Development of Northern and Southern Colonies Before the Civil War

¶ … Northern and Southern Colonies before the Civil War

In the middle of the 19th century, the industrial revolution that was growing depicted the presence of the two countries all of the most progressive independent states. The symbolic status in England laid the foundation of working class exploitation, urbanization and industrialization and the other one based on village, farmhouse, agriculture, and trustworthy relations between tenants and squires in 1845. Regarding the census of the 1850, the population of the United States was about twenty-three million; this was a rise from thirteen million in the year 1830. As of 1850, the North saw increased populations of immigrants incoming. The census that was carried out in 1860 showed the population of the United States to be about thirty-one million. This represented a thirty-nine percent increase in a span of ten years where the South only had eighth million whites compared to twenty million whites in the North

The developments in the 19th century and the ensuing conflict

The two states, the North and the South differed in many perspectives. The Northern region was more populated with persons of middle class especially in New England. The region had many industries relating to manufacturing, banking, and other operations, which fostered capitalism. By 1840, United States had more than one thousand cotton factories. Out of these, eight hundred were in New England that was getting into imports of cotton from the South, and they were using waterpower from the rivers of the South. In 1850, the North was boasting of more than 1,400 woolen mills many of which were private ownership. They were producing worsted, flannel, and blankets. The North was producing furniture and firearms. Shoe making and boots were there but were carried out during the winter season by the anglers and New England farmers. People also started making investments in machinery that was labor saving and technology advancement to reduce the cost of labor or manual labor

Apart from these roles, New England was also the core of the sea born commerce that was taking place in the United States. By the end of 1840, there was an introduction of a steam engine ships to replace sailing ships in transporting passengers and freight across the Atlantic Ocean, advancement in technology and high competition reducing the rates of shipping. There was rapid growth of foreign commerce in the cadre of 1840 to 1850. The North had ventured into making looms and later transporting them to Europe. Ships that were under the ownership of Northerners were hauling cotton from the South to the Europe specifically to Britain. Cotton accumulated two-thirds of United States' exports

Communities of the North were occupied with many activities. When pleasure resort parks were not yet many, even playing games was impossible. The work ethic of Puritan prevailed. People worked for six days in a week and long hours. During this time, the only competitive sport was the college-rowing teams. Games and leisure were perceived to be time wasting by the average adults. However, some activities were already being practiced. Operas started to be performed, and orchestras made their way to the cities. In New England, the word theater had a poor reputation and instead, they used Athenaeum and museum

The economy of the North was largely made up of farming. Adolescents worked on small farms, and they had time for hunting and fishing. They mainly grew food; most farmers invested in mechanical reapers and steel plows. This machinery reduced the cost of labor and the time spent during planting and harvesting. Plenty of misery still existed in the North. During the 1850s, many homesteads were still getting heat from coal or wood in open furnace. The same fuels were used in cooking; meanwhile, whale oil was being used in lamps together with candles (lamps in cities and candles in rural areas). Healthcare had not been given much concern and was ignored. No one at the time had the knowledge of curing typhus, yellow fever, diphtheria, cholera, tuberculosis and other infections. In the North, the case was a bit different, with expectations of machinery and electricity to transform life and revive humankind of drudgery

New England was more committed to education as compared to the South. The nation had over three hundred high schools and only thirty of these were in the south. In the south, the possibility of the sons of poor men getting any education was extremely low. Illiteracy had its place in the South. Education was viewed to belong to a certain class and teaching was mostly done privately. The slaves in the South were working on the railroads, iron works and mining, but the North was more of practicing agriculture. Women were seen from a different perspective. Women who were in New England were hardworking and active, and a few of them grew to be church activists, doctors, and writers. However, the women in the South were different as they had their work done by slaves. The Southern elite had ventured into more of foxhunting, dueling, and horseracing of which the Puritans of New England had contempt. The South had many soldiers and equestrians as compared to the North. Southerners were doubtful of the developments that were taking place in the North. In fact, they were not pleased by the increase in the loud proclamations by the Puritans in the 1850s. The Puritans prohibited leisure on Sunday, strong language, and tasty drink, which the Southerners disliked. The Southerners were for leisure and their opinion differed with that of the Puritans

In the year 1860, the country was engrossed in the civil war. The course of the war took place from 1861 to 1877. This was because of the deviating society between the South and the North. The war caused the country to divide into two including the Confederate (South) and the Union (North). This incident had many influences including economic, political, and social differences that existed between the South and the North

