Causes of the Civil War -- Economic and Sectional differences

How did economic differences between the Northern states and the Southern states contribute to the start of the Civil war?

Use the following readings and tables to construct an answer to the question "How did economic differences between the Northern states and the Southern states contribute to the Civil war?" Include relevant information previously studied & reference the textbook pp. 72 - 84 & 212 - 218 as well as new information discovered from this source. 

As part of our continued study of the causes of the Civil War, we will now consider the economic and sectional differences which faced America in the years preceding the Civil war.  You will recall that we first studied the political causes of the war by studying the issue of States Rights.  Our attention will now be on the economic differences between the North, South and Western parts of the country.  With the country quickly expanding in land, population, and industry, fundamental differences developed in the economic culture of each section of the country.  These issues were brewing under the surface for some time only to explode in civil war in the middle of the 1800's.

During the development of the thirteen colonies, diversity set in early. In the south the temperate climate made the growth of tobacco a suitable and very profitable business. Cultivation of this crop required a lot of land, and therefore settlers lived far apart. Northern Colonies, though, were much more dependent on small farms, with closely knit communities. These differences were the seed of a sectional division that would plague the nation for a century. During the late seventeenth century, this fissure in the ideals of the colonies became apparent.

In the days of the American Revolution and of the adoption of the Constitution, differences between North and South were dwarfed by their common interest in establishing a new nation. But sectionalism steadily grew stronger. During the 19th century the South remained almost completely agricultural, with an economy and a social order largely founded on slavery and the plantation system. These mutually dependent institutions produced the staples, especially cotton, from which the South derived its wealth. The North had its own great agricultural resources, was always more advanced commercially, and was also expanding industrially.

As time went on the United States of America grew as two separate nations. The Industrial Revolution gave Northern living its own culture, as the development of machinery and capitalism took hold. The South, however, was holding its own with its peculiar institution. As tobacco changed to cotton, the South became more and more dependent on it. Their entire way of life was based on that forced labor system.
 

Comparison of the South and New England in the early 18th century

  South New England
Economy agriculture manufacturing
Reasons for establishing a colony provide Britain with an new trade market religious freedom
Population Tidewater aristocracy -a few wealthy landowners that remained closely linked to the aristocracy of England. They still held on firmly to the Catholic faith Puritans
Social structure 3-part social structure:
Aristocracy (few, wealthy)
Middle class farmers
Slaves		 People were considered relatively equal, at least in the eyes of God

 

 

 

American Diversification - A look at the North and the South pre Civil War
The North had always been busier, and more in tune with entrepreneurism.

The economy of New England, and the upper middle states, were up to this period, dominated by overseas shipping and agriculture.

Now they were moving towards manufacturing, and "empire building" at home. They created the Erie Canal, from the ocean to the great lakes and with this deep into the Northwest.

New York became the trading hub of a huge expanse territory and was soon named the "Empire State".

The northern soil and climate favored smaller farmsteads rather than large plantations. Industry flourished, fueled by more abundant natural resources than in the South, and many and many large cities were established (New York was the largest city with more than 800,000 inhabitants).

By 1860, one quarter of all Northerners lived in urban areas. Between 1800 and 1860, the percentage of laborers working in agricultural pursuits dropped drastically from 70% to only 40%.

An overwhelming majority of immigrants, seven out of every eight, settled in the North rather than the South. Transportation was easier in the North, which boasted more than two-thirds of the railroad tracks in the country and the economy was on an upswing.

 

 

 The South kept up on their style of society. Here we had the self-sufficient gentlemen. "Men of means" were ruling over mass dependents. Here in the south to be somebody wasn't hidden, it showed by wealth displayed in great plantation homes, and control over many heads.

The fertile soil and warm climate of the South made it ideal for large-scale farms and crops like tobacco and cotton. Because agriculture was so profitable few Southerners saw a need for industrial development.

Eighty percent of the labor force worked on the farm. Although two-thirds of Southerners owned no slaves at all, by 1860 the South's "peculiar institution was inextricably tied to the region's economy and culture. In fact, there were almost as many blacks - slaves and free - in the South as there were whites (4 million blacks and 5.5 million whites).

There were no large cities aside from New Orleans, and most of the ones that did exist were located on rivers and coasts as shipping ports to send agricultural produce to European or Northern destinations.

Only -one-tenth of Southerners lived in urban areas and transportation between cities was difficult, except by water - only 35% of the nation's train tracks were located in the South.

Also, in 1860, the South's agricultural economy was beginning to stall while the Northern manufacturers were experiencing a boom.

 

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 "One issue, however, exacerbated the regional and economic differences between North and South: slavery. Resenting the large profits amassed by Northern businessmen from marketing the cotton crop, Southerners attributed the backwardness of their own section to Northern aggrandizement. Northerners, on the other hand, declared that slavery -- the "peculiar institution," which the South regarded as essential to its economy -- was wholly responsible for the region's relative backwardness." Text prepared for From Revolution to Reconstruction - an .HTML project

Protective Tariffs  "Benefits For The North"

From the time of the first Congress in 1789 to the outbreak of the Civil War there was dissension between the northern and the southern states over the matter of protective tariffs, or import duties on manufactured goods. Northern industries wanted high tariffs in order to protect their factories and laborers from cheaper European products. Demanding that "American laborers shall be protected against the pauper labor of Europe," tariff proponents argued that the taxes gave "employment to thousands of [American] mechanics, artisans, [and] laborers."

The vast majority of American industry was located in the northern states, whereas the economies of the agricultural southern states were based on the export of raw materials and the importation of manufactured goods. The South held few manufacturing concerns, and southerners had to pay higher prices for goods in order to subsidize northern profits.

The collected tariffs were used to fund public projects in the North such as improvements to roads, harbors and rivers. From 1789 to 1845, the North received five times the amount of money that was spent on southern projects. More than twice as many lighthouses were built in the North as in the South, and northern states received twice the southern appropriations for coastal defense.