Antebellum America Differences that contributed to the conflict

Using the chart, summarize the major differences regarding industry, occupation and income between the North and the South

The Frederick Jones Shoe Factory of Plymouth, Massachusetts, shown in this 1850s engraving, was, by 1860, one of 1,354 shoe manufactories in Massachusetts. Across New England, the shoe industry employed more than 62,000 people that year. New Orleans, Louisiana, was the largest city in the South before the Civil War. This 1851 lithograph by John Bachmann provides a birds-eye view of the Crescent City and the Mississippi River. Cotton was king, accounting for 60 percent of the value of all exports.

Four American shoe makers, holding the tools of their trade and their product, pose for a daguerreotype portrait in the 1850s. This 1866 image of field hands on a plantation on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, depicts a scene common on plantations throughout the South during more than two centuries of slavery.

Compare in your own words:

Which of the differences shown here and before could have led to the biggest conflict between the North and the South?

Agriculture in the NorthSouth New cultivating techniques New inventions in farming machines Speeding up harvest Increase in crops and production More production in agriculture supports growth of urban areas. Focus on cotton growing and slave trade Plantation economy Accumulated wealth is spent on more land and more slave labor – no investment in improved techniques Less crop production per year

Industry in the NorthSouth Natural resources support development of industries Manufacturing exploded Produces majority of US tools and machinery Higher number of immigrants who found work in factories Transportation is easier: 2/3 of the railroads in the North. Slave labor agriculture was so profitable – no incentive to develop other industries. Transportation was reduced to waterways and coast – shipping. Provides raw material for the North – Cotton for the spinning and spooling mills

Culture and Society in the NorthSouth Urbanization Professionalism – careers in business, medicine, education Creation of middle class due to white collar jobs and skilled labor Education has higher value Preserving the Union Urban population only grows from 6 % (1840) to 10% (1860) Southern workers migrated to North for better job opportunities Gap between property owning elite and slave/farm laborers 9% of the public high schools in the South Importance of states’ rights

Who creates more value?

Slavery in the NorthSouth Replaced by immigrant labor Professionalism – careers in business, medicine, education Creation of middle class due to white collar jobs and skilled labor Education has higher value Preserving the Union Abolitionism rises Urban population only grows from 6 % (1840) to 10% (1860) Southern workers migrated to North for better job opportunities Gap between property owning elite and slave/farm laborers 9% of the public high schools in the South Importance of states’ rights