Political, Social, Cultural, and Economic Differences Between

¶ … political, social, cultural, and economic differences between the North and the South on the eve of the Civil War. How did these differences grow from 1800-1860?

Of course, the event that led to the actual first battles of the Civil War was the firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, by Confederate troops on April 13, 1861. However, many other actions and events led up to the eventual outbreak of Civil War. The North and the South were different, and not simply because the Southern landowners also owned slaves. The North was an industrial society, based on "growth and prosperity" (Norton 196). The South, on the other hand, was less industrialized and more agrarian in nature. "Southern wealth came from export crops, its population thus remained almost wholly rural rather than both rural and urban" (Norton). Thus, there were extremely different cultural and social values between the North and the South. After Eli Whitney's cotton gin took hold in 1793, the South became a major center for cotton growing and export, and slaves went hand in hand with the labor-intensive crop.

In the North, there was more population, which gave them a distinct advantage when it came to war. The North had more opportunities for society and social interaction too, with more churches, schools, and libraries (Norton 199). More importantly, because the South was less populated, and the population was spread out, there was a smaller transportation network in the South. This would also play an important role when war came, as the South could not move men and materials nearly as effectively as the North.

These social and cultural differences did not grow smaller as the 1800's progressed. In fact, they grew more pronounced. The North continued on its industrialized way, drawing more people to the cities, where they could enjoy the arts, education, and a better lifestyle than in the small rural towns. The South continued on its agrarian way, with plantations and plantation owners growing larger and more prosperous, and more people enslaved as a result. Of course, slavery was a key issue in the disagreement between the states, and many decisions, such as Dred Scot and the Compromise of 1850, which allowed California entry into the Union as a free state, and created a stronger fugitive slave law, were controversial and led to further disagreements. As Norton states, Slavery was an issue on which compromise was impossible. The emotions bound up in attacking and defending it were too powerful, and the motives it affected too vital, for compromise" (Norton 273). A large percentage of the public did not want a war, and did not think Civil War would last very long if it did break out.

Even after the bombardment of Sumter, however, the gravity of the revolt, and the power and will of the Slave States for a strong and continued military resistance to national authority were not at all realized at the North, except by a few. Nine tenths of the people of the Free States looked upon the rebellion as started in South Carolina from a feeling one half of contempt and the other half composed of anger and incredulity

Lowenfels 22).