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Essay on The Industrial North and Agricultural South

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The old myth was that the North and South regions of the United States were colonized by two separate groups of migrants. Although this myth is false, one can understand why the northerners and southerners thought they were colonized by distinct groups. No two regions in United States history were more different than the North and the South, which enhances the idea that the Civil War was a long time coming. Although their different lifestyles, in and of themselves, differentiated the North and South, their respective lifestyles also caused their respective economies to flourish in completely different ways. The South was an agriculture-based society that “flourished” off of slave labor; on the other hand, the North was an industrial …show more content…

Another difference that separated the two regions included the prominence of foreign immigration in the North. Most immigrants went to work in the industries and textile mills in the North because the South was using slave labor (indentured servitude was much less prominent after late-eighteenth century). In addition, the North was much more urban-based because all of the factories had to be located in big cities where more people could work in them (too hard to have factories in rural areas where there were fewer people). The immigrants in the North especially came in handy because they helped fight for the Union in the Civil War in exchange for immediate citizenship. The fact that people were all near each other allowed the North to acquire strong central governments. The South, on the other hand, was rural-based, with its power distributed throughout a wide space of land. The culture of the North began to evolve as different types of people worked alongside each other, while the South held onto its very feudal-like social structure. Conflicts began to arise between the North and South when the South began to think that Congress was favoring the North—even though they kind of were. In order for their industries to flourish, the North needed railroads and extensive internal

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