Differences Between North And South

The North and South emerged as two distinct regions, because they had various differences. These differences included the geography, the economy, and transportation methods. These striking contradictory features made the daily life and systems in the North and South very distinct.

It is true that the heavy difference in geography/climate led to a huge difference in daily life. In the North soil was poor, which made farming very difficult, but they had many rivers and streams that flowed north-south as stated on page 383. On page 383 it also states, “It was close to other resources, including iron and coal.” These geographical differences caused the North to be heavily focused on industry rather than agriculture. In the South the soil was rich, which made

The South was a cotton kingdom and agriculture heavily fueled the economy. But not all parts of the South were committed to cotton. On page 423 it states “the Upper South still produced tobacco, hemp, wheat, and vegetables. The Deep South was committed to cotton and, in some areas, to rice and sugarcane.” This means that the South was predominantly rural and hardly industrial. In fact, as stated on page 424, “The South accounted for only a percentage of the nation’s manufacturing in the 1850s.” This was because of the lack of capital and the market for manufactured goods was small in the South. This caused them to flourish agriculturally, while the North flourished industrially. Factories first came to life in Britain, where it soon came to the US. People all came to a factory and all of them worked to manufacture certain goods. Mostly everyone went away from farms and to work in factories. So the economy of the South heavily depended on agriculture, while the economy of the North heavily depended on industry. These economical differences in the north made more cities, which led to superior and more transportation methods than in the