The differences between the North and the South in the United States were far greater than any geographical distance might infer. Political ideas about freedom and who should be a recipient of it were one defining difference. Economically the North was booming and the South was stalling, and social norms and religious ideas were also on opposite ends of the spectrum. These differences were all factors that turned the South and the North against each other and ultimately led to the Civil War.
Politically speaking slavery had become a divisive topic among Northerners and Southerners. Both the North and South touted ideas of Nationalism and Democracy and both believed that they were honoring the idea of unification. However Southerners believed that supporting succession from the Union was the only way to “re-create a more perfect Union”(390) and that the republicans had caused disunity in the country by sabotaging the constitution’s guarantee of Liberty. They believed that the “enslavement of blacks guaranteed the freedom and equality of whites”(391) The North, now led by President Abraham Lincoln believed that the practice of slavery was not
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The North strongly supported education and literacy; this could be seen in the amount of public schools and libraries supported by northerners. Because of this educational support, literacy in the North was 8 times greater than in the South. (392) The Leaders of the South believed that education was only for the wealthy and for whites. Because of this, education was outlawed for all slaves and was even very limited among white citizens with little or no wealth. The religion practiced in both the North and the South was predominantly evangelical. The most defining difference was that the Northern Protestants supported social change and spoke out against the practice of slavery, while the Southern evangelicals tended to support
While the North tried to stop the South from withdrawing their spot in the Union, the North also denied the Southern states rights. Sectional groups assembled in the North regarding the “unnatural feeling and hostility” to slavery in the South. “ By consolidating their strength, they have placed the strength... no avail in protecting Southern rights (Document I). The Northerners believed that slavery is not right, and also that “the demand of African slavery throughout the confederacy” is unheard of.
For Northerners, empathy was easier to practice. As the notion of emancipation became more widely discussed by politicians during the abolitionist movement tensions between the North and the South rose. The idea that the nation could eradicate the lifeblood of the southern plantations was deemed unacceptable and the southern states felt helpless. The South fought for state’s rights which is synonymous with slavery as that was the most important right they were fighting for, and the North fought to keep the South from seceding, largely due to South’s interest in maintaining slavery as
Such as in Baptist countrymen wanted acceptance as white men equal to planters (282). Countrymen felt as if slavery was their only way of manhood and it was being challenged, what else didn’t own land and property? When comparing to Northern states, they didn’t own slaves. Slavery disappeared in the North due to Northers finding their manhood in business and filibustering. This division in North and South was like a competition, southern states (deep south) felt as if they needed to prove something.
During the Civil War there were many differences besides slavery. This war had the most American deaths than all of the wars the U.S. has been in combined! The south seceded from the north for slavery and other less important reasons. The North had more of nearly everything like navy, soldiers,horses, and food, while the south had slaves, cotton, and donkeys/mules. Throughout the war many great leaders rose and fell, battles fought, and great and terrible outcomes.
Geographically the United States was divided with the North being against slavery and the South supporting slavery. This division in the states had a great affect on the decision making in congress
This is shown in Document 7 where it says “Then the Northern people began to preach, to lecture, and to write about the sin of slavery . . . And when the territories were settled they were not willing for any of them to become slaveholding.” This segment from the document, which is from a textbook in schools, shows that the South believed that they were correct, and so taught children in schools. This would make the kids believe that slavery was right and to dislike the North from a young age. Overall, both sides believed that they were right, and the other side was
The enslavement of Africans and African Americans in Early America created a clear divide between the North and South. The North, primarily opponents of slavery, argued that slavery violated the basic principal of American democracy – respect for fundamental human rights. On the contrary, the South had an aristocratic understanding of democracy. Proponents of slavery also believed that the prosperity, technologies, and innovations that emerged from this institution was essential for American capitalism. Both opponents and proponents of slavery exercised principals of capitalism and democracy to justify their stance.
Slavery became a key issue in the arguments of the north and the south. The south was very agricultural while the north was industrial. The south feared the declaration of freedom for the slaves by government leaders in the north. Government officials at the time were not interested in ending Slavery in the slave states, but instead in keeping newly admitted states from becoming slave states. The first official disagreement of this came in 1820.
The treatment of slaves between the North and the South was drastically different. Slaves in the North typically lived in the same house as their master and worked by themselves, or in small groups (pg. 94). Slaves in the South tended to live in large plantations in which they were housed in plantation outbuildings (pg. 104). The difference between the North and the South in housing and working environment had a direct effect on the integration of African Americans into their new American society. When they were housed in the North with their masters and had limited exposure to other slaves, they tended to adopt the ways of their masters.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the rise of the Republican party, Southerners feared the tipping of the balance of political power against them; their need for self-determination parallel the colonists’ belief of rebelling against the oppressive government of Great Britain. However, the Civil War represented something more: the clash of the feudalistic, agrarian South with the industrialized, capitalistic North. These two powers differed socially, politically, and economically, and were especially conflicted over slavery. These two sections of the United States were divided against one another, and could not survive this way. Therefore, it is more accurate to state that though the Civil War resembled some aspects of the American Revolution, it was a clash between two forces who could not exist with one another in their current state, leading inevitably to conflict between the
There were many differences between the North and the South. For instance, the South were very agricultural as opposed to the North which were industrial. The South used cheap labor in the form of slaves, whereas the North had workers do their jobs in factories at a faster pace. Because of sectionalism, competition between the north and the south began to increase.
In the southern colonies the main people that inhabited the area were Catholics and protestants. The southern colonies ended up becoming excessively dependent on a plantation company that required slavery. Slavery was not a great solution to the labor problem but because a large portion or people owned a lot slaves and since that ownership was viewed as their wealth they were loathed to give up those slaves without financial compensation. Slavery was allowed in New England but very few people owned slaves. The Northern Colonies decided to take the weakling way out.
Both were against slavery and believed in the idea of a “Slave Power Conspiracy”. This notion that the South was inherently nefarious because it worked to spread slavery. They also believed salves were taking away jobs from white men. The South as a continuity from the period before the Mexican-American war justified slavery, however the means by which they justified slavery changed. Southern's took a more scientific approach using new events and social darwinism.
The American Civil War was the war that ended slavery. The civil war was known as one of the bloodiest and deadliest conflicts the United States had ever seen. The loss of life was an estimated amount of 620,000 men. It lasted four years, from April 12, 1861, through May 9, 1865. However, while slavery was a major cause of the American Civil War, there were several other major factors.
However, these differences show that the North and South were actually two distinct countries held together by one constitution. The North felt that decisions regarding slavery and its legality were entrenched in the central government while the South felt that such decision belonged to the individual states. In the times preceding the war, both sides could not reach a compromise. Bonner mentions, “Because secession and war were permitted to come, warned Russel, "We are not entitled to lay the flattering unction to our souls that the Civil War was an inevitable conflict (Bonner, 195).” Hence, these differences could only be addressed through war.