Pre-Civil War Mr. Collins

 From Maine to Iowa the North had a variety of climates and natural features.  Northerners adapted to these differences by creating different industries.  All Northern states had 4 very distinct seasons from frozen winters to hot humid summers.  The Natural features of the North led to shipbuilding on the coasts, timber harvesting in the forests, mining in Ohio and Pennsylvania to support factories, and farming where land and soil were rich and plentiful.

 The South extended from Maryland to the tip of Florida, and from the Atlantic Coast to Louisiana and Texas.  The South has a climate of mild winters and hot humid summers. Rainfall is plentiful and they have long growing seasons. In other words, perfect for farming.  The natural features of the South are great for growing warm weather crops such as tobacco, indigo, rice, sugarcane, and cotton. They also had waterways so they could trade and ship directly to Europe.

 With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Northerners relied on factories in order to produce goods.  They created everything they needed by hand, but with the invention of machines this allowed for machine made goods.  “Lowell girls” worked 12 to 15 hour days and only got Sundays off.

 Southern economy is based on agriculture, and southerners were proud of it.  Most white southerners worked their own small farms, but rich plantation owners used slaves to grow cash crops such as tobacco, rice, sugarcane, and indigo.  By the early 1790’s the use of slaves began to decline because Europeans were unwilling to pay the high price for southern tobacco and rice.  Cotton was a promising crop, but it was hard to make a profit due to difficulty in removing the seeds from the fiber.

 In 1793, a young Yale graduate from Massachusetts invented a machine that could remove cotton seeds from the valuable cotton fiber.  Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin that changed the face of the South.  Using the Cotton Gin, one worker could clean as much cotton as 50 workers cleaning by hand.  Across the South, planters began growing cotton, and cotton became the South’s main crop.  By 1860, sales of cotton earned more money than all other U.S. exports combined.

 Whitney hoped his invention would lighten the work of slaves, and possibly end slavery. Instead, it made slavery more important to the South than ever.  Between 1790 and 1850 slavery grew from 500,000 to more than 3 million

 River travel was most inexpensive, but difficult it was difficult to travel upstream.  Steamboats became an important invention as they could travel in any direction easily.  By the 1840’s railroads had become the North’s biggest business. More than 20,000 miles of rail linked northern factories together.

 Most rail lines were in the North (20,000 miles to 10,000 in the South)  Southerners preferred transporting crops (especially cotton) by river travel.  With little need for roads or canals, the South opposed bills in Congress that would use federal funds to build the internal improvements

 People in the North were neither wealthy nor powerful.  They believed that with hard work, people could acquire wealth and influence.  Northern cities were very populated 38 of the 50 most populous cities were in the North.  After the American Revolution, all Northern states had taken steps to end slavery. African Americans were free, but still faced racism and discrimination.

 Southerners in 1860 measured wealth in terms of land and slaves.  Slave economy was preserved. So the South grew, but it did not develop.  A small group of wealthy plantation owners dominated southern politics.  Many white southerners who did not own slaves still supported slavery because they knew the South’s economy depended on it.  Many whites were illiterate due to a lack of schools.  Slavery was deemed necessary in the South and most African Americans living there were slaves.