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Differences Between The South And North During The Civil War

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To start with, I would like to address some distinctions between the South and North, and then expound them later in the assignment. First off, cotton was overrated in the South – meaning, they put too much stock in its survivability and worth (all their eggs in one basket). Secondly, there was a clear difference between the South and North in ways of politics, power, social structure, and economy (Schultz, 2013 & Pessen, 1980). King Cotton – the slogan southerners used to describe the importance of cotton – in their eyes (Pessen, 1980). I know I am jumping ahead, but it is important to review this because it sets the stage for the attitude and how life was in the South. The South believed cotton was so important that it would cause Britain and France to support the South during the Civil War because it was such a valuable crop (at least for the moment). Cotton ruled the day in the antebellum South and created a divide not only with the North, but also within the South. This dependence on cotton made a few wealthy, and the rest just getting by. There was no diversity in the South – both crop and human. The South did not have the influx of immigrants like the North and Midwest, and suffered because of it. Industry tended to steer away from the South because the workforce was …show more content…

In actuality, very few farmers had grand plantations, servants, and abundant slaves. For the most part, there were two classes of farmers in the south, the wealthy plantation owners and yeoman farmers. Yeoman farmers made up the majority of farmers and were mostly self-sufficient, living on small farms with their families, possessed no slaves, were in remote areas and missed out on the Market Revolution. According to our text, about 20 percent of adult southern farmers could not read (Schultz, 2013). Many were consumed in their farms and were isolated; they were stuck in their culture, families, religion and

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