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Early 19th century social economy

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Early 19th century social economy
Week 8 Essay

The biggest factor in the changing economic and social economy for the north and the south was slavery. The south had many plantations, which were the main source of income for the southerners. Their main crop was cotton and tobacco. The southerners heavily relied on slave labor to harvest their fields. The north consisted of mostly traders and manufacturers. They believed that slavery was wrong and relied on American workers to work in the factories and businesses. However, this did lead to harsh working conditions and both women and child laborers. This also saw the expansion of the middle class. Trading within the United States was also encouraged. The different regions would trade with each other what they had in excess for what they needed. The south traded a lot with Europe. These are some major factors that attributes to the differentiation between the north and the south.
The government was trying to keep steady economic growth within the county. They believed that the success of their society greatly depended on how the economy would start to succeed or fail. Thus the government optimized opportunities for the American industry. I believe that Hamelton was right when he said we needed economic growth. With the county still being relatively young, it need something establish itself, something to give it stability. Without a growing economy, we would have been weakened and would not have been able to grow as a county.
I think that the Second Great Awakening created a more of an Idea for the common good than the individualistic American dream. It caused people to look less at themselves, be less selfish and focus on things of more important value. However, much of what happened during the Second Great Awakening seemed to be rather emotional and non committal. Those who were affected were not affected for very long and went back to their former ways of thinking somewhat quickly.

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