Masters of fate: efficacy and emotion in the Civil War South

This dissertation uses social-cognitive theory to analyze the emotions of white Southerners as they experienced secession and the Civil War. It argues that white Southerners showcased two major personality types of high-efficacy and low-efficacy during this time frame. It furthermore suggests that that each personality type heavily influenced how individual Southerners envisioned secession, their Northern enemy, and the necessary level of brutality in waging the war for Southern independence.