Besides the geographical differences the northern and southern states had many economical and social differences. The northern states placed a much higher value on education than their southern counterparts. Almost all native born citizens in New England could read and write while nearly one-third of the southerners could not. According to a British visitor, the northern states had "better education, are more intelligent, and better informed".
The biggest difference was the slavery issue. The northern states thought slavery "corrupted society" and led to laziness while in the southern states it was a way of life. As Congress prohibited participation in the Atlantic slave trade and the northern states began to emancipate their slaves the southern states were expanding slave-based agriculture to the lower Mississippi Valley. This expansion caused a need for slave labor which could not legally be filled from outside the country and therefore led to the internal slave trade. This westward expansion led to three more slave states entering the union.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
The Northern and Southern states differences regarding slaves were very contradicting. The North, in my opinion, was very logical and saw slavery as being corrupted. The South, on the other hand, embraced the idea of keeping slaves and saw it as an everyday lifestyle.
Not disputing that slavery was wrong, but I think that people dont realize that to Southerners, slavery was a part of life. Most of them had never known life without them. So ultimately it seems to me that to the south they felt slaves were just as important to their sucess as tractors are to modern day farmers. But like I said, slavery was wrong and it was a great thing it ended.
Southern society was certainly different as a result of slavery. It created a society centered around an inferior work ethic and a opposition to work in gerneral. Most southerners engaged in a larger amount of drinking and gambling relative to that of northern society. Ultimately, the furthering of slavery in the south set the climate for future conflict between north and south. Southern lifestyle was far too dependent on a slave run farming society to release it willingly.
The North and South could not agree on the issue of slavery which would be one of the causes of the civil war. Slavery was a major part for the Southern economy and would not compromise with the North.
Obviously the slavery issue was a large part of the civil war occuring. The south gets left behind in its thinking as the north advances into "modern" thinking both socially and economically.
Post a Comment