The main way to make money was large scale farming with slaves, due to the great soil and growing season, they would farm on huge acres of flat ground and the main product would be cotton. Of course it was the slaves doing most of the work for the Cottonocracy while the Plain Folk and poor whites worked with their slaves if they had any. Also, the South has long growing seasons, with nice warm weather and not much snow. That means that it was a nice place to live and if you were part of the Cottonocracy, it was quite leisurely. The Cottonocracy was the government of the South pretty much because they were so rich. They could own up to 30 slaves and had almost complete control. If you were ever a Slave, you would want to be one for the lower branches such as the plain folk.