Question

Compare the regional differences between northern and southern states before the start of the Civil War.

Answer 1

The South was an agrarian society and had an economy built principally around agriculture and cotton. This was a very hard working intensive and slavery allowed the landowners to possess a cheap source of workers. Because cotton was so important to the Southern economy, the plantation owners then had a lot of political power, naturally they had not seen any reason to reform or change in any way the means by which they made their wealth. Neither did they see the need to educate the slaves.
On the other hand, the North developed a far more diverse economy taking advantage of raw materials such as coal and iron ore to develop steel and through that a range of heavy industries. An importance of this was that the North had a different set of political leaders and society that had made its wealth from industry, banking, commerce and trade. Different education systems developed because literacy and numeracy were valued by employers.