North Vs South

572 Words3 Pages

Since the beginning of American history, conflicts have arose between the North and the South between the varied people that inhabited the land. Clashing viewpoints were common between people and the military, large and small states, and between free and slave states during the civil war. The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865, it was fought within the United States and was the North versus the South. The cause was rooted on the discussion of slavery, but also on sectionalism between the North and South. Sectionalism can be defined as when a group restricts their interests to a narrow sphere without concern for the general well-being of other groups. Such as the North South relationship. Although some believe slavery to be the major cause …show more content…

In the North the economy consisted of industrial machines and factories used to produce goods. Railroads were also used for fast communication and trade, and immigrants came to work at these factories, which led to cheaper labor. In the South it was much more of a rural based society that included a lot of farming and agriculture. Crops were relied on heavily as a form of profit. The rivers were what the South used to transport good, and as a result led to slow communication. Also the South used slaves for free labor, and did not have many immigrant workers at all. The economies of both the North and the South were fueled by many different classes of people. In the North, the middle class and lower class workers often did the manufacturing. While in the South indentured servants would work on plantations to grow tobacco, indigo, and cotton which were all very labor intensive. Once these people got out of servitude they would seek to farm the land themselves but often would not have the means to do so which led to a poor class of people who could not even afford slaves. These poor people made up an ample amount of the population. The poor class of the South obviously was unable to afford a plantation or slaves for that matter. Consequently, it can be implied that did not have a very large impact on their will to fight in the Civil War. Farmers were the next class of people, they owned small patches of land, never large enough to be a plantation. These farmers supported at most one slave who were usually treated more as workers than property. Finally, the large plantation owners were the final class of the South, they were able to own hundreds of slaves and some would treat them harshly. In spite of this, these people made up a very tiny portion of the population. Therefore, they would need to use their

Open Document