Claim: Plantation era ended before the late 18th century.
Evidence: The Plantation era , also loosely referred to as the Antebellum era , was a period in the history of the Southern United States , from the late 18th century until the start of the American Civil War in 1861 -LRB- which ended slavery in the United States and destroyed much of the economic landscape of the South -RRB- , marked by the economic growth of the South , based on slave-driven plantation farming.