man based on class conflict between hill country and plantation folk. Except for that, it's not too bad.
http://www.amazon.com/Whiskey-Man-Howell-Raines/dp/B000UEFK9W