The Civil War (1)

The Civil War: Part 1

By Madison Nef

The Differences Between the North and the South

The Civil War that raged across the nation from 1861 to 1865 was the violent conclusion to decades of disputes… Gradually, throughout the beginning of the nineteenth century, the North and South sides of the US followed different paths, developing into two distinct and very different regions- despite still being part of the same nation. Below, I’d like to summarize a bit about the North and the South… you can pick apart the key differences for yourself.

North

The northern soil and climate favored smaller farmsteads rather than large plantations, as found in the South. Industry flourished, fueled by more abundant natural resources than in the South, and many large cities were established. Of these cities, New York was the largest with over 800,000 inhabitants… a gigantic number for those times and the resources they had. By 1860, roughly 25% 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%. Slavery had died out in this side of the country, replaced in the cities and factories by immigrant labor from Europe. In fact; an overwhelming majority of immigrants, seven out of every eight, settled in the North rather than the South. Transportation was far easier in the North, since the North controlled more than two thirds of the railroad tracks in the entire country. This gave the North the upper hand, especially since the economy just seemed to keep growing.

A lot more Northerners than Southerners belonged to the Whig/Republican political party; and they were far more likely to have careers in business, medicine, or education. In fact, an engineer was six times as likely to be from the North as from the South. Northern children were slightly more prone to attend school than Southern children as well, due to this lifestyle influence.

South

The fertile soil and warm climate of the South made it ideal for large farms and crops like tobacco and cotton. Because agriculture was so profitable, few Southerners saw a need for industrial development and thus there were not many factories. 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 closely linked to the region's economy and culture. In fact, there were almost as many blacks - but slaves and free - in the South as there were whites; the population consisting of about 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 and were used as shipping ports to send agricultural produce to European or Northern destinations.

Only 10% of Southerners lived in urban areas… and transportation between these cities was difficult, except by water.  Only 35% of the nation's train tracks were located in the South (as mentioned earlier, the North mainly controlled the train tracks). Also, in 1860, the South's agricultural economy was beginning to stall while the Northern manufacturers were experiencing a large growth and want for material.

A slightly smaller percentage of white Southerners were literate than their Northern counterparts, and Southern children tended to spend less time in school. As adults, Southern men tended to belong to the Democratic political party and gravitated toward military careers as well as the farming and agriculture that was general for the area and time; and for the economy they were dealing with.