Slavery was a key issue that triggered this war to take effect. Forces from the south supported slavery, but those of the North were highly opposing it. The economy of the South had slavery as its backbone, and people of the South were to risk anything to sustain slavery. The South had prospered through their plantations, but these plantations depended on human labor that was being sourced from slaves. In the 19th Century, the Union (the North) was against slavery as they viewed it as a disgrace to their faces; and their objective was to abolish it. Those from the South could not do without slavery, and when they heard of the North trying to abolish it, they opted for forming their own state

. Slavery was the legs of the economy of the Southerners, and if taken away it would mean an economic downfall. This is during the time when the South was growing cotton than ever before, and they needed slaves more than anything did. During the same time, the cotton gin had been invented and thereby increasing the need for more slaves. In the course of this era spanning for about fifty years, the number of slaves rapidly increased from one million to more than four million. Owners of the plantations in the South did not understand the main motive behind the North demanding slavery to be abolished with such intense enthusiasm

Slavery caused considerable difference between two antagonizing societies and could the civil war was inevitable. The North had ventured in industrialization thereby stabilizing their economy as compared to the South's economy, which relied on slavery. During the 1800s, the number of immigrants who were making their way to the North rapidly increased. Although the state of things was similar to those of the slaves in the South, the economy of the North enjoyed immense profits. The people of the South said that the owners of slaves used to provide their slaves with food, clothe, care and regulations limiting them not to create competition in the modern world with the absence of proper training. Slavery in the North declined after the revolution in America while it was being popularized significantly in the South. The West and the North were swept away by outpouring democratic reforms. Demands were made for equity in the economy, politics, and the social advances. The main objectives of the forces from the North were better conditions for working, better salary, rights for men, women and children, better treatment of criminals and free and public education. Those from the South never saw the significance of these issues. These were the same views that fueled attacks to the system of slavery in the South and cleared stated their stand of opposition to any newly acquired state. The forces of the North said that slavery was an infringement of the right of people to be free. The Northerners were determined to abolish slavery at whatever cost with this view

During the early 1860s, confederate states of America were formed by South Carolina under a new flag to help them continue with their slave trade operations. An ordinance of succession followed that saw the other states that were populated with slaves sign take the oath to the Confederate States of America. This oath was aimed at fostering the existence of the slave trade. The situation could not be negotiated, and the country had to divide into two. The Northern territory had a stable economy because of their industrialization, but the South had the economy founded on slavery. When potential exposed itself in the west, the South was for acquiring these territories for expansion use slavery. The North opposed this move; they even stopped the extension of the slave trade in new territories. The intention of the North was to constrain the number of slave countries in the Union. The perception of the Southerners was that a government that was filled with Free states could expose a lot of threat to the slaveholding that existed. The forces of the South sought to secure their rights of states. Negotiations were made to end the slave trade. However, the negotiations only intensified the hostility between the Free states and slave states. This was one way of the North of doing away with the South.

The North had a political advantage over the South. The population of the North was high as compared to that of the South. The population of the South was mostly made up of slaves. The House of Representatives was usually made up of population representation, which gave the North a bigger advantage over The South. Those from the North were more of democracy where the majority is the ruler, and they believed that it was their objective to come up with rules and implement them. These political perceptions were also the motives of the war. The forces of the North had a loose perception of the constitution of the United States. They wanted the federal government to have supreme powers

Those of the South wanted the individual states to preserve their undefined powers. The North also wanted to come up with a tariff that would act as a protection to the Northern manufacture. This would not work for the South because it would not allow for trade of cotton for foreign goods. The North forces were also advocating for strong currency and banking systems and national subsidies for internal and shipping improvements. Those from the South knew that all these were in advantage of the North, and they were being discriminated. The North had exceeded the matter and wanted to eliminate the state rights of the South. The only thing that the South could do was standing up for their rights, which could not be done only by word of mouth. The South would suffer in case slavery was to be abolished; it was their main source of economy. The moves by the North were only for capital benefits by gaining control over the South

Conclusion

The existence slavery was the main source of conflict between these two antagonizing states. The conflict also had other motives behind it, but they did not bear much intense as slavery. Abolition of the slave trade was the only key to stop the war from taking the course. However, this could not be the case because the same slavery was what ran the economy of the South. This is what made the civil war inevitable. Everything was against the South, and they had to move out of the Union. In any case, the war could not be avoided because the views of the North and South differed. The outcome of the civil war abolished the slave trade and gave an exception of free labor only. The end of the civil war due to this was recuperated by the start of the Reconstruction. There was an appeal of the 14th Amendment that resulted in the blacks gaining official citizenship of the United States