The North-South Divide Differences in Demographics, Economics, and Culture

Demographic Divide Population growth –20% faster in free states than slave states Immigration –Almost 90% of immigrants settle in North Cheap labor available in North without slavery African American Population –95% live in the South –In South, 33% of population is African-American –In North, only 1% !!!

Demographic Divide Population of Free states (1860) 20 million Population of Slave states 12 million –8 million whites, 4 million slaves –When Civil War starts, 5 slave states remain in Union White population in Confederate States 5 million

Urbanization Towns of 2,500 or more –1820: North 10, South 5 –1860: North 26, South 10 Percent of workers in agriculture –1800 Free states 68%, Slave states 82% –1860 Free states 40%, Slave states 84%

Economic Divide Transportation –South has 44% of nation’s railroad mileage in 1840, falls to 26% by 1850 –During 1850s, South’s railroad mileage grows 400%, but North still growing faster Manufacturing (1850) –Slave states have 18% of U.S. capacity Half located in four border states

Economic Divide (2) South exported 77% of its cotton to North or abroad South imported 2/3rds of manufactured goods from North or abroad Average southern white male twice as wealthy as average Northern white male, but wealth concentrated in land and slaves

Cultural Divide South: Emphasis on “tradition, rural life, close kinship ties, a hierarchical social structure…patterns of deference, and masculine codes of chivalry and honor.” North: Moving toward a culture that was “impersonal, bureaucratic, meritocratic, urbanizing, commercial, industrializing, mobile and restless….” –“Antebellum Southern Exceptionalism”, James McPherson

Cultural Divide (2) Less emphasis on education in the South –Half the proportion of white children in school as in the North –Exception: Wealthy Southern families send sons to good schools, colleges –1860, proportion of white adults who were illiterate 3xs that of North

One Southerner’s View “We are an agricultural people…. We have no cities – and we don’t want them…. We have no manufacturing classes…. As long as we have our rice, our sugar, our tobacco, and our cotton, we can command wealth with which to purchase all we want.” -Former U.S. Senator Louis Wigfall of Texas, 1861

1828 Tariff Crisis Congress passed high tariff to discourage foreign imports/stimulate U.S. manufacturing South Carolina argued a state could judge when federal govt. had overstepped its authority - nullification” –They could vote to nullify the tariff –Idea of state sovereignty/states rights –States created federal govt. so states could nullify unconstitutional laws or even vote to secede (or leave) the Union

In 1832, another, higher tariff was adopted was adopted South Carolina voted to nullify it –Threatened secession if its nullification was not respected Pres. Jackson enraged, Congress passed Force Bill – –Threatened to send 50,000 troops to S.C. – –[S.C. voted to nullify the force bill] Tensions eased as Congressed reduced tariffs, S.C. cancelled nullification act