1. South Geography
Mild winters and long hot humid summers
Plentiful rainfall and long growing seasons
Fertile coastal plains with swamps and marshes
Access to sea ports (exports)
Broad flat rivers
Rolling hills
Thick pine forests (N. Carolina)

2. Jagged New England coast (rocky soil)
North Geography
Four distinct seasons
Jagged New England coast (rocky soil)
Plains with rich soil in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Thick forests (New England)
Large forested region in the central plains
Experiencing deforestation

3. South Economy Economy based on agriculture – cash crops COTTON
Plantations used slaves to grow cash crops (COTTON)
Money invested in slave and land
Most whites worked their own small farms
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin made cotton the south's most important crop
Agrarians favored a way of life based on farming and policies that support agricultural interests

4. North Economy
Center of the Industrial revolution (shift from making by hand to manufacturing with machines)
New inventions (steam engine) and manufacturing methods made good cheaper and more plentiful
Rivers provided power to operate early factories and mills
Industrialists (large business owners) spurred the economy
favor a strong national government
Northern agriculture was industrialized with inventions like the reaper

5. North Transportation Steamboats made river travel faster and cheaper
Northerners supported federal funding for internal improvements (roads, and canals)
The National Road connected the new western states with the East
The Erie Canal linked the central Plains to East coast cities
By 1850 the railroads became the most efficient way to move goods
By ,000 miles of rail linked Northern factories to cities hundreds of miles away

6. South Transportation
River travel was the main form of transportation
Cities sprang up along water ways
Southerners were against federal funding for internal improvements (roads, and canals) because they thought they only benefit the north
By 1860 there was 10,000 miles of rail in this region

7. Wealth was measured in land and slaves
South Society
Wealth was measured in land and slaves
Rigid social structure (little movement up/down)
Wealthy Plantation owners: dominate the economy and politics (educated and privileged) ( slaves) agrarians (leisurely life style)
White farmers and workers: Many whites owned some land but few owned slaves, they worked their own land and made what was needed, 10% of whites did not own land
Free African Americans worked
as craftspeople, servants and
Laborers (had special rules)
Slaves: most were field hands
some cooks servants and
skilled labor

8. North Society Mid-1800 the population began moving to towns and cities
cities were dirty and poorly constructed (lack sewers and pavement)
increase in immigration (German and Irish) Immigrants settled in cities
Fluid social structure (mobility)
Upper class: Merchants, factory owners, bankers,
industrialists
Middle class: doctors, lawyers, shop owners, and
skilled craftsmen, German Immigrants (war) fit in easily
Poor whites: factory workers, farmers(7 in 10
northerners), Irish Immigrants (famine), faced hostility
African Americans (free but not equal) segregation