North South Economy Civil War
How Economy Differences between the North and the South and the Pattern of Railroad Construction Fed Sectional Tensions before the Civil War.As the U.S. economy advanced and grew in size, each region of the country developed its own characteristics. The move toward industry made the regional differences between the North and South more pronounced and kept these sections of the United States further apart. While both sections favored canals and railroads to keep the new country moving, it was the South's commitment to slavery that kept that section from aggressively trying to keep pace with the North. The economy of the Southern U.S. was agricultural with cotton as its main product. One third of the southern population was a slave. Since cotton was in high demand in Europe as well as in the Northern U.S., the South continued to concentrate on this main product. The invention of the cotton gin expanded the institution of slavery forcing the Southern economy to become even more dependent on slavery and less interested in developing their own manufacturing which maintained their rural atmosphere. With the majority of the wealth of the South invested in land and slaves, there was little left to devote to the expansion o
The West no longer needed the South and grew more hostile toward slavery. Each section of the country wanted government policies to favor them. Sectionalism was a main factor contributing to the Civil War. The new inventions of the mechanical reaper and the steel plow aided the population growth of the West tremendously and made the section popular. These differences lead to unhappy Americans with people saying the Government didn't protect their rights. The South economy was stagnant, inefficient, and undeveloped and did not grow when compared to the North. People of the South became stagnant. The very nature of slavery affected the white population since southerners who were poor thought that working for another was a kind of servitude. The West was the breadbasket of America made up many small, independent farmers. The transportation systems in the U. Railroads were responsible for the economies of these two regions becoming more dependent upon each other. f industry, let alone a marketing strategy or transportation system to enable them to further promote their cotton. The South did not concentrate on railroads for their region, putting them at further economic and developmental disadvantage from the North since they did not have efficient transportation for their cotton. legislature, local towns, and mostly private investment capitalists, since the U.
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