North vs South

North vs. South Compare and Contrast

The north and south were very different from each other socially and economically. They each had their won interpretations of the Constitution and their differing views creating much conflict. Each conflict gave the two regions their own reasons for entering a Civil War. First of all, economic circumstances were very different between the north and the south. The north gradually had become an economy revolving around manufacturing and commerce; they focused more on the city life. Unlike the north, the south was more agricultural, and their economic production was stemmed from plantations. The majority of the south was rural, while the north was more urban. The south depended on the export of the raw materials that they cultivated and imported of manufactured goods from England. The north was unhappy with the south’s dependency on England because it was inhibiting their prosperity, as the south did not supply them with raw materials to manufacture on their own. Northerners wanted to purchase the raw cotton from the south and turn it into finished goods, that way they could sell the manufactures products. Because of this, the north wanted to raise taxes on European goods to that it would prevent southern plantation owners from working with England, and instead, buying the north’s manufactured goods. However, the south disagreed with this, and wanted to lower taxes on goods that came from England. The south also depended on slavery because it was the slaves who were cultivating their crops. Unlike the south, the north did not need slaves for the type of labor in which they were involved, so the issue of slavery was not as vital for the north as it was for the south. Southerners recognized that if they lost slaves, and had to pay those wages to them like they do the white laborers, then their economy may collapse. They strongly depended on the labor of these slaves to perform the work that needed to be tended to on the