Geography Vs South Geography

The North and South emerged as two distinct regions because they had various differences. These differences included the geography, the economy, slavery, and transportation. The North was built mainly on factories and trade and opposed slavery, while the South’s foundation was agriculture and slavery. The geography of the South was more rural than the North and the North had more means of transportation than the South. These drastic characteristics created a vast divide between the two regions. One of the most striking differences between the North and South was the climate and geography. In the North, there was a surplus of natural resources such as coal and iron. There were also many rivers and lakes that helped the development of port cities.

New England also had many ports.” This explains that there are plentiful resources in the North and also several waterways. It didn’t explicitly state that there were several waterways, however, I can infer because there are ports, there are also waterways. However the South isn’t an antithesis, the geography does vary. While the North had lots of natural resources such as trees, the south had their resource in the dirt. The South’s economy was built on agriculture, the soil that they used played a key part because they were able to grow lots of food and cotton. I know this because in Discovering Our Past: The American Journey, the text explains, “Why was there little industry in the South? One reason was because of the boom in cotton sales. Because agriculture was so profitable, Southerners remained committed to farming rather than starting new businesses.” This is a key difference between the North and the South. This provided for entirely different lifestyles. The North was filled with factories,

I would want to live in the North because there is no slavery in the North, life seemed easier, the economy in the North seemed more profitable, and there is industrial work. I am opposed to slavery which is part of the reason I’d prefer to settle down in the North. I know there is no slavery because in Discovering Our Past: The American Journey, the text says, “Popular novels and films often portray the South before 1860 as a land of stately plantations owned by rich white slaveholders. In reality, most white Southerners were either small farmers without slaves or planters with a handful of slaves.” This quote explains that there were a large amount of slaves in the South. I also know that there was a large discrepancy between the North and the South on slavery so I can conclude that there is no legal slavery in the North. This is a reason I would choose to live in the North and not live in the South. Life seemed easier to be in the North because everyday work wasn’t in unbearable conditions in the North. In the South, there climate is very harsh which makes the daily work, cruel. I know this because in Discovering Our Past: The American Journey, the text states, “They worked from sunrise to sunset planting, cultivating, and picking cotton and other crops.” This explains how brutal the work was in the South. The North’s work isn’t perfect, however, it is much better than the South’s.