North and South Grow Apart In the 1800’s

Changes Many changes had taken place in the United States since the country was formed. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the Northern part of the country had become very different from the Southern part.

Southern Life Southerners lived a mostly rural way of life. Most lived and worked on farms and in small towns. By the middle 1800s, few Southern cities had a population of over 15,000 people.

Northern Life In contrast, many Northerners at that time lived an urban way of life. Although most Northerners still lived on farms, more and more people worked in factories and lived in large towns and cities. In 1860, nine of the ten largest cities in the U.S. were located in the North.

The bar graph shows how the populations of the North and South differed in 1850. In the North, many people moved to cities to work in factories.

North and South Interests Factory owners and factory workers in the North had different goals from those of plantation owners and farmers in the South. And these different interests caused strong disagreements in 1846. A law that lowered tariffs (taxes) caused this disagreement. The law lowered tariffs charged for goods imported (brought in) from other countries. This made Northern factory owners angry.

Tariffs Cause a Struggle The Northern states wanted higher tariffs on imported goods because it would encourage American to buy manufactured goods from the North. Southern states wanted lower tariffs because they wanted to buy cheaper goods made in Great Britain (Britain).

Threatening Our Way of Life The way of life of one section of the U.S. was threatening the way of life in the other section of the U.S. These differences caused sectionalism in our country. Sectionalism is a loyalty to a section or part of the country rather than to the whole country. Not But Part

Slavery in the South One very important difference between the North and the South was slavery. Slavery was allowed in Southern states, where enslaved (slaves) people grew crops. By 1850, most Northern states had outlawed slavery. Northern workers were free and were paid for their work. In many Northern factories, however, workers put in long hours, under difficult conditions, for low pay.